Night Hiking to Battle Cold Sleeping?

[RumpusParable]

Regardless of clothing and gear, I often still have problems with my being a very cold sleeper. I do okay a lot of the time, but was curious as to others' experiences and ideas...

Anyone ever battled cold sleeping problems with choosing to night hike often so as to be active and warm through the (usually) colder temps of nights and sleep during the (usually) warmer day temps?

I already intend to both day and night hike during my thru as I know I love both, but I'd never considered reverse circadian hiking, essentially, to help my cold sleeping body.


Anyone one else ever do this? Results? Thoughts?

[turtle fast]

Part of the AT hiking experience is the views that you would not have night hiking. In the colder months (especially if snow is on the ground) you have to be really careful to stay on trail as in night hiking it's easy to get off course. As well, in some parts if you take a wrong step.....your in for a world of hurt or worse. You also find that the trail is a very social trail and you naturally form friendships to where the social interactions at shelter spots will be a "pull" to stay. Now the night hiking idea gets more complicated when it gets warmer. I've known more than my fair share of hikers that stopped night hiking after running into many snakes nocturnally hunting as well as increased bear activity. I even knew one hiker that had a cougar run by him one night and let's say he stopped night hiking....and had to change his shorts. Hike your own hike, but unless you are really behind or have a crucial need their isn't a real need to do it. If cold, carry a Nalgene bottle and boil some water and sleep with the hot water bottle....in the morning enjoy the view.

[Mtsman]

That sounds like an interesting concept but I would just invest in better sleeping gear.

Sleeping during the day is tough (i work a night shift, check my post times lol). Finding your baring can be tough at nights and it sounds like to me, you are just trying to shirk finding the right gear for you.

But, in the spirit of HYOH, feel free to embark on your hike the way you feel is best for you.

YMMV HYOH

[saltysack]

Invest in a good head lamp and better sleep gear!! Try both


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hubcap]

the freedom of hiking your own hike. Sounds interesting. Enjoy!

[LoneStranger]

Wear sturdy boots if you give this a shot. Ballet slippers work well enough in the day time, but you'll likely be stubbing your toe and rolling your ankles more often in the dark.

[garlic08]

My wife did that one unseasonably cold night on her AT thru-hike. It made for a good story, but she didn't do it again.

[Leo L.]

... If cold, carry a Nalgene bottle and boil some water and sleep with the hot water bottle...

Good trick that works great, its also fine to do some workout (pushups?) right before slipping into the bag.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Huh, interesting in that it's the opposite from what I've heard from people here in TX and Oklahoma, who sometimes hike at night - not to escape the cold, but rather the heat and unrelenting sun. I haven't tried it yet, but may this summer. It makes sense. Hike until about 9 or 10 am when the sun gets too intense, make camp, eat, etc., sleep until 8 pm, get up and hike most of the night and into morning by headlamp. Screws up your circadian rhythm, but it's often just too hot to hike during the day.

[gpburdelljr]

Wearing a watch cap, or beanie while sleeping helps keep you warm.

[wornoutboots]

The problem I see is if it's so cold at night that you have trouble sleeping, then it's going to be close to that cold during the day, so when will you sleep? I agree to invest in a great sleep system. Good luck!

[Marta]

Multi-thru-hiker Trek does what you're talking about--wakes up cold around 3 am, gets up, and starts hiking by headlamp.

Unless you're tenting off well away from others, you will become highly unpopular if you wake everyone around you up that early in the morning.

[Coffee]

I've grown to like night hiking at times but I haven't been motivated to start early due to sleeping cold. I think that it is very important to invest in the right gear to ensure a comfortable sleep. That's really important on longer hikes. Night hiking to warm up is not a sustainable strategy for more than a couple of nights.

[Cheyou]

What is your sleep system ?

[burger]

[QUOTE=turtle fast;2036286]Part of the AT hiking experience is the views that you would not have night hiking. /QUOTE]
Ha, that's rich! Surely, you're thinking of another trail that actually has good views, not the AT.

More generally, unless you shift your sleep schedule so you are night hiking regularly, you will find that hiking while exhausted and sleep-deprived is not fun. Also, combine the rough tread and rocks on the AT with sleep deprivation, and you might find it tough to stay upright.

A much better solution is to just get warm enough sleeping gear so you can sleep in the cold. Sleep in your tent instead of a shelter, and the air around you will be around 10 degrees warmer than outside. There are a zillion easy ways to sleep warmer. Hiking all night should be a last resort, only used if you are at serious risk of hypothermia and need to move to stay warm.

[Slo-go'en]

.
Unless you're tenting off well away from others, you will become highly unpopular if you wake everyone around you up that early in the morning.

Or if you show up at a shelter at 3 AM. I heard of a group of night hikers who really pissed off a lot of people doing this.

[Tipi Walter]

The problem I see is if it's so cold at night that you have trouble sleeping, then it's going to be close to that cold during the day, so when will you sleep? I agree to invest in a great sleep system. Good luck!

Agree with wornoutboots. Upgrade your sleeping bag and pad and sleep at night.

I've grown to like night hiking at times but I haven't been motivated to start early due to sleeping cold. I think that it is very important to invest in the right gear to ensure a comfortable sleep. That's really important on longer hikes. Night hiking to warm up is not a sustainable strategy for more than a couple of nights.

