Waking up on the trail in a shelter

[Different Socks]

If you'd like to get a good night of rest and not have to worry about getting up at a particular time like before daylight, at sunrise, 8am every day, how do y'all make sure you awaken at that wanted time?

I never thought of it before b/c I basically went to sleep and got up when I wished. Yet since my accident I've noticed that I sleep much better knowing I don't have to open my eyes to look at a watch, and instead an alarm clock will go off.

How do all of you do it? I'm asking b/c I'd like to carry a small alarm clock AND still sleep in the shelters, yet there will be days when I will do long miles and wish to get up and be gone well before any others would wish to be disturbed by my clock and/or my movements from packing up to leave.

BTW, I am extremely hard of hearing, so I wouldn't be able to hear the tiny alarm on a wrist watch. And I don't want to use a phone with an alarm b/c the batteries would be used up all night long, so a small alarm clock is best for me.

So again the question is, do any of y'all use any devices to make sure you awaken at a specific time each day while on the trail? And what do you use? If you don't use devices, by what means do you have to make sure you do awaken at a specific time if needed?

[illabelle]

If you know you need to get up REALLY early, or if you expect to use the alarm clock on a regular basis, it might be best to tent. Most of us are pretty tolerant of others getting up early, but we expect them to do so quietly, so it seems like an alarm clock wouldn't go over well. It's already hard to get any actual sleep on the trail for some of us.

[perrymk]

Timex makes several vibrating alarm wrist watches. I haven't used one of them but maybe its something you might want to look in to.

[Rocket Jones]

+1 on the vibrating alarm. Test it first though, because some make a buzzing noise as they vibrate, and it's an odd enough sound and loud enough to wake others.

[magic_game03]

Are you talking shelter-shelter or are you talking like a tent-shelter?

If your talking a shelter-shelter then you are sadly misguided. Shelters are hellish places full of mice, snorers, weekend partiers, smelly hikers, people getting up all times of night to go pee (or just plain peeing in bottles in their bags), and people who are going to give you the evil-eye if you try to put some kind of alarm clock in the shelter and those are the starters.

I suspect an alarm clock in a shelter will earn you a few rocks in the backpack or a pad lock on one of your pack loop straps.

[Pedaling Fool]

Personally, I see this as an opportunity to work on your internal alarm clock; we all have it. I can concentrate on a certain time while going to bed and wake up at that time, regardless how far off it is from my "normal" wake-up time. What better time to work on this than on the AT?

[Matthikes]

Yeah, I wouldn't do the alarm clock in a shelter. If you must use an alarm it would be advisable to tent away from the shelter to be polite.

+1 on the internal alarm clock. I tend to wake up with the dawn when sleeping in the woods. Internal alarm or no.

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[Shonryu]

I use my cellphone and have it set to vibrate and just keep it in my pocket when I'm sleeping. The only person who knows its going off is me.

The way you conserve battery life on your phone is by disabling voice and data services which you should be doing anyways and turning it back on when you need it. At most my phone may use 5% of battery life while sleeping. I carry an external back up battery to charge mine so battery life has never been an issue for me.

[kayak karl]

internal or not ? i don't own an alarm clock. never have. i just wake up in time to go to work (5:30-6:00). if you want to get up early i agree to start before you go. on the trail (vacation time) i like to sleep in till 7

[Different Socks]

Several of you said, "out of courtesy" I should tent so as to not wake others if I use an alarm clock. Pardon me for saying this, AMAZING!!!
So let me get this straight, I have a severe handicap, and I am supposed to accommodate others? Shouldn't that be the other way around?
As for other suggestions, thanks for the idea on the vibe watch and the info on battery use for a vibe setting on the phone.

[BobTheBuilder]

So let me get this straight, I have a severe handicap, and I am supposed to accommodate others? Shouldn't that be the other way around?

Geez, feel entitled much? If you could just post when and where you'll be hiking, I'll make sure to accomodate you by being nowhere nearby.

[ALLEGHENY]

Drink some water before you sleep. You will get up at some point. Adjust the amount of water to your bodies cycle.

