Re: Activities for flashaholics; My flashaholic camping trip
I start writing this and I did not even start unpacking my equipment.
I sais I'd do it and I did… I'm fortunate enough to have a flashaholic cousin who also happens to like walking in the woods at night. Every year we go camping to a park with over 5.5 kilometers of perfect trails just for that, much more than 10 kilometers of new trails in total darkness criss-crossing each other, a gorge along one of the main paths and one of, if not THE longest pedestrian suspended bridge in north America.
The best feature of this place is two observation towers about a mile apart, in the middle of the two main trails and in plain sight of each other. We would have been idiots not to try what you're thinking about,
but I'm keeping that for last…:nana: (if you don't have any idea of what I think you're thinking about, then I can't consider you a real flashaholic) :whoopin:
One thing I noticed during this camping trip compared to last year is that a lot more people seem to have decent lights. I didn't walk over or ask any questions, but I'm guessing that close to 20% other campers had some LED light in between 45 to 100 lumen as opposed to only one or two people I came across last year. This was a 2 day camping trip and last year I was out camping close to 10 days in total. My guess is there should be a boom in decent light usage by next year on camping grounds.
First off:
Equipment.
Since I still owe money to him, my cousin has pretty much the same equipment I do… I've been ordering his gear as payment (is using flashlights as payment a sign of flashaholism??)
Equipment we each have (multiply by 2 and you get the picture):
- Over 300$ worth of cheaper LED lights and headlamps (mostly Rayovac and Terralux, worth around 30$ each) ranging from 45 to 150 lumen… we didn't use any of those except 3 for a quick comparison.
Fenix lights:
L2D
PD30
>>>TK11 R2
50mW green pointing laser
10X50 binoculars (enlarges by 10 times)
walkie talkies
Fenix lights only I have (for now anyways):
E0
L0D
>>>Tk40
Fenix headband
I didn't tell him I had a TK40 even though I bought it about 2 months ago… I just wanted to see his reaction… well worth the torturing wait.
SECOND
A brief history
My cousin first went to that park I'd say about five years ago or so, with an old friend of his. Back then they went walking the trails at night without any lights :candle: or equipment at all. :thinking: We now wonder how they did it, but some of the trails have changed a lot since then. One of the trails was much more challenging that it is now, but that one was closed and bypassed because of a landslide. Unfortunate, because that was quite a thrill, especially with lights out.
(An idea of what you would face at night - Just the flash from the camera)
I first went there 3 years ago with both of them, soon after buying my first flashlight in years, and my first headlamp ever. We had tons of beer :drunk: and walked the paths from sunset to sunrise. All we had where first generation LED lights and my krypton lights. Last year we had our first actually reasonnable LED flashlights and still walked from sunset to sunrise. The second time we went last year, we had now over 300$ worth of flashlights each. This time around, we could actually do a rescue mission… or confuse airplanes…
MY FLASHAHOLIC CAMPING TRIP
Even though the weather wasn't the best, we found enough time to go out and do our testing. It was cloudy all the time and it rained lightly very often and one night it poured… always bring earplugs on a camping trip! (and a rain poncho, extra socks, shoes, blablabla you get the idea)
As I mentioned there are two observation towers there and they always constitute our primary objective. We have nicknamed them Sun tower and Moon tower. According to measurements made from Google Earth, these towers are 0.97 miles apart (1.57 kilometers) and so constitute the perfect testing ground for a flashaholic.
On the second night (I'm keeping the juice for last) we went up the trail to the moon tower, carying only minimal gear (all our fenix lights and a Rayovac) and an umbrella.
Going up the path, I experimented with my Fenix headband. I find this is the perfect headlamp for multipe reasons:
1- It can accommodate a very large number of flashlights, so it is configurable at will.
2- The light is coming off the side of you head rather than your forehead and that has a few advantages: condensation is not right in front of your sight, so you don't have to walk through a breath cloud before you can see the road again. And if you wear glasses, other types of headlamps often cause glare, although shorter lights like the PD30 can cause some glare. I use my L2D and bring it forward as much as possible. You can also aim it more to the center or either sides by sliding the light forward or backwatd (unless you've got a square head!)
