Winter nights

[Dogwood]

Unless you're hiking near the poles seriously much of this issue goes away if you're willing to hike after sunset and more than 10 hrs/day. This way you're not wide awake in camp attempting to thumb through pages with numb fingers reading a book.   

Campfires and cumbyah anyone.

[ppine]

"Hike after sunset and more than 10 hrs/day."

Not on a bet. 

[ppine]

No phones, no movies, and I never get bored.  Too much to look at and think about. 

[balzaccom]

20 hours ago, ppine said:

"Hike after sunset and more than 10 hrs/day."

Not on a bet. 

Me either.

[ppine]

I am always happy when I get to agree with my friend balzaccom.

[balzaccom]

Ten hours of hiking in day....not even in summer.  We did it once in Peru, at 14-16000 feet.  And the next day was happily only about five miles.  And hiking after dark before setting up camp?  Not that either.

We go backpacking for fun.  We want to enjoy ourselves. 

[Dogwood]

It can be very enjoyable and fun hiking at night even in winter when properly prepared.  Some wonderful life memories doing this crunching the snow, seeing the glowing eyes of deer and elk, seeing all the trees with rime and bent over evergreen boughs heavy with snow, how clear the sky is like you can reach out and touch a star, spotting a hunting owl, coming across a trickling frozen laden creek, etc.  It's a different world to be appreciated not always pushed away.  

[Grey Mouse]

I'm a hammock camper so I normally have my tarp set up and then place it in stand-by mode in the snake skins with the guy lines attached at the stakes still pointing inwards. I sit by the fire until I'm tired. I'm always in bed before I get chilled. If there is no rain or snow in the forecast then I lay in my hammock listening to the fire crackle (usually others are still up and talking quietly in the distance), the stream trickle, the waterfall roar, the coyotes howling, the hoot owls hooting, and/or the bear(s) circling the camp (almost always). I use that time to star gaze try to determine if the shooting stars are satellites. I have my coffee in a stainless  flask with a wool sock over it sitting beside me under my hammock for when I loose body temp after late night nature calls . I never bring a digital device other than my cell phone (turned off) with me and save a good book for lunch by the river. I never get bored this way since it's what I came to do. Enjoy nature at it's best.

[ppine]

I like to read Robert Service and cowboy poetry aloud.  Sometimes we bring a topical book on resources like "Wilderness and the American Mind."  I like some solar lights around camp.