Walk in the light but learn from the darkness

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
4,453
I know there are many trekkers who prefer to venture alone into the woods.

It is a personal thing. Not easily explained. As one often takes for granted when darkness falls, almost everybody retires to the bed. But I prefer to think there are lots of things one can learn about nature when the dark curtain descends from the skies.

Nature takes on a different form and the nocturnal creatures come out to play, so to speak. So how does a creature (like man, for example) who is accustomed to light, learn from the "dark" world?

What can he learn from it and thereby be richer for it?
 
get some night vision goggles :D I dont know how to really answer your question, but I agree with you. This ia a very sort or metaphysical subject, at least from what I understand. i normally just sit, stare at the fire, and let the things happen.
 
When you get bored with the usual hiking trail or country road, hike it at night; that's when you realise that familiar places can still be mysterious. There's a whole lot going on in this world that we normally don't even see. You can't dominate the dark (barring those night vision goggles), you can only adapt. This can put you in the mood to commit some serious philosophy, but can also be exciting (let's see, what kind of animal growls like that...?).
 
Howdy!

I have found that when backpacking in the Sierras during the summer time, the best time to hike is at night. So I usually start off the first day around 2 in the morning. Since it is much cooler and the hike is easy. When I arrive at my destination I will start fishing or make myself some coffee. The only thing that is bad about hiking at night in the lower sierras, is that the rattle snakes come out and feed, therefore you see a lot more of them. :eek:

But you can hike much faster and easier at night when it is cool the during the heat of day. You just have to find a time to sleep! :D
I prefer to sleep from sun down to about 3 am and then hike till about 8 or 9 in the moring when it is still cool.

Good thread,
FLY GUY
( FLY FISHING + KNIVES = HEAVEN)

P.S.- might want to bring a maglite, just in case of snakes!
 
No poisonous snakes in my neck of the woods, so what I've done on occassion is try to stalk through the woods at night barefoot. Once your eyes become used to the dark, you can move around pretty good, but feeling your way with your feet kind of adds an interesting dimension to it. A guy's gotta be careful not to get poked in the eye with a stick as well. The worst part is cleaning the squished slugs off your feet when you're done!
 
Interesting thread...
Anyone have any tips or suggestions on night travel or hiking?
I would love to try it but need some basics.
Any military types about?
Bill
 
Tritium sights on the lensatic compasses (Stockard and Yale?) are great! Always use red filters on your flashlight unless you REALLY don't want to see in the dark! :D
 
Night patroling is the best of fun. Forget the torches and night vision gogles as they just ruin your night vision. It takes forty minutes for your night vision to really kick in. One torch flash will put you back ten minutes.

Best time of day (night) for hacking along a well trodden trail. Trickier in dark woods or on the fell. Use your eyes and ears. Moving quietly and slowly is the most fun. Practice, or just time out doing it, will tune your natural ability to move at night. You get better at it, cause less noise and don't trip or bump into stuff as much.

Only place I really didn't feel comfortable was in Africa. All the big cats, hyenas, carnivores eat at night! Hippos are out on the land. Don't travel on your own and if forced to then use a torch. Traveling with a sizable party of 5 or 6 was healthier.

Nicest part is that you see daybreak which is the best part of the day - even if it is in black, white and pink.
 
I have to agree. Night patroling kicks butt. Don't worry about lights or NVGs. Unless I'm sitting on an observation post, those items are way down in my ruck. The last thing that you want to do is try to run with NVGs on. It's a good way to get killed falling off of a cliff. Your body will adapt to the night. Hearing seems to fine tune and vision will get more sensative. Remember that your best night vision is peripheral. If you think you see a motion or hear a noise, try looking about 25-30 degrees diagonal to it. I'm trying to remember my eye anatomy right now. There is a reason for this having to do with the concentration of either rods or cones on the fovia. I can't remember which is which this early in the morning but will check on it and post later.
Hope this helps.
recondoc
 
I've done as much hiking at night as I have during the day. There are places I've never seen during the day. Most of the times I've been hiking at night, even if I had a flashlight I never turned it on. This includes many places I'd never been before. Usually I can see well enough to get around, and a flashlight limits my field of vision to its beam. I'm pretty much notcurnal anyway (evidence: it's 7 am and I'm about to go to sleep) and I love hiking at night. All that light does is hide that which lives in the darkness, myself included. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to adjust, but then I'm usually comfortable.

