Sprucing Up Your Night Hike

Friday, October 14th, 2011

For the casual hiker, even the title of this article alone might have raised a few flags. “A night hike? How on Earth would you do something like that?” If you’ve been one of those hikers who looks to make their way back to a car before the sun totally sets, you’re missing out on half of the day. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few ways to spruce up a night hike – and make it a lot less scary.

-Bring someone with you.

Night hiking can be a bit creepy – after all, you’re out there in the wilderness with nothing but silver moonlight and the sound of a million bugs you can’t even see. But if you bring someone with you – such as a family member or a close friend – the entire dynamic changes completely. Instead of looking to avoid the environment, you’ll start asking yourself how you can make it more interesting.

-Bring entertainment.

A way to get your mind off of the, for lack of a better term, “nightness” is simply to bring something that can entertain you along the journey. Yes, you’re traveling, and yes, there’s no light out, so you’ll have to get a little creative. A glow-in-the-dark frisbee, for example, will give you something to do with every step that you take. If you’re out in the night alone, you can use this frisbee as a way to inspire yourself forward: throw your frisbee to one spot on the trail, and work towards getting to that spot. Before you know it, you’ll be home free.

-GPS.

While GPS isn’t exactly fun (unless you’re a true navigation nerd like myself), it will brighten your spirits up to know exactly where you are at any given time. It takes away the worry typically associated with navigating by night, helping to put your mind at ease even when it’s tough to find visual landmarks to navigate yourself back home. A GPS watch can be worn around the wrist, and an LCD display will make it easy to read. You’ll also be able to stay ahead of the weather with an advanced GPS watch, keeping an eye on the barometer to see if rain is going to fall soon. That’s something that you typically can’t get with the naked eye at night.

-Practice.

Night hiking can be a bit creepy the first couple of times you try it, but with experience, it becomes the norm. If you’ve ever done any type of exercise at night, you know what kind of eerie focus the lack of stimulation can give you. It’s simply not the same as the day. But if you’re consistent, you’ll eventually be as comfortable hiking at night – even by yourself – as you are in the daylight.

Photo Credits: grabadonut

Keeping Away the Creepy Crawlers While Camping

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

If there’s one thing that can quickly turn a nice camping trip into a miserable one, it’s an overabundance of bugs. Yeah, bugs – you know the ones I’m talking about – those creepy-crawly, overly-juicy, quick-footed insects that can get inside your tent or even your sleeping bag and cause a lot of ruckus with just a little bit of presence.

Part of you knows that heading into the great outdoors is the reason you should expect to see bugs. But you can minimize the experience you have with them if you follow just a few simple tips and tricks.

Create a home base in your tent. If you want a refuge from your bugs, you’re going to need a good home base, where everything is sealed off from nature – except the air, of course. Take some time to put up your tent before a camping trip to make sure that it’s clean, dry, and doesn’t have any holes in it – for now, you can plug up holes with some duct tape in order to seal out bugs. Make sure to clean out the tent to get rid of any already-existing bugs, and always make sure that you close your door right after you use it, so nothing crawls in with you.

Come equipped with bug spray. Mosquitoes are among the worst “bugs” that can really irritate you during a camping trip. They don’t gross many people out, but they can wreak the most havoc on the good time you’re trying to have. So make sure you pack at least a full can of bug spray – you’ll really find that you need it when the sun drops in the sky and the mosquitoes start coming out.

Don’t let the fear of bugs get in the way of having a good time. Realize that many of the bugs you encounter will be harmless, unless you’re in an exotic location in which case you’ll want to do more research and seek more advice on how to beat them. If you do find a bug or two inside your tent, use some tissues and get rid of it. It’s that simple.

Photo Credits: Kevin Saff