If you must use a light, the best way to preserve your night vision is still the old fashioned way; use a red light.
Personnel markers
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If you must use a light, the best way to preserve your night vision is still the old fashioned way; use a red light.
I have one of these Petzl lights on my pack. It has two modes. Single solid red or triple flashing red LEDS. I've used it for nights out when I leave camp and I set it to flash on my pack. Also comes with an elastic strap as a headlight. Single red provides good night illumination without screwing up my night vision.
Even better as it was free as a sample from the rep.
Even better as it was free as a sample from the rep.
Because if you dont use a torch you will be rewarded with sights and sounds that will leave wonderful memories that last a lifetime, sights that you would never have seen if you were using a torch and sights that the daytime only wanderer will never see. To be out at night seeing the countryside bathed in moonlight, using the shadows to get close to wildlife, noticing the silhouettes and skylines, watching white cloud drift across the nightsky on a brisk wind, and all accompanied by the various night sounds, is a real delight. Shining a light will scare any wildlife away, even a dim light can be seen from a long distance. I have many times crept along the shadows of a woodside watching deer/badgers/foxes/rabbits & hares in an adjacent field bathed in moonlight and approaching with a torch would have scared them away long before I ever got close to them, likewise I have many times glanced up into the trees and saw various birds silhouetted against the sky, a torch would have scared them off too. At night the more you use a torch the more you will want to use a torch, the second its turned off everything seems really dark and it tempts you to turn the torch back on again. If you want to just bash along or run or if you are a clumsy walker then a torch may be useful, however if you are observant and walk steady and you want to savour a wonderful experience then a torch can be a hindrance not a help. It doesnt stop you carrying one in your pocket for emergencies.
I have one of these Petzl lights on my pack. It has two modes. Single solid red or triple flashing red LEDS. I've used it for nights out when I leave camp and I set it to flash on my pack. Also comes with an elastic strap as a headlight. Single red provides good night illumination without screwing up my night vision.
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Even better as it was free as a sample from the rep.
Those are real good and light in weight; guardian lights are the same. They are great to tag bergens and bodies with for ease of seeing!
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I'm with you on this; recently I escaped to Snowdonia for a week. Staying out on the hills and having a good moon meant no real need for torchlight until setting up camp and cooking. Still amazes me how much you can see with moonlight and how our eyes adjust.
Even in woodland, it opens up a new world
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All sounds very romantic.
Not sure how romantic it would be if you tripped, broke and ankle and was laid up in bed for 6 weeks though.
It's not like you can't have all of that with a torch, as i say it's not like you're suddenly immersed into a tunnel the second you turn the torch on, you still have peripheral vision, you can still see " silhouettes and skylines" and "the countryside bathed in moonlight"
I have lots and lots of great memories hiking at night with a torch, i think you are dramatising the effect a torch has, i've spotted everything from foxes and hares to beers with a torch it really is no less romantic than you are describing without a torch.
It's not a white/black choice either, on a bright cloudless night on a mountainside it's pretty amazing how well you can see.
On a dark cloudy night in the woods it's a completely different matter though.
As Julia said the trips are woods based i think it's important to make that distinction.
It's also telling that personnel markers are needed, if the vision is good enough to walk without extra illumination then in my experience it's bright enough to spot the guy/gal in front of you even 50m+ away.
End of the day we are all adults here and do our own risk assessments based upon our experiences and knowledge.
For me personally given the parameters in the first post i think it's dangerous to walk without illumination, this is based upon my own personal experiences of trying it.
So i thought i would voice those opinions and experiences so Julia could take them on-board, or completely ignore them as she wishes.
Struggling to get my head round this.
So you felt there was enough light from the moon to hike and extremely rocky, treacherous and downright dangerous trails, but NOT enough to setup a tent or cook by
Having successfully hunted rabbits and deer (in a younger, more rebellious time of my life) I can tell you this isn't true. Most animals freeze when spotlighted and make easy targets.
In winter we are often out on trap lines. We choose light nights if we can and never use torch or headlights. Your eyes get used to the dark and the brain gets used to listening to the sound of your partners out front or behind to tell you where they are. Sound is very, very important at night Once you use a torch you've destroyed your own vision and that of your travelling companions. ?Then you crash and trip. Even on the darkest nights obstructions can be avoided if you know the ground you travel on. And by bending lower and looking through trees from lower down helps silhouette them against the darkest of skies.
But a light is handy when setting up camp. Things like looking for small objects in packs or seeing what you are trying to cook are often too difficult on darker nights to not use lights, especially before you get a fire going.
But a light is handy when setting up camp. Things like looking for small objects in packs or seeing what you are trying to cook are often too difficult on darker nights to not use lights, especially before you get a fire going.
Struggling to get my head round this.
So you felt there was enough light from the moon to hike and extremely rocky, treacherous and downright dangerous trails, but NOT enough to setup a tent or cook by
I wasn't hiking extremely rocky treacherous and downright dangerous trails...
I was on the plateaus of the gliderau and carnedds. One night I came down from Snowdon off the pig track and crossed down to the miners track by headtorch on the scree. Switched off to follow the motorway to pen y pass... Perfectly feasible.
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Well having successfully hunted and catched thousands of rabbits myself (and a great number of other animals too) for over forty years I can tell you it is true. If you spotlight an area too often the rabbits and deer and foxes too wise up to this tactic and take flight immediately a spotlight scans the field, rabbits and deer that are spotlighted very little do sometimes freeze because they are not wise to the danger. Rabbits, deer and foxes too that are spotlighted regular will clear a field immediately they see the spotlight. Your comment only proves your lack of experience, it is wrong to say most freeze, those hunted little sometimes do, those hunted often rarely do.
actually you are, when you turn a torch on you can see very little outside of the torch's light until your eyes re-adjust, it destroys your night vision instantly and the area outside of the torchlight becomes very dark, darker than it really is, your peripheral vision is totally ruined by torchlight. When you turn a torch on you are indeed immersed into the world of torchlight only and anything outside that becomes a world of blackness until your eyes re-adjust again.
A little over 50 years experience. At least on rabbit and deer. Re the other species, we never spotlighted and shot them as such. Foxes and coons were always chased with dogs (likewise at night) Once treed, somebody would climb the tree to shake them out for the dogs, or a single well placed shot with a 22LR to wound them and cause them to fall out to the dogs.
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Yep. FAA info teaches to wait at least 30 minutes for your eyes to readjust after exposure to white light.
True enough, I decided to quit breaking the law, so I no longer shoot them (rabbit and deer at night) Don't even carry a gun on my night hikes apart from my defense handgun. I do still get a few hikes in at night and the rabbits and deer still act as they always have. Many of my friends that still practice it as well with the same results now as we had when I did it.
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Back to the original OP the sheath from off cuts of paracord grips many of the fishing litesticks pretty well. Mate and I have often used them ties to guy lines in dark camps to avoid tripping. You just stick the end of the stick in the sheath tube and hold and pull to tighten.
Like it! Another great tip there, thanks Goatboy! Im sure the OP will have more ideas than ever from the posts!
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Hi,
The way scouts used to (and may still do for all I know) keep a moving group together in the dark was for each person to stay aware of where the person behind them was. If contact was broken the scout behind stopped and the scout in front retraced their steps. Simple. The bright yellow neckerchiefs helped mind you.
The way scouts used to (and may still do for all I know) keep a moving group together in the dark was for each person to stay aware of where the person behind them was. If contact was broken the scout behind stopped and the scout in front retraced their steps. Simple. The bright yellow neckerchiefs helped mind you.
