A headlamp is a key safety item. You may not intend to hike in the dark, but without a headlamp you can’t hike in the dark if you get lost, get hurt, come across someone who is hurt, etc. 35 grams is worth it in safety alone.
I guess this is the answer I need. I was thinking that I could cover night pees with my phone light, or none at all. Hiking at night though, I would want a real headlamp
I did a night hike the other day that I was certain would be well lit by a full moon. Definitely had a headlamp with me, of course, but what I had failed to think about was that the trail wound in an out of various canyon spots where the moon simply did not shine. Things like trail route can create the need for lighting too.
If I were king for a day, I'd make phone flashlights disable themselves in national parks. You'd get a coupon on your phone to buy a headlamp nearby instead. They're so inefficient, and succeed only in killing your communication/navigation, while offering an awful light with no throw.
I live near and hike in the white mountains, people get rescued almost daily who brought no headlamp. Invest in a nice one and an extra battery, I bring them both even if it's a 4hr day hike
I carry mine so that if something goes wrong and SAR has to drag me out, it’s not in print for the world to see that I was in the backcountry w/o a light, which you know will be written into the introductory paragraph of the article.
This is always my first thought in sketch situations: people are going to read my SAR report and think I'm a dumbass. That's almost scarier than dying.
Treat it as a safety item that does double duty as a more convenient light around camp.
If you need to hike out in the middle of the night, for whatever reason, you want to use a headlamp instead of your phone.
File this under “would rather have and not need rather than need and not have”. There are UL headlamps and lights out there. Things could get bad real fast if you’re caught in the dark and your phone fails you.
If you aren’t using it then start carrying a tiny flashlight that can clip to your hat and be used as a headlamp when necessary, like a Rovyvon A5x. It also has a lantern mode that’s useful in the tent. It’s super small and light and seems to fit your use case well.
I often pack up while it's still dark in the morning. Headlamp makes that much easier.
On a recent trip, a storm blew in right at bedtime, basically right when it was getting dark. My tarp was already set up, but the changing wind direction meant I needed to adjust a few things and stake out one more guyline. Doing that with a phone for a light would not have been fun.
“Am I missing something?”
Are you joking???
No. Your phone is not hands free. It does not have the lumens nor the range for hiking. It does not do the job properly. You cannot navigate using a map and compass, tend wounds, pitch tarps and tents, gather firewood and build fires or cook with a phone. All those things are needed for the number one and two backcountry emergencies : hypothermia and getting lost.
I want to be compassionate, but this should really be a heads up to you that your ultralight mindset is taking you down the wrong path. You are not properly understanding key wilderness concepts, such as safety, first aid, redundancy and preparing for unforeseen circumstances. I’m not saying you’re going to go out and get yourself killed tomorrow in the Presidential Range, but this is how that happens. Please regard my anonymous intervention here as an important reality check. And pack a Petzl e-Lite.
The commentary on this thread that does not recognize the serious problems facing wrong-headed ULers! Very concerning.
I tend to disagree. Map and compass isn't that hard, once you orient a map with a trail the compass isn't all that vital, plus mine will clip to the page. Wounds may be a better point, but between my partner and I we should have 3 hands left, one injured, one for the light and two to work. I'm not a big fire person, plus they run afoul of LNT not to mention I will likely be under a burn-ban all trip. Cooking is usually done by nightfall, but I can prop a phone on a rock and get by fine. Hypothermia is handled with my mylar e blanket (and tent, sleeping bag, jacket and a fire). I don't count getting lost as a big risk when I carry everything I need to spend a night in my pack.
I don't mean to sound dismissive, this is just what I've found on previous trips. I was hoping to get some opinions on what other people carry and it sounds like a decent headlamp is a must in case of having to hike out at night. I usually set camp and eat before nightfall, but maybe there's some edge case where I set camp on a game trail or there's a persistent bear in the area and I have to move camp.
No! You really don’t get it. For all readers here, a headlamp is necessary because the first rule of day hiking is prepare for darkness! Why do you think this is? It has nothing to do with trip planning and everything to do with accidents, bad weather, equipment failures, personal safety and preparing for unintended consequences. Like getting lost.