I remember once, years ago, in high school, when my friends and I would go hiking at night on LSD, at one point two of us were inching along a ledge, maybe 5" wide, with nothing to really hold onto with our hands. We were going real slow and I was worried because she wasn't as good at this sort of thing as I was, and we didn't know exactly where we were, and our friends with the only flashlight were up ahead somewhere. After I don't know how long of this grueling ledge (with flourescent hallucinations and the wall breathing), the guys with the flashlight saw us and shined it on our location. The distance between our feet on this narrow ledge and the path below - 2.5 feet!! We got a huge laugh out of that one.
 
Night hiking offers a whole new perspective...

Two weeks ago a couple of friends and I began our two mile ascent up a mountain trail at midnight. Why? The weather was permitting, so why not? Besides, we used headlamps as necessary, which wasn't very much. It was invigorating.
 
I like to fish for bass. The last hour of light to an hour or so after dark is my favorite time. Flashlights scare the bass, so I try not to use them...
One night, I was walking down a little dam, there was a deer (unknown to me) standing on the edge of the path...the deer didn't notice me till I got real close...It stomped/snorted and took off down the hill. I jumped so high that the earth looked like a lil' blue marble!!!
Yeah, night hikin' is fun :)
 
Was once hiking with some friends on the cliffs above the beach near La Jolla when we entered a clearing in the bushes and saw something move about 20 yards away. We were trying to figure out if it was a dog or cat or coyote or racoon or what, but it didn't move again so we couldn't get another look at how it moved. We stood there for about five minutes just watching it; it didn't move at all, and we started to wonder if it might just be a bush or rock that had never moved. We were just about convinced of this when it flew away.
 
Eons ago when I was just out of school, my friends and I found ourselves on an island, having a terrific time.

It was night time. I was floating on a rubber tube out in the sea. It was just me, the stars and the night. No sound except for the washing of the waves. No light except that of the stars, and everything was space. I was staring upwards.
I had a glimpse of heaven and I have never forgotten the sight nor the feeling.

Darkness. There's no such thing. I surfed on the edge of eternity that moment in my life. Time stood still. It still does whenever I think of that moment.
 
Once or twice a month I'll night walk. No lights. Go slowly. Practice this walk. Keep your head and eyes up and scanning.

1 Step:
Place all of your weight on one foot and unload the other. Bend the weighted knee and balance. Slowly lift the unweighted leg while keeping your toe pointing down.

Take a short 3-6" step. Do NOT look at the ground. Keep your head and eyes up. This is how you see things before they see you. As you lower your foot touch the ground first with the outer ball of your foot. Feel for rocks, twigs and other noise makers or obstructions. Your goal is to be silent while looking ahead, not down.

If your foot feels something move your foot to a clear spot. When your foot is satisfied slowly place the rest of your foot flat on the ground. If you see something while your foot is in the air balance and freeze with your foot in the air. To be good at this you need to develope leg strength.

Repeat.

Stop, look and listen occasionally. If you make a noise stop for thirty seconds before taking another step. Occasionally sit, look and listen.

Plan your route 15 or 20 feet ahead. Keep in the shadows. Keep off of likely routes of travel. Keep concealment between you and likely routes of travel. Likely routes of travel include paths, ridges and shorelines.

This will allow you to see things first while moving silently. I'll wear moccasins (you can feel twigs) and occasionally will practice high and low crawling.

I've walked past an oncoming skunk within touching distance, startled sleeping birds and watched cats and dogs that were unaware of me. My goal is to touch an unsuspecting animal (humans are easy).

Take care,
bug
 
There is a reason for this having to do with the concentration of either rods or cones on the fovia.
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly...

Your cones, which are responsible for color, are more concentrated directly in back of your lens. Your rods, which are responsible for monochrome and see better in the dark, are scattered around your cones, so if you look at something at an angle, the picture will strike your rods.

