Night Hike - South San Jose - Friday, Nov. 16th, 2007

[LowBat]

Date: Friday, November 16th, 2007

Place: Almaden/Quicksilver County Park

Note: The above picture added to show the beautiful terrain we'll be hiking on.
The amount of scenery you actually get to see depends mostly on your flashlight.


Meeting Time: 6:30 pm

Meeting/Parking/Entrance Location: Intersection of McAbee Road and Whispering Pines Drive

Duration of Hike: 5 mile loop trail, about 3 hours

Terrain: Open fields and rolling hills with patches of trees. Some uphill hiking but not too difficult. We will hike by the Guadelupe Dam and Reservoir. Very good views overlooking the Santa Clara Valley.

Recommended to bring: Water, jacket, and possibly a small pack to keep them in. Small snacks are also a good idea. FRS radio if you have one. Flashlights are a must!

Signup List:
- LowBat
- VidPro
- cqbdude
- SheDevil
- TigerhawkT3
- vacuum3d
- drew2001
- weedle256
- asdalton


Before the hike join weedle256 and others for lunch in Sunnyvale.

 

[VidPro]

Me Me me
i want to go .
i got new/more FRS radios, so if anybody else needs to borrow one, i could bring an extra.

 

[cqbdude]

So far...Its looks like I'm also good to go....

 

[SheDevil]

Ok, count me in to. Its been awhile since I have wandered aimlessly in the dark. Oh thats right I have a flashlight. See you Friday.

 

[LowBat]

Per request (someone just got a new GPS) we will be doing a few geocaches along the way.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

I'd like to tag along. I'm not much of a hiker, but I need the exercise. Maybe my flashlights will distract my weak "flesh" from getting mad at my willing "spirit"... :laughing:

I have a pair of MURS radios that I can bring, as well as flashlights, water, and food.

...Especially flashlights.

 

[Daniel_sk]

I would love to join you on this hike, unfortunately I live too far away :sigh:.
Have fun.

 

[LowBat]

I'd like to tag along. I'm not much of a hiker, but I need the exercise. Maybe my flashlights will distract my weak "flesh" from getting mad at my willing "spirit"... :laughing:

I have a pair of MURS radios that I can bring, as well as flashlights, water, and food.

...Especially flashlights.

Don't worry; we'll be stopping along the way for geocaches which provides a little time to catch your breath if you need it.

MURS radios use too low of a frequency to communicate with FRS radios. I have a few extra FRS units that I'll bring along and so does VidPro so I think we'll have everyone covered. We really don't use the radios much unless our group separates which sometimes happens. On past night hikes in dense forests with narrow trails our group tends to get stretched out and the radios really come in handy.

 

[cqbdude]

I have both murs and frs....so I can relay the messages...:naughty:

 

[vacuum3d]

I'll see you guys there.

ernest

 

[cqbdude]

I'll see you guys there.

ernest

Awesome Ernest.......glad you are going to make it......

 

[drew2001]

Sounds great ! I'd enjoy the hike too, and meeting the company. I'll try my best to be there on time and introduce myself.

Thanks !

-Drew

 

[weedle256]

Count me in too :twothumbs

 

[asdalton]

Looks like I'll be able to make it, too.

 

[LowBat]

WOW... we just doubled in size in the last three hours!

 

[LowBat]

It felt good to get out and get a little exercise again. I really miss all the night hiking I used to do. It's also a chance to talk flashlights with fellow CPFers in person.

I forgot my green laser this trip, but I did have plenty of other battery powered gadgets to use. Come to think of it, with my cell phone, GPS, flashlight, and Zebralight, I had four electronic items running simultaneously throughout the hike. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but I do love having everything with me. Two different people both made the same comment that they didn't need to bring a flashlight with all the others around them lighting up the path.

I think I'm going to try and make a plastic glare shield extension for my Zebralight. It's very useful when clipped vertically to a shirt pocket but there is definately a need to shield the top from the glare.

 

[VidPro]

Thanks for setting this up LoBat

 

[drew2001]

Wow.... thanks!

Last night's hike was really fun with you all. As it was my first venture out with as large a group of flashaholics. I really got a kick out of the variety of lums we all had brought along. As expected knowing if the motto 2 is one 1 is none ...well bases were certainly covered multi times over. I got home and realized I had actually packed 9 lights for a walk, I as well as several of us had lights dripping out of pockets poking out of packs, and hanging on lanyards, ending up switching one out for another in short order every few meters of the trail. i was glad to quickly learn that I was not alone in overkill !

The geocache element sure added a plus to the walk, that was my first exposure to this fun hunt. Really puts into perspective just how accurate the new gen GPS units are. With lowbat finding hiding places within readings of 4 ft. circles.

I'm hooked on the hikes now. Too bad there were no HID lights along ...(yet :naughty: )... to compare with our collections present. The wild deer were many and didn't seem alarmed at all, even when taking a direct eye shots from a 'Torch" and or well focused leds, momentary or full blast 10-20 seconds didn't matter they just gazed straight into the beams...

Great conversations and the walks. Thanks Larry, thanks all !!

Thanks to vidpro for some killer homemade jerky. That recipe is outstanding !

Back at the car area we said g'nites, and yet three of us, THT3, Vidpro and myself ended up chatting up the night before leaving as time flew by... finally driving home tired into the wee hour

I woke up way too early to then put in a long day of running the timer and resetting cones at our local practice spot for slalom skateboarding. yikes ... I'm beat now...see ya -drew

 

[asdalton]

Thanks for organizing this, LowBat.

It was interesting actually seeing everyone's lights being used while walking around. My flashlights don't see much real-world use, and even standing around at night outdoors (like on Mt. Hamilton) doesn't show the differences in lights, compared to walking up and down hills through the woods with fog beginning to form.

I brought many lights to the park, but I carried only 4: my reflector-modded PT EOS headlamp, Surefire L1 (Cree), Pelican 7060, and Inova T3 (K2/reflector).

EOS: As usual, the headlamp was vital. However, the marginally foggy conditions sometimes caused the light to bounce back into my eyes, whereas the handheld lights did not have this problem. Also, I found that the lowest level was not very useful, due to my night vision being ruined by all of the flashlights.

Pelican 7060: This Cree light was great as a "wow" light for distances, but it was too blinding for close or even medium range. It did cut through the light fog, so long as I kept the axis of the beam out of my line of vision.

Surefire L1: This light had a bit too much of a spotlight effect for me--the center was overwhelming and often made the sidespill invisible. This outing may be the impetus for me to get this light Milky-modded, especially since the stock LED tint is more blue than I prefer anyway.

Inova T3: :thumbsup: This was the unexpected winner for all-around use. The beam has enough throw to be useful at medium range, and a sidespill beam strong enough to balance the hotspot intensity and not slip into invisibility.

 

[LowBat]

I would be happy to host some more night hikes as this is the time of year I like doing them the most. The cooler air keeps me from overheating on the trail and there are no mosquitoes to speak of. I also like that sunset is around 5 pm allowing for an early start. I'll setup another hike in a few weeks on a new thread if requested. If so, please tell me what sort of scenery you would like. We can hike on open fields, through deep woods, along roaring streams and see waterfalls (rain permitting), hike uphill trails to spectacular vistas or just take an easy walk on flat paved trails. If anyone else is interest in getting started with geocaching I can help with that too. Please let me know what you would like.