3- You can put 2 rather than just one light on at the same time
4- It allows to light two different areas (close / far / left / right) at the same time
5- You can use any filters you wish if they fit your flashlight, so no need to compromise between main and secondary lighting for one headlamp
6- Two separate lights mean no need to change batteries right away if one light fails
The L2D and PD30 are nice lights for hiking, but the contrast between the center spot and spill kinda bothered me, as we needed to spot puddles a lot, so I made an experiment which completely changed my mindset for a hiking light. I will still keep at least a L2D or PD30 on my headband, but I discovered that a nice flood light can be much better for negociating subtler obstacles.
I used a Rayovac Sportsman 100lumen which doesn't quite offer a very wide range in between flood and spot to my liking, but at least can light wide enough for the path. If anyone has a good suggestion for something that can replace that light and has multiple settings, my ears (err… eyes) are wide open, although I'll probably wait next year to see what's coming out (hey, I spent over 600$ on lights this year alone 
)
So, on the way up, we also played like little kids with our brand new 50mW green lasers. We also found original ways to light the path: point it at your hand and you get a really nice green flood light for close range. When you get tired of holding your hand up, you can also point it under your chin. For a restricted spot, pointing it inside your mouth also works fine (no, we don't do drugs and I only had 2 beers…. We just had too much flashahol… remember this was night 2 on flashahol) Aside from light effects with pine trees and wild grass, we also found out that daysies become a very bright light source with a green laser… don't hope to keep your night vision with that one, though.
A little before arriving at the tower, we did a test with the TK11, and unknown to my cousin at that point, the TK40. Standing about 200-300 feet from each other, and at 60 lumen, the TK11 will let you see your target pretty nicely, provided there is no objects around that can confuse you. On turbo, your target can do a palm reading on himself (next time we will bring a newspaper of even a page from the dictionnary and a tape measure). With our testing parameters (complete darkness), if you point a TK11 on turbo in someone's face, there is no way they can see you even if they point you back with the same light or even a TK40. We also had some fun pointing our lasers towards each other. For safety, the target kept a light on so we didn't hit each other in the eyes. As we where a little in a hurry to get back because of the humidity and the cold, I didn't experiment the feeling myself, but my cousin did ask me to turn that damn light off after I had been pointing the TK40 on him for a minute or so.
When we first started our flashaholism, we had one question in mind: could a strong enough light save your life from a charging bear. After doing some research, we found 3 posts (can't remember if any of them where on here). One guy had some 30 to 60 lumen light (likely a surefire) and pointed it at a charging mama bear one night, who turned away immediately. Another one pointed some 30-40 lumen light at a charging moose who quit right away. I believe that in the brear case, the distance was around 50 feet and in the moose case, that was a very very close call… almost point blank. If these are true tales, then my only worry about bear attacks are to keep my light in a stupid pouch with which I won't have to struggle to take it out (I am refering to the pouch provided with the TK11… but maybe I should try without the cigar hold ring). Anyhow, I got some leather and will now start making my own holsters, including one for my TK40.
From the moon tower, there is a very large clearing about 7-8 minute walking distance from there. Because of the rain and all the hiking from the previous night, we didn't dare split and go walk on it, so we should be doing a more official test later this year. I'll skip right to the point: this tower is over 60 feet tall from the ground up and we tried the TK11R2 and TK40 from the top to the ground and to the plain. A regular PD30 will let you identify anyone around the tower no problem…. BUT… with a TK11 you should be able to note any unusual feature (birthmark, mole, black eye, etc…) or read the newspaper on the ground no problem… provided you have the eyesight for it. Anyhow, the guy on the ground will be able to read a newspaper if you light him up with a TK11 from 60 feet high (in almost complete darkness to start with) and might even ask you to turn it down a little. I'm still trying to figure out how come the general mode for the TK11R2 is rated at 60 lumen and still beats anything else I own but the TK40… I had waited untill we where both standing on the same tower to whip it out and just casually start pointing it around. After getting used to his TK11, he immediately noticed a very different beam coming from over his shoulder, and immediately turned around. He tried to identify it before asking what it was, but I think the spill was getting in his eyes, because he should have known right then and there. At that point I pointed it to the ground which surprised both of us :huh… ok, so here is what we found about the TK40… not having a meter with me, I would have to say that the immediate area around the tower I pointed at looked the same as it does during daytime :naughty:. We pointed it at the plain, well over 300 feet away and despite the unusually bright beam from all the humidity we can confirm that someone standing there could possibly see a faint shadow… we'll just have to try that out more in detail next time around.
