There have been quite a few posts involving traveling at night in a survival type of situation: flashlights, compasses, etc.

I've always considered traveling at night a bad idea. Sure, getting away from a burning plane, a dangerous animal or a high point in a thunderstorm is usually a good idea. And walking across mostly-level desert when it's cooler and you've got some moonlight, that's probably a good idea, too.

But general travel under most conditions seems kind of pointless to me. No moon, rough terrain, no trail... Wouldn't it be better to stay put and wait until you can see? I visualize myself looking at my compass and walking off a sheer drop, or walking into a feeding bear or cougar, or spraining my ankle or otherwise injuring myself.

So, what do you think? Under what conditions would you travel at night? When would you NOT even consider it?

Just curious.

Sue

well you pretty much named all situations i would travel at night. Other than direct life threathing situations and dessert temperature, i would wait till the sun comes up again.

In a desert, absolutely. In winter, with a good moon, if it wasn't terribly cold out, I would be willing if I HAD to. Gernerally, though, I start digging in about 90 minutes before dark if I'm not worried about a fire, unless I'm within 2 hours of my destination.

That is assuming that there is no pressing need to travel at night. Emergency situations might require different rules.

I think you have a point. But there are a few, rare cases where you could suddenly find yourself travelling at night, I guess. Like, if you're just out in the city after dark, and there's a power failure. Suddenly, you're out walking. At night. Or if you're in a car and it breaks down, and there's no cell coverage. You're suddenly traveling, at night. (I guess. I'd try to walk to better signal, but...) Camping, and you really have to go, you're walking at night. Didn't get back from the day hike as planned, so the sun's down but you don't have any gear to spend the night, you're probably going to keep going.

I guess what I'm saying is, people probably don't start off planning to travel over unfamiliar territory in the dark, but it can happen.

Sue,

Well, if you're in trouble and it's safe enough where you are, there's probably no good reason to travel at night.

But... I LOVE wandering at night. The world - woods, mountains, lakes, desert - is all different at night. I've been traveling at night without artificial illumination as long as I can remember. First my dad, then Boy Scouts, then the Army - heck, I don't need NVGs to own the night; I've owned it since I was a little boy. Day, night - white chocolate, dark chocolate - I like them both. Nighttime is sensually richer than daytime because vision is less dominant and my awareness of other senses expands to fill the input void.

However, I've been practicing that all my life and it does take practice. Some good instruction helps, too. And there is the matter of eye color - 1/2 our kids and I have brown-hazel eyes and we rule the night. Wife and the 2 blue eyed kids have to work a little harder when it's really dark, although they are pretty darned good with 20% or more illumination (training and practice).

Being night capable has been very important in some of my "adventures" over the years and was literally life-saving on one occasion, without question - one of those move-or-die situations. Using a flashlight probably would have injured or killed me and my dad... anyway, long story, and the short version is that it really paid to be able to move safely in terrible terrain with only low ambient light.

Our scouts have a "secret" name for themselves: "Night Hawks" - every outing includes a silent, non-illuminated night hike, just like when I was a scout. The boys rock as a group - they silently adjust for each other's inate ability and stay together nicely.

What I am getting at is that practice in traveling at night can really alter your ability to safely manage in a bad situation. Heck, it's a great help in routine situations as well. We rarely see any lights come on (and only red photons at that) if setting up camp after dark. I never need a light to find something in my pack - I know where it all is by feel. I could go on...

Practice in relatively safe terrain is good and honestly, it is a hugely enjoyable experience. If you cannot practice and gain skill, it's just as you wrote - best to stay put if feasible.

My $1.02 worth

Tom

Yeah, what he said.

However, I think that you need to have a basic familiarity with the kind of terrain you would be moving in. I'm pretty comfortable in deserty kind of country, even if it is going up and down a lot, but I would just go to ground in what folks call 'the woods.'

I agree. I hike at night, often without a flashlight. These trips are planned though and I go when the moon is full (or at least 3/4) and the sky is clear. I have also been walking out to hunting blinds in the dark since I was probably about 8 years old. With all this "experience" walking around both woods and dessert in the dark I still wouldn't travel at night in a survival situation other than under the types of circumstances you've already mentioned.

Hold on..back up a minute.

The part about eye color making a difference (quoted here:

<snip>. And there is the matter of eye color - 1/2 our kids and I have brown-hazel eyes and we rule the night. Wife and the 2 blue eyed kids have to work a little harder when it's really dark, although they are pretty darned good with 20% or more illumination (training and practice).<snip>

Are you kidding? If you're not, could you provide a link about this?

Thanks (in advance)

>> Are you kidding? If you're not, could you provide a link about this? <<

Not kidding and maybe... I might have some links buried here someplace that have that info adjunct to the main topic. I thought it was common knowledge - I believe that there is a huge body of statistical evidence on the subject but it's not a current topic of investigation as far as I know. Generalizing, the data runs from "worst" night vision at eye color blue to "best" at eye color brown. Just hearsay from me until I or someone else posts a link or two, I realize.

I don't recall reading or hearing any information on WHY - just that it is, and my own observations thru life have matched the "common knowledge".

I "can't see it" from a blue-eyed perspective, but I am certain that I can teach almost any unskilled but willing person to greatly improve their use of whatever inate night vision capability they have. Not really any secrets - before the widespread use of light amplification devices all military forces (certainly the US Army) devoted time to teaching recruits how to function effectively after dark.

What I'm geting at is that in most people I have helped "see", I can usually get a blue eyed person to see a little more effectively than an untrained brown eyed person. But not 100% - some folks just cannot see worth a hoot in low level light no matter what. In my experiences so far, all of those I've encountered were blue eyed.

There really are techniques to using the ol MK I night vision eyeballs that usually greatly improve one's ability and I suspect that most of us modern civillized folks won't stumble on them by accident - someone needs to show us.

Hope someone beats me to the punch and digs up some definite links with the info <grumble> I'd rather move on to other discussions <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Tom

Well, there are two conditions under which I think night travel is ideal. One is tactical evasion, although with FLIR technology it is actually worse to be mobile and observable at night.

The second is when I am hunting or heading out to my favorite fishing hole. You gotta be up early to beat them other fellers to the bank, and if you aren't in position to take the shot well before sun up, Mr. deer will be long gone by the time you get there.

I like red LED light for traipsing at night. You don't totally destroy your night vision using that, and you aren't an obvious glowing target with them either compared to white light emitters.

In SERE, we were trained to move at night was preferable. Also, there's more critters to catch and eat on at night. Yeah, some would just as soon eat you, but generally it's the dinner bell for all predators at night. When I am in the woods, I am a predator. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />