Hiking at night

>>805507
This is a recurring problem with /out/. Probably due to the inexperience of the average person asking for advice here.

DETAILS.

What is the kind of environment you're camping in (desert/forest/footsteps of mountains/mountains/swamp/other....).

Give the brand of your flashlight, or a picture, or both.

In any case, I highly advise you to buy a headlamp if you're serious about this, they are not expensive and make a huge difference when hiking or doing anything at night.

Hiked at night, my Black Diamond headlamp's batteries lasted for 3 nights, or so. Bring spares in any case, but these don't weight much.

If there is some good moonlight (that time of the month, not cloudy and not in a forest) things would be even better.

>>805511
Swallow falls state park.

http://garretttrails.org/trails/trail_browser.htm Right at the very tip of Maryland.

They are very short 5 mile trails that are very traversed and it is mostly forested area with some areas being very near the river bank.

As far as equipment goes: 1x Sunwayman D20a 4x Eneloop AA batteries 1x generic plastic led flashlight. Seems the 70 lumen setting should last me 9.3 hours but i'm bringing spare duracell batteries as well. I will consider the headlamp but that's if i find one on short notice.

As far as animals, they're more active at night. Should i be worried or would my presence scare them off?

>>805507

Headlamp is essential. In fact, I'd take a back-up one too. Try to stick with AAA batteries for all your lights.

Your schedule is going to reset while out. Being outside in natural light like that resets your circadian rhythm.

>>805507
Do it army style. Topographic map, compass, and a dim red flashlight ( which you should only rarely use to look at your map, and not kill your night vision)

>>805665
>>805511
Okay got a headlamp. An Energizer Vision HD 150 lumen headlamp. I hope that's okay, should last me 50 hours on the lowest setting. Do expensive headlamps like Black Diamond ones better or can i get by with this cheap one?

>>805689
I haven't learned how to use a compass yet to measure distance. i'd rather not try to learn that in the dark.

>>805887
I have the Black Diamond Spot and I love it. Not too expensive maybe like 30 bucks depending on where you buy it.

You can also buy 1 or 2 sticks of cyalume chemlights too to have around the camp.

Have fun trying to sleep in a tent when it's broad fucking daylight outside

Better bring something to black out the tent

Also how the hell are you going to get the rest of your family on board with this shit

>>806042
I can honestly sleep well during the day light, i'm just going to wrap a scarf on my head and sleep like a baby.
They can do their own thing, i never said they would have to tag along with me. I want to have my own adventure and they're the kind of people that a miles hike is enough for the day but i want to explore and see the stars at night. If you mean 'your family will be worried', well i have my phone and i won't be more 6 miles away from base camp and it's all marked trails, i'm a big boy :).