I don't care what others say… if you can get used to the size and weight (I don't seem to have a problem with that at all,) the TK40 is an awesome light for hiking. I hold it underhand with my arm hanging down and boy can you see where you are going! The main spot is perfect for a trail as large as a horse riding trail, and the spill will let you know if there is any crossing trails. I haven't been on a trail straight enough to not be able to see trees straight ahead of me. I just can't imagine a way to use that as a headlamp that doesn't require a hard hat or harness…:thinking:
FIRST NIGHT
On the second day, it had been raining all afternoon until 10 something, but on the first night started heading for the sun tower just around sunset.
From the path along the bottom of the gorge, we could see the suspended bridge and couldn't resist pointing at it with our lasers. I have not idea what the distance might be, but I have to estimate well over 700 feet and we could see the dot too easily …. Anyone in sight of the bridge must have seen it.
(Yep, we hit the bridge exactly at that distance)
We made our way to the tower and had some fun with our TK11's and lasers, but apparently flashahol makes you lose any concept of time, as an hour and a half passed by like 10 minutes. We then decided it was time to split and make the ultimate test. My cousin volunteered to go to the other tower (I am kinda wondering why now, since, to be polite, he doen't have the best sense of orientation) I waited for over an hour playing with my lights, looking at the only stars that came out during the whole weekend and spying over, trying to spot him walking by the clearing before he got to the moon tower. I had plenty of time to practice my shot. My sense of time came back, so I actually looked in time to spot a faint green light in front of the plain with my binoculars and started pointing my laser in front of him.
(As seen from the Sun tower: circle = the moon tower arrow = where my cousin was standing... you need a very steady hand to point there!)
Since I don't have the steady hand of a sniper, he saw some green light effects all around him and turned on his walkie talkie. We experimented a little while he was resting and he then proceeded to the tower. At 0.97 miles, a 45 lumen light is largely more than enough to be spotted. Since it was cloudy and this park is actually in the city (I call it a village, but you would think you're in the deep woods when you're walking the paths) so we had just enough ambient light pollution to see the things we put on the ground. On top of it, right behind me was a downhill street with about 7-10 lights on it. We had tried this experiment 2 years ago with first generation LED lights and my first krypton lights (which I had originally said where the very last flashlights I'll ever need… sounds funny now, 700$ later) but since the guy who went to the sun tower had nothing more than a first generation LED headlamp, we never knew where to look :candle:. This time, my cousin (the guy with poor orientation) could not miss the TK11, even on general mode and right in front of street lights. Actually even a regular green LED from a headlamp was really visible with the naked eye. I originally needed binoculars to spot him because he was on a path perpendicular to me. We then proceeded to experiment with the lasers. Since the clouds where reflecting so much of the city lights, this is by no means an accurate or definitive experiment. I even lost my own beam in the cloud cover, but we could very easily spot each other's beams at an angle of 45 degrees. You can't miss the beam if it's coming straight at you (well, oscillating in your direction since we're not snipers) One thing is for sure, if you're in a battle zone, take the batteries our of your laser! Because of the oscillation we actually did hit each other in the eyes, for probably a tenth of a second and I don't believe that causes eye damage, since it didn't hurt at all. Actually, the light from the TK11 was more annoying than that very bief flash . Yes, at a mile distance it was a little annoying to look at… not enough to look away, but enough to not want to look at it for no reason at all. With the binoculars, it was annoying period. I wanted my cousin to start asking questions, so I flashed him with my TK11 on turbo a few times and told him so, and then turned on the TK40 that he still didn't know about. He immediately commented "that light is damn bright!". I can only guess it wasn't too much fun to look into even at that distance (it was night, though) No other lights around could compete with ours, even car lights on the roads where extremely dim in comparison, even though they are pointed down (but because of the configuration for the purpose, I am very certain that the TK11 seems brighter at that distance if you point both exactly at the target). I can only guess someone looking out the window in the right direction must have wondered what was going on. For that matter, just the spill from the TK11 in general mode or even a L2D at one mile distance was waaaaaaayyyyy too easy to spot and can get you killed in a battle field. I insist; No kidding. In my case, I'll keep them handy in case I end up in bear country.