Or something like that.
 
Medusa...
COOL!
My father in law and uncle were both merchant marine sailors. They each told me stories (separate and different stories) of sailors just getting off of the boat, in mid ocean. They'd be standing there off watch lookin at the water & just climb the rail and step off. Both uncle and father in law said that the ocean 'calls' to you at night.
Now I thought that was a little hokey to say the least. Until I started night fishing for striped bass on the ocean beaches at night... Once I was alone, and promised my self not to go in past my knees. 6 or 7 times I found my self dangerously close to the tops of my waders!!! Instead of sidestepping to free my feet from the sand, I must've taken a couple of forward steps. It was a spookey, erie, beautiful night...and no I didn't get a bass that night :)

What about new moon nights? When you literally can't see your hand in front of your face...is that amazing or what?!!
 
Not me...

Given how heavily forested the areas where I go camping are, I almost always never hike at night. Damn easy way to lose yourself or get hurt...

and then there are the others out there...

Only hiked at night when I was a Scout and there were like 30 plus of us on a the hike... we sure made a lot of noise, even when we weren't talking.

I dunno what sort of ground you guys cover, but in the tropics, most of the time, you get forest or tall grass. you only find cleared areas without trees wher people have been working the land.

The tall grass is often of the "elephant grass" variety, easily about 5' to 6'. Remember that scene in Jurasicc Park 2? With the raptors hunting them in that field of grass? That's what it's like.

Nah, I like to do my walking in the day, as much as possible and the bed down for a nice camp at night...

BUT, when I was a Scout, we used to play wargames... sometimes at night... and THAT was fun... sneaking around in the woods in the dark.. adrenaline pumping and your heart beating in your ears...

But I have heard too many things about the jungle at night to not take it seriously. Mostly from the military... stories of men not coming back, or extra men showing up at the head count... I remember when I was a recruit, one guy a few batches before mine, disappeared during a battalion level route march thru the jungle. That wasn't funny... How the hell do you lose one man when you have almost 1000 people on the exercise? When they discovered he was missing, that same night, they turned out 2 more battalions to look for him. the "story" was corroborated by too many people... there was evidence of the event left behind that other had seen... brrr... people who were there... his body was found 3 days later... BUT that's another story...

in the movies, there's always moonlight to see by... lots of ambient light from moonbeams... hehehe... yeah right. In the heart of the forest, the vegetation is so dense even at noon, it looks like twillight... you can forget about starlight nav or moonbeams.

so no... I don't go walking in the middle of the night into the jungle. Not unless I had to anyway.
 
Depends on your definition of night! Hereabouts when you go a bit north it's sunlight 24/7 and light even here. So in the summer I often walk at night.

TLM
 
Nighttime activities are inspiring to say the least. I’m an avid night fishermen, often fishing from about 11PM straight through to around 5PM. You learn a lot about both yourself and nature this way. The place I fish gets a lot of hikers and a few kayakers during the daylight hours. Basically, the area is too busy to really be by yourself with nature. Circumstances change drastically at night.

First off, I learn about the world around me through my sense of sound. The human body is quite remarkable in its ability to adapt to less than optimal conditions, where your sense of sight would do all of the primary work. My sense of sounds takes over after a couple nights in a row, to the point where I can easily know my position in relation to certain noisy objects (water currents, rocks slapping on water, creaking trees, etc). My sense of smell also becomes more acute, enabling me to know where dirty bait rags have been placed, and if certain species of animals are nearby. I also find it easier to locate certain herbs and wildflowers at night, when my body isn’t so focused on only my sense of sight.

Nature also tends to come out at night. I’ve scared up bear, deer, minks, bullfrogs and whole families of beavers. I’ve also gotten the wits scared out of me by monster-sized owls that I never would have seen during the day.

The night is also peaceful. I can fish or just sit on a rock and actually have a quiet moment to reflect on things. You often think that you have a quiet moment during the day, but it’s nothing like a quiet moment at night. My best thinking has always been done outside at night. It’s full of mystery, beauty and understanding.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top