[WingedMonkey]

On the rare occasions that I just have to get up early on the trail, I drink an extra amount of water beyond what I might just to cover transpiration.

I have to get up, and then don't crawl back in the sack.

[Lone Wolf]

Several of you said, "out of courtesy" I should tent so as to not wake others if I use an alarm clock. Pardon me for saying this, AMAZING!!!
So let me get this straight, I have a severe handicap, and I am supposed to accommodate others? Shouldn't that be the other way around?
As for other suggestions, thanks for the idea on the vibe watch and the info on battery use for a vibe setting on the phone.

folks are very territorial when it comes to shelters. i say if you wanna stay in one then by all means have your alarm. there's thousands of acres of land around shelters for others to camp

[magic_game03]

Geez, feel entitled much? If you could just post when and where you'll be hiking, I'll make sure to accomodate you by being nowhere nearby.

+1

Holy #@&!, your deaf and you're calling that a 'severe handicap.' So now everybody else has to listen to your bullhorn alarm clock every morning?

[Pedaling Fool]

Several of you said, "out of courtesy" I should tent so as to not wake others if I use an alarm clock. Pardon me for saying this, AMAZING!!!
So let me get this straight, I have a severe handicap, and I am supposed to accommodate others? Shouldn't that be the other way around?
As for other suggestions, thanks for the idea on the vibe watch and the info on battery use for a vibe setting on the phone.

This is the point where we start our downhill descent

[Different Socks]

+1

Holy #@&!, your deaf and you're calling that a 'severe handicap.' So now everybody else has to listen to your bullhorn alarm clock every morning?

Yes, they may have to, to answer your question!

I have seen it that almost everyone I meet will go out their way to accommodate a person whom is totally deaf, because to talk they have to get their attention first before they even talk to them. BUT, the same is not done for a person like me that has a hearing deficit and yet wears hearing aids. WHY? B/c those with normal hearing believe that like glasses, the hearing aids bring my level of hearing up to theirs.
So again, I ask, why should I be forced to sleep in a tent when I'd rather sleep in a shelter, just because I would have to accommodate others with good hearing?

[Lone Wolf]

Yes, they may have to, to answer your question!

I have seen it that almost everyone I meet will go out their way to accommodate a person whom is totally deaf, because to talk they have to get their attention first before they even talk to them. BUT, the same is not done for a person like me that has a hearing deficit and yet wears hearing aids. WHY? B/c those with normal hearing believe that like glasses, the hearing aids bring my level of hearing up to theirs.
So again, I ask, why should I be forced to sleep in a tent when I'd rather sleep in a shelter, just because I would have to accommodate others with good hearing?

shelters are first come, first served. if there's room, it's your right to stay in it. don't let anyone bully you

[magic_game03]

Yes, they may have to, to answer your question...
...So again, I ask, why should I be forced to sleep in a tent when I'd rather sleep in a shelter, just because I would have to accommodate others with good hearing?

I don't think anybody here said you shouldn't sleep in a shelter, maybe you need your eyes checked too! But it's called common courtesy, human decency, respect for others that should make you think, 'hey I out hiking on the Appalachian Trail, maybe I don't need to wake everybody in a 200 yard radius of the shelter just because I feel the need to wake up at a certain time." Apparently you don't have any of that!

[kennajm]

Several of you said, "out of courtesy" I should tent so as to not wake others if I use an alarm clock. Pardon me for saying this, AMAZING!!!
So let me get this straight, I have a severe handicap, and I am supposed to accommodate others? Shouldn't that be the other way around?
As for other suggestions, thanks for the idea on the vibe watch and the info on battery use for a vibe setting on the phone.

Yea, I'll bite on this. Why does being deaf prevent you from sleeping in a tent again? I'd be annoyed if I heard an alarm louder than a watch alarm in a shelter, and god help you if you snoozed it. But if you walked around with this attitude of entitlement on the trail I'd probably do my best to get away from you, so it wouldn't be my problem anyway.