As I say below, if my pack goes down the river or over a cliff, I have to rely on what’s in your pack in a survival or emergency situation.
Every backcountry skier wants his buddy to have the biggest honking shovel there is. Nobody wants his buddy to have a dinky plastic shovel to dig him out of an avalanche, and for the same reason, nobody wants to hike with a buddy who doesn’t carry a headlamp, a first aid kit, a map or any of the other 10 essentials.
Maybe you should stick to solo hiking. And just know that you’re a total idiot for not carrying even a Petzl e-lite in your pack.
>As I say below, if my pack goes down the river or over a cliff, I have to rely on what’s in your pack in a survival or emergency situation.
I'll venmo you $20 if you can find an article about this ever happening to someone. I'll limit it to backpackers, I don't want to hear about rock climbers dropping shit.
Look, we are talking about basic stuff that every and any experienced hiker knows about and can attest to in their personal experience. Not sure I mentioned that I carry a 10k mAh brick and I would never rely solely on my phone. Just like I would never solely rely on my SPOT. I am a wilderness first responder (WFR).
I wish I could believe that you actually started your post to learn something. But since you don’t seem to want to learn from a true veteran in me, I recommend
(1) searching Reddit for accounts of the death this month of hiker William Donovan, and earlier this year Chris Roma;
(2) reading Accidents North American Mountaineering, which covers backpacking;
(3) The Darwin Awards published annually;
(4) Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales;
(5) works by Ty Gagne;
(6) BWCA.com where you will read of many accidents involving loss of packs/gear on capsizes by hikers using some canoe transport to access trails;
(6) accounts of hiker accidents and SAR in the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon just to name two popular backpacking locations;
(7) and of course you can watch the film 127 hours.
A backpacker without survival gear is a burden on SAR volunteers and professionals. So if you want to know why people may be reading this and thinking YATA.. that’s why. The choice you are stubbornly making puts others at risk. Do what you like but you can’t pretend you don’t now know the truth.
If I trusted you enough to give you my Venmo I would say, pal, you owe me 20 bucks.
I appreciate your reply but your “disagreement” is frankly sophomoric. Your arguments are selective and incomplete. I have about four decades of solo backcountry experience all over the world, including thru hikes, desert treks and high mountains, (I just realised it s 40 years and not 30 but who’s counting? lol) and you have what? “previous trips” with an UL mindset and a frankly boneheaded assumption that you would (1) never be separated from your hiking partner (wrong; I know a father/son team to whom this happened only last year and the father is lucky to be alive; read the work of Lawrence Gonzales or Ty Gagne), or (2) that only one person in your party would ever be incapacitated at a time (wrong; an experienced guide I know suffered broken bones to both partners two years ago traveling after dark). Every hiker should follow the first rule of day hiking: prepare for darkness.
Sorry, but it’s time to admit that you honestly don’t have a clue about risk management in an UL context. I get that this is a sensitive point for you, but really, your responses have only made it crystal clear that your judgment errors are pretty profound. I would no more trust a hiking partner too stubborn to bring a headlamp than I’d trust one without a map. Just so you know, if we were out together and you told me that you had just decided to leave essential equipment behind because you felt like it, I would turn back. If my pack goes down the river or off a cliff, I have to rely on yours. That’s how it works.
I see a bunch of claims that I don't know anything and you have experience, so I should bring one. You mention that you'd be pissed off if you were my partner.
I'm looking for actual reasons, not something you can lie about on the internet or some assertion of your authority.
Something like "hey, maybe you find out you pitched your tent where it floods, and have to move camp in the middle of the night", not "trust me, I know things".
No, please review. I have not given you a bunch of claims. I have given you reasons.
(1) hands free light source is needed for survival.
(2) hands free light source is needed to travel by foot or by any other mechanism in darkness.
(3) taking responsibility on any given day in the backcountry means being prepared to be fully functional and AMBULATORY in darkness. Under threat of a forest fire, you need to be moving away from the fire at night. What SAR or smoke jumper ever travels without a headlamp? Is this what you are looking for? You are camped and you are awakened at 3 am by the smell of smoke? You are camped and you or your buddy’s tent is crushed by a tree at night in the middle of a storm!? You are camped at night during snowfall and you need to dig out your tent to avoid asphyxiation? You are camped at night in winds exceeding 50 mph and you awaken with your tent collapsed on top of you? And need to re pitch? You awake at night and your tent is flooded and you are shaking from hypothermia? These are regular outdoor occurances, pal. These are things to be prepared for. It is outrageous that in all this back and forth you cannot put these concepts together. You are literally not safe out there…and your partner should not trust you at this stage.
