Night hike!

I went for a little night hike tonight, in the inky black darkness and damp , mist filled Lynn Headwaters area & Seymour Valley of BC Canada.

In addition to my pack, Kabar Khukuri, SOLAS rations (apple cinnamon) and hot drinks, i brought my Malkoff-Mag 2C, my P1D-CE, and my DX Cree projection light. Back up batts of course too.

I started up a groomed trail, more of a fireroad than a trail.....I flicked on the P1D-CE and flooded the area in front of with a nice diffused flood light. Range on it was about 100 feet in front, and approx 30 feet wide.

Next i fired up the DX Cree Projection. WOW OH WOW! I like this light in the city but int he darkness of the woods its a freaking laser beam. It projects a spot about 3 feet wide, for about 500 - 600 feet out front. It has a very light sidespill of about 20 feet to the sides. With the very light mist in the air, it was like a light saber. Yes i made lightsaber noises as i waved it about

Next up i flicked on the Malkoff-Mag 2C. It projects the same as the DX, but it seems warmer in tint. Very impressive. :twothumbs one of my favorite lights in my collection.

as i walked the fireroad,most of the time i was trotting with the lights off. But as we all know, one cannot help but play with the lights in the dark.

as i played with the DX projection light, shining it WAAAAAAY down the road, i noticed sudden movement. As there is a lot of bear activity and cougar activity in this area, i proceeded to arm myself, just in case. The i saw the reflection from the 3m Scotchlite dot on the zipper pull on the jacket. I lowered the light and kept walking. Dude and his dogs were over 800 feet away! (trailhead to marker) I apologized for blinding him, he laughed and said what the hell is that thing, thats incredible!!!!!!! we played around with the lights for a bit, he was in awe of the output (and these are pretty low n the scale of brightness!).

We parted ways and i kept walking. At a canyon bridge i stopped in the middle and lit up the canyon beneath me. The river was 150 feet down
. I was able to light it up like daylight, every rock, ripple and eddy visible like daylight. Even my little P1D-CE lit up the canyon beneath me, and downstream about 100 feet. The Cree and Malkoff lights went a little further, right to the bend, over 600' away and 150' down.

I hope to borrow a camera next hike, and i'll try to get some pics for everyone, of the canyon, and the trilhead.

:twothumbs.

Which light is that? Maybe I'll pick one up too.

Nice story B5. That's what dark adapted eyes can do for you: make very good lights into incredible lights :twothumbs.

Kees

JZMTL, it was a Deal extreme Cree Projection light, sku 4081 i believe, , abotu 30 bucks.

It was nice to get out of the stinking city, and into the woods again. Darkness....REAL darkness. In the trail itself you needed a light, even after sitting there for twohours with no lights, i could'nt see, the overhead canopy made the rough trail completely black. In that kind of darkness, even my photon keychain seemed blinding.

if you ever want some fun, wear full cadpat camo and a shemagh headscarf, and stand beside and few trees on a urban trail......late evening walkers will walk right beside you and not see you....

just beware of the dogs, you aint fooling them....

Awesome story Bushman.

It reminds me of how long I HAVE not been on a night hike.

^ it was my first night hike in a LONG time, i used to go three to four times a week, overnighters,sleep during the day, hike at night.

Its interesting how it takes a few hikes to lose the city paranioa, and to adjust to hearing nothing but the forest. Your jumpy for the first few hours, then you relax a bit. New sounds, new sensations, new sights, shadows jumping everywhere, depth perception shot to heck. At one point i was walking very slowly with no lights on, and carefully putting my feet down, feeling the trail. the trail got softer, more springy so i stepped back onto what i though was solid ground (packed earth). my foot felt nothing but empty space, so i paused, holding my leg in the air, and flicked on the light. Oops. drop off, into a small gully, about 90 degrees vertical banks. :green: quickly sidestepped to the right and laughed a bit...would have been a nice roll downhill and into about 2 feet deep of goopy wet moss. :green: :sick2:

My favorite night hikes are ones with clear skies and a full moon. you dont even need a light then, and its very eerie. :naughty:

Cool story, and nice encounter with a fellow hiker. You may have created a flashaholic.

Too bad there's really no opportunity for night hikes in the urban jungle of New England. Must drive a good distance to find darkness. And if you could, you'd get chased away by the Man. Most state parks are closed after dusk and city parks at 11pm. Walk about with a bright flashlight and you'll get hassled as a possible terrorist.

Sweet story. It's also nice to hear that my brother and I aren't the only night hikers in the world. I figured there were more, but I had never read about anyone else doing it on CPF.
We usually climb a relatively small mountain and start at around 10:00p.m. and get done at around 3:00a.m. There is one mountain nearby that we routinely climb since it is has a very large open area on top which is great for beamshots, and most of all a sweet fire tower for taking beamshots up at and down from. We're going to climb it again around Thanksgiving when he comes up to visit and I'll make sure to bring the camera for some beamshots.
Most people who live in urban areas don't really understand true darkness. I used to live in a rural area that didn't have a single light within miles of any direction, and it was very wooded so very little if any moonlight was noticable. Some nights it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of you face even after being outside for minutes. Kinda scary actually.
For my next hike I'm going to bring my P3D Q5, Taskforce 2C Cree for throw, the Zebralight H50 Q5 for my headlamp, and most likely something else that I'll buy in the mean time. :naughty:

This is a great thread, Bushman5. :thumbsup:


Moderators -- Can this be moved to the Flashlight Forum ?

That way, a LOT more people will see it.



I myself also enjoy night-hiking.

Amazing how little light is needed to move around. :candle:


That is, until you encounter a

"What The Hell Was THAT ? ? ?" moment.

:eeksign:
_

Bushman 5,

You should have started this one in the General Flashlights Discussions forum. But I am sure the Cafe is also OK.

Forgive me for side-stepping a bit. I have been checking up on the cheaper Chinese lights lately. To my surprise, their constructions have improved greatly. You can tell by first simply turning their threads. Now most of them are tighter and have a more substantial feel. The cutting edges in the old days seem to have largely disappeared. Crees are now very popular. And, most important, many of them take 18650s which mean long runtimes. So, fellow CPFers, do keep an eye out. Don't just blindly follow the SF path. (Note: I use SFs as well. The message is to be pragmatic.) I ended up buying a UF C8 yesterday, single mode and works on 1x18650 (or 2xCR123As). Its brightness and beam shape are extremely well balanced. I shall look forward to take it into the woods soon. These days one doesn't have to rob a bank to become a flashaholic.

As to night hiking, I love doing this. But this is happening less frequently as my body machine is slowing me down. Glad I still have friends who will do it with me at slow pace. But everytime I went out night hiking I could still see many others using the older type cheap plastic 2D incands. The Minimag (incand type) seems to be ever so popular despite the fact that these hikers are wearing protective clothing worth a Million!. I am talking about night hiking in the UK. I hope CPF can spread the flashaholic culture so that more people can see the light.