Desert Survival: why not travel at night, sleep during the day??

Spent several years in Arizona, lots of it on foot in the desert at night (like 50 to 60 hours a week).

Night in the desert is generally pretty light. No clouds generally (no moisture in the air to make clouds) and very little vegetation to block the sky. (There's a full canopy here in Michigan blocking the starlight or moonlight.) You certainly could move at night. The smugglers certainly do. BUT you don't know where you are and don't know where the resources are (shelter etc). The risks of twisting an ankle or more likely getting some cactus spine through your boot are pretty high at night also.

Best to move early in the morning and late in the day IMO. Rest in the best shade you can find in the heat of the day.

The good news is that it's easier to be spotted in the desert so you may not have to cover much ground.
 
DH1 said:
Night in the desert is dark...maybe too dark to navigate safely.
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But if you are lucky to have alight source and a means to make a day time shelter then yes I would travel at night but go slow to look for stuff that could hurt you.


RickJ
 
the buzzworms are active at night unless it's cold. if i'm out at the rifle range after dark you can hear 'em all over.

walking into a cholla in the dark would SUCK!

if you're on a dirt road the terrain's usually not too bad, but if you hit a patch of loose gravel it could be tricky, especially on a slope.

EARLY morning would give you daylight and for a while it's not too bad... but you'd want to find shelter well before mid day. sooo mid summer that gives you from about 4:30 to 9. and you can go a little later earlier or later in the year.
 
I dunno, you get about 5 miles back into these foothills and you don't know what you're doing, you WILL get lost and turned around, even in the daylight. Desert travel makes sense if you know exactly where you are, where you're going, and the trial you're on. Next time you're out, try walking 100 yards away from your fire without a sustained light source just to see how difficult travel is when you can't see your immediate surroundings.
 
Every year i spend about 7-10 days in the anza desert. On a full moon night you can travel but you better keep it slow. So you got about what i would say 3-5 night each month when its bright enough. last year i went camping and it was a quater moon. There would be no way what so ever i would walk thru jumping cholla at night time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFv5JBr6pmU
Unlike in the you tube i had never had one come out that easy. While you are working them out of your skin trust me you would come up with all new laungage that would make a sailor blush.
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The only hiking i done at night was following the dirt road and i didnt have to use the flashlight. I would agree there is some light that would let you do some walking at night time. There just not enought light to get off trail in the area where you got no idea where you are. Snakes and wild animals never been on my mind its getting hurt or lost that would scare me.

Sasha
 
Ahh, cholla, the bane of every desert hiker :) "Teddy Bear Cholla" is a misnomer if I ever heard one. Sasha is dead on about the new obscenities you discover once a strong wind blows a cholla ball into the back of your calf.


Gautier
 
Seems to me that walking around a desert in the full heat of the day during somekinda "I Shouldn't be Alive" survival situation is kind of crazy but then again I am from New England. Why not travel very early in the AM and late in the afternoon?
 
Gautier only someone who got messed with the cholla knows how bad it is lol... once i spend about 2 hours pulling over 30 spines out of my hand. They do tend to go deep. some of them came out with small pieces of skin. Woods Walker I went to the desert in the middle of spring and let me tell you you got about 3 hours at the most in the morning and right after the sunset..the rest of the time you better find shade or carry alot and i mean alot of water. i always started my day with two large cups of water. The desert can take a grown fit man out in less then a day if he doesnt watch him self.

Sasha
 
Staying with late afternoon/sunset and early morning is a good idea,
but lots of snakes are out then also. Maybe you can see them first.
Thick leather boots would be nice for night travel. + on trekker poles etc.

Even small rattlers will attack toes of sandaled people; a friend of mine said the small
snake, biting his toe, hurt worse that anything; and the snake was less than a foot long.
Hospitalized, oh yes. :(

There is a lot of open country in the desert; more than most people realize.

And perhaps some wadi (dry wash), or road that you could travel.
If you need to cross a wide flat area; traveling at night,
might be your only option. Think of the Anvil crossing drama in Lawrence of Arabia.

Staying near (or with) vehicle may be the the best strategy. You may have to leave the
vehicle, for a short distance, to access shade or water.
Leave obvious signs of your direction of travel.
 
After all the time I've spent in the desert, my one desert survival incident:

Late July, 2000, my 6 year old son and my then 75 year old dad (now deceased, RIP Dad) spent a week or so in the south Nevada desert ghost town exploring, sight seeing and jack rabbit hunting. We drove into Las Vegas, stopped and got gas, food, ice etc. etc. Probably stopped and started my lifted '98 Dodge Ram about 10 times or so.

Drove north to Alamo and then went about 22 miles off-road to Badger Springs Campground at the foot of Tickaboo Peak, closest public viewpoint for the Groom Lake Air Force Base (aka Area 51). Reached the campground, turned off the truck, then about five minutes later picked a better camping area and the truck wouldn't start - dead battery.

It was about 4 PM in the afternoon and the temps were in the 110-115 during the day. Set up camp, ate dinner and had an uneventful night. The next day tried to get the truck to start, no joy.

I stayed at the campsite until around 6 PM and then loaded up with water (we had plenty) and started the hike out. About 8 miles down the road, I saw several anntenna's on a mountaintop a couple miles away and tried my dad's cell phone - it worked. A Lincoln county sheriff's deputy came out an hour or so later around midnight and jumped us. We left the camping tents, sleeping bags etc and hauled butt to Alamo and checked into a motel.

The next morning, we got jumped by someone else and bought a new Interstate battery at the only auto parts store in Alamo. We went back out to Badger Springs Campground and while Dad got our camping stuff, my son and I climbed Tickaboo Peak and watched the Area 51 air base for a couple hours. I believe my son is the youngest person on the planet to see Area 51 with his own eyes.

Bottom line: Even though I had had the battery checked out before we left on the trip, bad on me for a) not replacing it anyway and b) not having a backup battery.

The good news is that we had plenty of water and food and we didn't panic. We were, however, very careful to not get bit by any rattlesnakes since that would have meant a full blown emergency without any real recourse to solve.

Even though I walked out at night, I don't recall any problems with seeing in the desert. I was on a gravel road and the stars in Central NV are pretty bright due to the usually lack of cloud cover.

Al
 
Myke wrote on FB, that the plan was to move in the morning/evening but the cameras needed good light to put out a decent show. So they sacrificed a principle to teach, and it taught a good lesson.
 
You should mimic the animals in the area your in. They live there all the time. If you see them moving in the morning but don't see anything mid day that's a good indicator.

To walk at night or not can be quite situational and I think each person thinks of specific circumstances when making recommendations. There are places I wouldn't hesitate to walk all night, and rest in the day. There are others where the hazards far outweigh everything else. If you are lost completely it would be different than Knowing where you are but being stranded. Most often staying with your vehicle is the best way to found. Sometimes being found is what your trying to avoid. ;)
 
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