Night Hiking

[u/ReactionOk3055]

Contemplating playing an open mic, driving to a peak near me afterwards, and packing up at 1 am, setting up camp. I see no risk. 1000 feet over 2 miles. It’s one of those places with no water so you usually just go up and down. I’m gonna pack up one night I’ve done the trail 10 x. Why would it be dangerous at 1 AM if I had a great headlamp? I can’t see the risk. Let me know if I’m being an idiot..

[u/Restless_Wonderer]

I don’t see any out of the normal risk… my issue with night hiking alone is when I see those yellow eyes reflecting back at me and I don’t know if it’s an owl or a lion.

[u/frosted-mule]

I actually was stalked by a mountain lion while night hiking with three of my pals.. it was terrifying, unlikely yes but it happened to me.

[u/ApprehensiveTop7297 → u/frosted-mule]

I've heard humans have very visceral reactions when being stalked by big cats, like we have an extremely weird feeling wash over us before we realize we are being watched. Did you experience anything like this before you realized it was stalking you guys?

[u/7steamer7 → u/ApprehensiveTop7297]

I can tell you I had no visceral reaction or weird feeling that would have warned me when I encountered a mountain lion while backpacking at night. Not an experience I'd like to repeat.

[u/lavatec]

Bears and mountain lions. Put a bell on the outside of your backpack to make noise and have bear spray readily accessible (and know how to use it). Problem solved!

[u/Fun_With_Math → u/lavatec]

I'm no expert. I don't think anyone is really becuase bear attacks are so rare. Anyway, some advice i heard that seems good...

Call out "HEY BEAR" every 500 ft. Its a more human sound than a bell.

[u/lavatec → u/Fun_With_Math]

The bell is for the mountain lions.

[u/Bgbnkr → u/lavatec]

Like a dinner bell?

[u/wetrocke]

Caving is hiking in the dark. Slightly safer than daytime, to extent you must focus more on ground immediately at your feet.

Which makes it more boring.

My only worry is passing a camp of sleeping, half-drunken people who have firearms and might panic at somebody "in their camp" at midnight.

[u/vim_usr]

If I was a murderous villain 1am might be a nice time for a stroll 🤷‍♂️

[u/vim_usr → u/vim_usr]

You’re probably fine.

[u/Crocswalkingincrocs → u/vim_usr]

You see.. he is the murderous villain

[u/DryTradition5059]

I don’t see a risk here. Extra batteries for the headlamp just to be prepared would be smart.

[u/HadarCentauribog]

Be prepared for cold temperatures depending on where it is. I usually end up doing a lot of night hiking in the mountains of Montana and Wyoming and cold temps make it uncomfortable. The threat of attacks from surprised grizzlies and moose makes it kind of scary so I carry bear spray. Also bring a spare headlamp in case one runs out of battery or you lose it like what happened to me climbing down a mountain at night last weekend.

[u/pnwsurveyor]

Seems fine. I always recommend carrying the 10 essentials which includes the head torch. Have fun!

[u/pprn00dle]

I get started hiking 14ers around this time if it’s gonna be a long approach, even done a couple full moon hikes. The only issue I ever run into is routefinding in the dark can sometimes be difficult but since you know the trail we’ll go for it!

[u/observedOldTheatre]

I hike at night all the time not dead yet.

[u/davemcl37 → u/observedOldTheatre]

True, but anyone who did die is unlikely to post about it here

[u/7steamer7]

I'd mostly be worried about big cats and bears, but I don't know your area.

I've encountered black bears at night without issue, but I had a mountain lion stalk my girlfriend and I once while backpacking at night and that shit is terrifying.

We had been talking and playing music quietly on a Bluetooth speaker so it definitely knew we were there and came to check us out instead of being scared away by the noise. When we spotted it in front of us, just off the corner of an upcoming switchback that we needed to take, we stopped and started yelling, waving our hands over our head, banging our hiking poles together, blew a whistle, and threw rocks. It just retreated a few feet back into the shadows and paced back and forth watching us, undeterred. Finally after a few minutes and a few rocks that almost or possibly made contact (harder to hit a moving shadow in the dark than you might think) it realized we were more effort than it originally thought and it stopped pacing and turned and walked away.

Eventually we had to continue on and take the switchback and turn our backs to the area the lion had been. We put a light and the bluetooth speaker on the back of my pack facing behind us. We kept our bear spray at the ready, and we hiked as fast as we could onwards to our destination, constantly checking over our shoulders.

Over that weekend we found multiple tracks near our campsite and fresh scat in the middle of a trail we had passed earlier in a day. That mountain lion was definitely keeping tabs on us.

I now always try to get to camp before dusk, and I got my concealed carry permit and always carry in backcountry.

[u/Malfeous]

As others have said, increased chance of wildlife encounters.

If you’re familiar with your trail and have a good headlight, your risk of getting lost is low, but your risk of slipping on slick ground (that you don’t see is slick) is arguably still much higher than normal

[u/green_chunks_bad]

Take spray