We had originally planned for me to walk over and join him on the Moon tower for the closer range tests, but I had been feeling some light drizzle for a while by then, so we figured we'd meet at the camp and take it from there (it was now 12:40). I had no problem getting back since I'm used to walk around dark woods. I was expecting to arrive at the camp second since I was the furthest away, but got there first. At that point, the drizzle became a light rain and got heavier and heavier. My cousin "Mr. Compass", "kinda" got lost. I have to admit that the map installed by the park at the cross-road just before the moon tower has a MAJOR mistake on it. If you follow exactly what it says, you end up taking a 10 kilometer tree-covered hiking trail, which crosses dozens of other snowshoeing and bicycle trails, instead of a 1.4 kilometer trail. :sigh: I think I'll point that out to the administration next time… I just can't make too strong a point that it's a survival question since we're NOT supposed to go up the trails at night (good… more trail for us…but if I do come across someone there at night using premium lights, I will ask for their CPF nickname) Anywho, my cousin ended up walking in the woods, the real thing, but at least not bear country, and was turning in circles. Fortunately he came back to the same place after a while, so he tried another path. The other mistake is that the map is always shown the same way and not aligned with the cardinal points, so you have to guess which trail is which.:shakehead In the daytime like you're supposed to, it might not pose too big of a problem. If you turn your TK40 on , you will likely spot the little post hidden behind the map which names the paths with an arrow and still repeats the same mistake I pointed out earlier, plus adding one more confusing point. So here is Mr. Compass reading faulty indications, coming down a different trail, but now at least coming down. At one point, the trail is more like tons of spaces between the trees and it can be very hard to guess if you're on the trail or not, even during the day. He hit a point where he had to go back, but there where fallen trees in front of him, which he never came across before. He had been trying to find his way for a looong while now (I had been waiting for so long I got my walking poles and decided to go look in case he slipped and hurt himself… I couldn't get a hold of him on the walkie-talkie since he was on the other side of the mountain) and the rain was pretty much a pour by now (he was fortunate enough to have taken an umbrella with him). At this stage, he briefly considered panicking, but knew that would be stupid since he had enough lights on him to last a whole week, and couldn't suffer from dehydration since all he had to do was to open his mouth. The only thing that ticked him off was the idea of having to wait until after sunrise for someone to walk by and then having to explain how or why he got lost
. He did find his way and I got hold of him on the walkie talkie just in time before I engaged on the trail. I just couldn't resist hiding behind a wall on an unlit camping road and flashed my TK11 on him at about 100 feet while screaming "STOP! FBI!"…. well worth getting myself soaked for ten minutes…
All in all, I brought over 700$ worth of lights (over 20 flashlights) and only used 4 of them. Because of the rain, we didn't do all the testing we'd like to, so we are supposed to go back this summer. Last time we brought all of our lights (last year) we had a non-flashaholic friend with us bring his camera and put all of our lights in one of the towers. I could hear dogs bark a miles away, so we hurried up before someone called the police. We where real busy putting lights right for the picture and waiting for the third guy to take it. We then hurried to turn them off only to be told afterwards "I don't know if the picture will show anything… but you should have come down to have a look, it was so beautiful!" :scowl: 
:whoopin: 
Useless to say, we didn't call him this time around. Our next plan is to try before-after pictures with a single light from tower to tower, and also lighting up both towers with all our lights (AND take a pictures). TALK ABOUT SEVERE FLASHAHOLISM! Even I can admit that! I just hope we can get our hands on a camera that will show the lights, but if it shows city lights from afar, it will do nicely.
We are updating our equipment list to make actual tests with real measurements and next time, we'll make sure there are no clouds around, so we can take our time...