Yes, Coffee is right. Get an overkill sleeping bag which can be used unzipped at 10F as a blanket/quilt and have the vital option to be zipped at 0F or -10F. A high quality down bag to -15F only weighs 3 lbs 5 ozs.

Hiking all night should be a last resort, only used if you are at serious risk of hypothermia and need to move to stay warm.

I agree with this and I've done alot of night backpacking over the years. It's fairly easily done if you have a dynamite headlamp or flashlight which puts out some real light onto the trail you are hiking, otherwise it's a drag. And so be prepared to carry beaucoup batteries to keep the spotlight high.

Of all the trails I know about, the AT is probably the easiest one to night hike as it's a well marked open boulevard vastly unlike most other trails in the Southeast. Many of the wilderness trails I hike would be impossible to follow at night. You will get lost.

But I go back to Burger's quote---Night hiking should be a last resort, especially in winter. Or in heavy fog. A headlamp is useless in a heavy mountain fog at night. And night hiking in a foot of snow is absurd as you try and find the trail.

But night hiking has its perks: You enter a dream-like state which is magical as you can't rightly see the 3,000 mountain ahead which you are climbing and so you stay in a sort of psychedelic numbness as every foot forward is special and different. But if you get lost you have to sit put til morning.

[burger]

But night hiking has its perks: You enter a dream-like state which is magical as you can't rightly see the 3,000 mountain ahead which you are climbing and so you stay in a sort of psychedelic numbness as every foot forward is special and different. But if you get lost you have to sit put til morning.

I agree with this. Also, night hiking really heightens your non-visual senses. During the day, its easy to just pay attention to what you're seeing and ingore all of the other sensory input. But at night, you become keenly aware of sounds, smells, the wind, etc. Even a trail you know well becomes completely different at night.

That said, this is a good argument for maybe trying a short hike after dark sometime, not for doing many miles at night. After a while, that novelty wears off, and you're just tired.

[Tipi Walter]

I agree with this. Also, night hiking really heightens your non-visual senses. During the day, its easy to just pay attention to what you're seeing and ingore all of the other sensory input. But at night, you become keenly aware of sounds, smells, the wind, etc. Even a trail you know well becomes completely different at night.

That said, this is a good argument for maybe trying a short hike after dark sometime, not for doing many miles at night. After a while, that novelty wears off, and you're just tired.

I remember with wistful fondness of pulling many night hikes in deep snow and entering a real alternative state of consciousness---without the need for drugs of course.

As I backpacked to my distant destination---I knew the trail very well after using it for several years to get to a mountain ridge tentsite---I postholed in the darkness and could only see the white fluff below my legs. For anyone who has flown in an airplane, it became exactly like floating above the clouds but in this case the snow was the white clouds and I was moving above with my swivel head looking down in the night. Very nice and super cool. I could care less or couldn't know if I walked a 100 feet or a mile. The mind goes into Phase Lockout while the body stays in Robot Mode.

[RumpusParable]

Okay, so I typed a so-far reply to those who had posted and it got longer than needed. So, to combat my own verbosity, summary:

Thank you to those that had good intentions!!
The reverse to those that didn't and were passive aggressive with it
Thank you to those who gave on-topic responses to what was asked!!


Love to get back to a more wordy version now about the circadian, heat, and the change in feel/headspace some get with night hike side-topics but still trying to not write a novel lol:

On the side-topic of using night hiking to avoid heat, that's something I've done. (And I shudder to repeat that I'd experience and enjoyment of night hiking and that I'd intended to do this for keeping cooler sometimes on my thru, too.) It's been really nice for me when I've done it... I especially love the winter-hell but summer-wonderful 3-6am hours. Even a few degrees down in the dark and then those nice just pre-dawn hours where it gets dewy and you can feel the moisture just in the air...

On the side-topic of dealing with our circadian rhythms, I get off easy(ish) with doing night activities as by nature I'm nocturnal. Where most babies over time settle into the normal diurnal pattern I'm in that minority that didn't. So being on night shifts or recreational reasons and then sleep in day? My body is so happy lol.

The (ish) was the flipside to that... My natural waking hours are not the norm and to live in the standard daytime pattern has always been a type of torture lol. Through just plain living this way (days awake) in early years and then with docs trying to help out in changing my cycle it's finally just left it as I have to accept it. Found ways for being up during the day as a norm, just like those who have to do night shifts reversals, and sometimes treat myself to doing what's natural for a few days or a night here or there.

On the side-topic of the feel that night hiking can give, I love just what has been described as that shift in the senses. Both the world itself and how you perceive it are changed from that of daylighting it. I love best, I think, the change in noticing sounds. Looking through my head and whether it's been trees rustling above or crunching snow under my feet it's been sound that stands out most for me in favorite differences in noticing my other senses more.

The altered perception or right-here (rather than focusing way ahead) headspace I don't get as much as during the day. Largely I'm betting that's part of the above with my being naturally more awake at night, but also I think it's tied to that I sometimes will after around 3 or so miles let or start myself dreaming during a long walk or hike (daytime or nighttime). Not always, but I enjoy it even when it's only occasional. When doing long and/or repetitive walks and hikes I find it almost essential to avoid boredom at times and it gives me motivation during daytime to do them as I still get to semi-sleep while wide awake safety-wise lol.


Anyhow, running long again. Thanks so far with the replies!