To be continued sometime this year…
I start writing this and I did not even start unpacking my equipment.
I sais I'd do it and I did… I'm fortunate enough to have a flashaholic cousin who also happens to like walking in the woods at night. Every year we go camping to a park with over 5.5 kilometers of perfect trails just for that, much more than 10 kilometers of new trails in total darkness criss-crossing each other, a gorge along one of the main paths and one of, if not THE longest pedestrian suspended bridge in north America.
The best feature of this place is two observation towers about a mile apart, in the middle of the two main trails and in plain sight of each other. We would have been idiots not to try what you're thinking about,
but I'm keeping that for last…:nana: (if you don't have any idea of what I think you're thinking about, then I can't consider you a real flashaholic) :whoopin:One thing I noticed during this camping trip compared to last year is that a lot more people seem to have decent lights. I didn't walk over or ask any questions, but I'm guessing that close to 20% other campers had some LED light in between 45 to 100 lumen as opposed to only one or two people I came across last year. This was a 2 day camping trip and last year I was out camping close to 10 days in total. My guess is there should be a boom in decent light usage by next year on camping grounds.
First off:
Equipment.
Since I still owe money to him, my cousin has pretty much the same equipment I do… I've been ordering his gear as payment (is using flashlights as payment a sign of flashaholism??)
Equipment we each have (multiply by 2 and you get the picture):
- Over 300$ worth of cheaper LED lights and headlamps (mostly Rayovac and Terralux, worth around 30$ each) ranging from 45 to 150 lumen… we didn't use any of those except 3 for a quick comparison.
Fenix lights:
L2D
PD30
>>>TK11 R2
50mW green pointing laser
10X50 binoculars (enlarges by 10 times)
walkie talkies
Fenix lights only I have (for now anyways):
E0
L0D
>>>Tk40
Fenix headband
I didn't tell him I had a TK40 even though I bought it about 2 months ago… I just wanted to see his reaction… well worth the torturing wait.
SECOND
A brief history
My cousin first went to that park I'd say about five years ago or so, with an old friend of his. Back then they went walking the trails at night without any lights :candle: or equipment at all. :thinking: We now wonder how they did it, but some of the trails have changed a lot since then. One of the trails was much more challenging that it is now, but that one was closed and bypassed because of a landslide. Unfortunate, because that was quite a thrill, especially with lights out.
(An idea of what you would face at night - Just the flash from the camera)
I first went there 3 years ago with both of them, soon after buying my first flashlight in years, and my first headlamp ever. We had tons of beer :drunk: and walked the paths from sunset to sunrise. All we had where first generation LED lights and my krypton lights. Last year we had our first actually reasonnable LED flashlights and still walked from sunset to sunrise. The second time we went last year, we had now over 300$ worth of flashlights each. This time around, we could actually do a rescue mission… or confuse airplanes…
MY FLASHAHOLIC CAMPING TRIP
Even though the weather wasn't the best, we found enough time to go out and do our testing. It was cloudy all the time and it rained lightly very often and one night it poured… always bring earplugs on a camping trip! (and a rain poncho, extra socks, shoes, blablabla you get the idea)
As I mentioned there are two observation towers there and they always constitute our primary objective. We have nicknamed them Sun tower and Moon tower. According to measurements made from Google Earth, these towers are 0.97 miles apart (1.57 kilometers) and so constitute the perfect testing ground for a flashaholic.
On the second night (I'm keeping the juice for last) we went up the trail to the moon tower, carying only minimal gear (all our fenix lights and a Rayovac) and an umbrella.
Going up the path, I experimented with my Fenix headband. I find this is the perfect headlamp for multipe reasons:
1- It can accommodate a very large number of flashlights, so it is configurable at will.
2- The light is coming off the side of you head rather than your forehead and that has a few advantages: condensation is not right in front of your sight, so you don't have to walk through a breath cloud before you can see the road again. And if you wear glasses, other types of headlamps often cause glare, although shorter lights like the PD30 can cause some glare. I use my L2D and bring it forward as much as possible. You can also aim it more to the center or either sides by sliding the light forward or backwatd (unless you've got a square head!)
3- You can put 2 rather than just one light on at the same time
4- It allows to light two different areas (close / far / left / right) at the same time
5- You can use any filters you wish if they fit your flashlight, so no need to compromise between main and secondary lighting for one headlamp
6- Two separate lights mean no need to change batteries right away if one light fails
The L2D and PD30 are nice lights for hiking, but the contrast between the center spot and spill kinda bothered me, as we needed to spot puddles a lot, so I made an experiment which completely changed my mindset for a hiking light. I will still keep at least a L2D or PD30 on my headband, but I discovered that a nice flood light can be much better for negociating subtler obstacles.
I used a Rayovac Sportsman 100lumen which doesn't quite offer a very wide range in between flood and spot to my liking, but at least can light wide enough for the path. If anyone has a good suggestion for something that can replace that light and has multiple settings, my ears (err… eyes) are wide open, although I'll probably wait next year to see what's coming out (hey, I spent over 600$ on lights this year alone )So, on the way up, we also played like little kids with our brand new 50mW green lasers. We also found original ways to light the path: point it at your hand and you get a really nice green flood light for close range. When you get tired of holding your hand up, you can also point it under your chin. For a restricted spot, pointing it inside your mouth also works fine (no, we don't do drugs and I only had 2 beers…. We just had too much flashahol… remember this was night 2 on flashahol) Aside from light effects with pine trees and wild grass, we also found out that daysies become a very bright light source with a green laser… don't hope to keep your night vision with that one, though.
A little before arriving at the tower, we did a test with the TK11, and unknown to my cousin at that point, the TK40. Standing about 200-300 feet from each other, and at 60 lumen, the TK11 will let you see your target pretty nicely, provided there is no objects around that can confuse you. On turbo, your target can do a palm reading on himself (next time we will bring a newspaper of even a page from the dictionnary and a tape measure). With our testing parameters (complete darkness), if you point a TK11 on turbo in someone's face, there is no way they can see you even if they point you back with the same light or even a TK40. We also had some fun pointing our lasers towards each other. For safety, the target kept a light on so we didn't hit each other in the eyes. As we where a little in a hurry to get back because of the humidity and the cold, I didn't experiment the feeling myself, but my cousin did ask me to turn that damn light off after I had been pointing the TK40 on him for a minute or so.
When we first started our flashaholism, we had one question in mind: could a strong enough light save your life from a charging bear. After doing some research, we found 3 posts (can't remember if any of them where on here). One guy had some 30 to 60 lumen light (likely a surefire) and pointed it at a charging mama bear one night, who turned away immediately. Another one pointed some 30-40 lumen light at a charging moose who quit right away. I believe that in the brear case, the distance was around 50 feet and in the moose case, that was a very very close call… almost point blank. If these are true tales, then my only worry about bear attacks are to keep my light in a stupid pouch with which I won't have to struggle to take it out (I am refering to the pouch provided with the TK11… but maybe I should try without the cigar hold ring). Anyhow, I got some leather and will now start making my own holsters, including one for my TK40.
From the moon tower, there is a very large clearing about 7-8 minute walking distance from there. Because of the rain and all the hiking from the previous night, we didn't dare split and go walk on it, so we should be doing a more official test later this year. I'll skip right to the point: this tower is over 60 feet tall from the ground up and we tried the TK11R2 and TK40 from the top to the ground and to the plain. A regular PD30 will let you identify anyone around the tower no problem…. BUT… with a TK11 you should be able to note any unusual feature (birthmark, mole, black eye, etc…) or read the newspaper on the ground no problem… provided you have the eyesight for it. Anyhow, the guy on the ground will be able to read a newspaper if you light him up with a TK11 from 60 feet high (in almost complete darkness to start with) and might even ask you to turn it down a little. I'm still trying to figure out how come the general mode for the TK11R2 is rated at 60 lumen and still beats anything else I own but the TK40… I had waited untill we where both standing on the same tower to whip it out and just casually start pointing it around. After getting used to his TK11, he immediately noticed a very different beam coming from over his shoulder, and immediately turned around. He tried to identify it before asking what it was, but I think the spill was getting in his eyes, because he should have known right then and there. At that point I pointed it to the ground which surprised both of us :huh
… ok, so here is what we found about the TK40… not having a meter with me, I would have to say that the immediate area around the tower I pointed at looked the same as it does during daytime :naughty:. We pointed it at the plain, well over 300 feet away and despite the unusually bright beam from all the humidity we can confirm that someone standing there could possibly see a faint shadow… we'll just have to try that out more in detail next time around. I don't care what others say… if you can get used to the size and weight (I don't seem to have a problem with that at all,) the TK40 is an awesome light for hiking. I hold it underhand with my arm hanging down and boy can you see where you are going! The main spot is perfect for a trail as large as a horse riding trail, and the spill will let you know if there is any crossing trails. I haven't been on a trail straight enough to not be able to see trees straight ahead of me. I just can't imagine a way to use that as a headlamp that doesn't require a hard hat or harness…:thinking:
FIRST NIGHT
On the second day, it had been raining all afternoon until 10 something, but on the first night started heading for the sun tower just around sunset.
From the path along the bottom of the gorge, we could see the suspended bridge and couldn't resist pointing at it with our lasers. I have not idea what the distance might be, but I have to estimate well over 700 feet and we could see the dot too easily …. Anyone in sight of the bridge must have seen it.
(Yep, we hit the bridge exactly at that distance)
We made our way to the tower and had some fun with our TK11's and lasers, but apparently flashahol makes you lose any concept of time, as an hour and a half passed by like 10 minutes. We then decided it was time to split and make the ultimate test. My cousin volunteered to go to the other tower (I am kinda wondering why now, since, to be polite, he doen't have the best sense of orientation) I waited for over an hour playing with my lights, looking at the only stars that came out during the whole weekend and spying over, trying to spot him walking by the clearing before he got to the moon tower. I had plenty of time to practice my shot. My sense of time came back, so I actually looked in time to spot a faint green light in front of the plain with my binoculars and started pointing my laser in front of him.
(As seen from the Sun tower: circle = the moon tower arrow = where my cousin was standing... you need a very steady hand to point there!)
Since I don't have the steady hand of a sniper, he saw some green light effects all around him and turned on his walkie talkie. We experimented a little while he was resting and he then proceeded to the tower. At 0.97 miles, a 45 lumen light is largely more than enough to be spotted
. Since it was cloudy and this park is actually in the city (I call it a village, but you would think you're in the deep woods when you're walking the paths) so we had just enough ambient light pollution to see the things we put on the ground. On top of it, right behind me was a downhill street with about 7-10 lights on it. We had tried this experiment 2 years ago with first generation LED lights and my first krypton lights (which I had originally said where the very last flashlights I'll ever need… sounds funny now, 700$ later) but since the guy who went to the sun tower had nothing more than a first generation LED headlamp, we never knew where to look :candle:. This time, my cousin (the guy with poor orientation) could not miss the TK11, even on general mode and right in front of street lights. Actually even a regular green LED from a headlamp was really visible with the naked eye. I originally needed binoculars to spot him because he was on a path perpendicular to me. We then proceeded to experiment with the lasers. Since the clouds where reflecting so much of the city lights, this is by no means an accurate or definitive experiment. I even lost my own beam in the cloud cover, but we could very easily spot each other's beams at an angle of 45 degrees. You can't miss the beam if it's coming straight at you (well, oscillating in your direction since we're not snipers) One thing is for sure, if you're in a battle zone, take the batteries our of your laser! Because of the oscillation we actually did hit each other in the eyes, for probably a tenth of a second and I don't believe that causes eye damage, since it didn't hurt at all. Actually, the light from the TK11 was more annoying than that very bief flash . Yes, at a mile distance it was a little annoying to look at… not enough to look away, but enough to not want to look at it for no reason at all. With the binoculars, it was annoying period. I wanted my cousin to start asking questions, so I flashed him with my TK11 on turbo a few times and told him so, and then turned on the TK40 that he still didn't know about. He immediately commented "that light is damn bright!". I can only guess it wasn't too much fun to look into even at that distance (it was night, though) No other lights around could compete with ours, even car lights on the roads where extremely dim in comparison, even though they are pointed down (but because of the configuration for the purpose, I am very certain that the TK11 seems brighter at that distance if you point both exactly at the target). I can only guess someone looking out the window in the right direction must have wondered what was going on. For that matter, just the spill from the TK11 in general mode or even a L2D at one mile distance was waaaaaaayyyyy too easy to spot and can get you killed in a battle field. I insist; No kidding. In my case, I'll keep them handy in case I end up in bear country. We had originally planned for me to walk over and join him on the Moon tower for the closer range tests, but I had been feeling some light drizzle for a while by then, so we figured we'd meet at the camp and take it from there (it was now 12:40). I had no problem getting back since I'm used to walk around dark woods. I was expecting to arrive at the camp second since I was the furthest away, but got there first. At that point, the drizzle became a light rain and got heavier and heavier. My cousin "Mr. Compass", "kinda" got lost. I have to admit that the map installed by the park at the cross-road just before the moon tower has a MAJOR mistake on it. If you follow exactly what it says, you end up taking a 10 kilometer tree-covered hiking trail, which crosses dozens of other snowshoeing and bicycle trails, instead of a 1.4 kilometer trail. :sigh: I think I'll point that out to the administration next time… I just can't make too strong a point that it's a survival question since we're NOT supposed to go up the trails at night (good… more trail for us…but if I do come across someone there at night using premium lights, I will ask for their CPF nickname) Anywho, my cousin ended up walking in the woods, the real thing, but at least not bear country, and was turning in circles. Fortunately he came back to the same place after a while, so he tried another path. The other mistake is that the map is always shown the same way and not aligned with the cardinal points, so you have to guess which trail is which.:shakehead In the daytime like you're supposed to, it might not pose too big of a problem. If you turn your TK40 on , you will likely spot the little post hidden behind the map which names the paths with an arrow and still repeats the same mistake I pointed out earlier, plus adding one more confusing point. So here is Mr. Compass reading faulty indications, coming down a different trail, but now at least coming down. At one point, the trail is more like tons of spaces between the trees and it can be very hard to guess if you're on the trail or not, even during the day. He hit a point where he had to go back, but there where fallen trees in front of him, which he never came across before. He had been trying to find his way for a looong while now (I had been waiting for so long I got my walking poles and decided to go look in case he slipped and hurt himself… I couldn't get a hold of him on the walkie-talkie since he was on the other side of the mountain) and the rain was pretty much a pour by now (he was fortunate enough to have taken an umbrella with him). At this stage, he briefly considered panicking, but knew that would be stupid since he had enough lights on him to last a whole week, and couldn't suffer from dehydration since all he had to do was to open his mouth. The only thing that ticked him off was the idea of having to wait until after sunrise for someone to walk by and then having to explain how or why he got lost
. He did find his way and I got hold of him on the walkie talkie just in time before I engaged on the trail. I just couldn't resist hiding behind a wall on an unlit camping road and flashed my TK11 on him at about 100 feet while screaming "STOP! FBI!"…. well worth getting myself soaked for ten minutes…All in all, I brought over 700$ worth of lights (over 20 flashlights) and only used 4 of them. Because of the rain, we didn't do all the testing we'd like to, so we are supposed to go back this summer. Last time we brought all of our lights (last year) we had a non-flashaholic friend with us bring his camera and put all of our lights in one of the towers. I could hear dogs bark a miles away, so we hurried up before someone called the police
. We where real busy putting lights right for the picture and waiting for the third guy to take it. We then hurried to turn them off only to be told afterwards "I don't know if the picture will show anything… but you should have come down to have a look, it was so beautiful!" :scowl: :whoopin: Useless to say, we didn't call him this time around. Our next plan is to try before-after pictures with a single light from tower to tower, and also lighting up both towers with all our lights (AND take a pictures). TALK ABOUT SEVERE FLASHAHOLISM! Even I can admit that! I just hope we can get our hands on a camera that will show the lights, but if it shows city lights from afar, it will do nicely. We are updating our equipment list to make actual tests with real measurements and next time, we'll make sure there are no clouds around, so we can take our time...
To be continued sometime this year…
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