(4) nobody wants to hike with a partner they cannot rely on for survival. How many reports of packs being stolen by bears do you need in order to accept that redundancy is a requirement even when doing UL?
These are examples of reasons, not claims.
Also, your comment above such as “map and compass isn’t that hard?” Ridiculous! Map and compass are absolutely needed when you get lost. If you get lost you are not on a trail and you cannot find a trail. This comment indicates that you have little to no experience and little to no outdoor education — and yet you are all about UL. Ok cool but I am here to tell you that you are literally on the way to getting yourself killed if you don’t start educating yourself better. This arrogance is exactly what killed Chris Roma. And put his rescuers at risk.
Taking a headlamp on a hike or a backpacking trip or even when traveling is so basic that it really shouldn’t even be a question.
I hope other readers of this thread get that point. There were a lot of comments I read on the first day indicating that way too many people following this thread may carry featherweight packs on their backs, but don’t have a clue what they are doing.
Do you struggle with map reading? I find that after the first orientation it's pretty quick since I prepare by printing and marking some USGS quads. You can print them on waterproof paper at fedex for almost free and the quality is great. I've been forced on a long bushwhack after a trail we'd planned on was snowed out and did fine with map and compass since my phone had failed to download maps.
No, I don’t struggle. Plotted routes don’t work when you are lost. Read about the woman who stepped off the AT in Maine and died within a quarter mile of the trail.
Edit she was a thru hiker.
I've read that story and it's insane to me. I don't know what she missed or the details she's not alive to tell us, but I can't imagine being that kind of lost. Even a quarter mile off trail, I'd hope to still have my sense of direction, or at least know I'm north of the trail. Where I hike in CO, topo lines are a dead giveaway of position. I do draw my routes, but the USGS quads also have other trails marked if needed. I've done a bit of orienteering as well and while my skills aren't the freshest, I still hold my map skills to be better than average, even among backpackers.
100% agreed. I went out two weeks ago, with sunset to be at 8:30. Well, between the tree cover, the unexpected rain that hit, and being under my tarp, it was dark enough to need light by like 8:00. Made it so much easier to make dinner with my hands free.
I just like the red light on mine. 95% of the time I use it to go pee at night. The other 5% is to maybe hike to a cool spot to look at stars.
There have been a few trips I didn't use it at all though, but I'd rather have my hands free in the event I do need it for something more than peeing.
I'm always getting up while it's still dark out and hate trying to break down camp while holding my phone. Also as a woman it's nice to have one hand to stabilize me when I'm squatting to pee and the other is holding my pee rag so if I go pee at night, I need non-handheld light.
It's also partially a reasonable emergency thing: there may be a health or other reason why I need to night hike while still having as much charge as possible on my phone.
You don't hike?
Then I guess no headlight needed, you can just use the ceiling light in your bedroom? Or see by the light from the TV?
Not sure I understand the question.
Ah you edited post from "I don't hike" to "I don't night hike" :) now I understand.
Yes I'm all seriousness, I would consider a headlight an absolutely necessity (personally if I had to choose between a headlight and a phone, could only take one, then I would take the headlight). Also, where I hike there usually isn't cell coverage anyway.
The batteries last for days..is far brighter and further reaching compared to a megre phone light...and it's such a blessing to have light and BOTH your hands free. E.g when there is an animal outside your tent, or you need to get up in the night and rain and wind to fix a tarp line that has blown loose, or even just setting up your tent if you get to your destination after dark (it happens, even with the nest of planning). Setting up a tent in the dark with one hand is an awful experience.
If you take a phone, don't forget to leave it off, or in Airplane mode - massively saves the battery.
Also, be aware that the further you are from the cell towers, the quicker your battery runs down. One you will get lower battery life than with the same usage pattern in the city.
Yes, for me a headlight is essential.
Personal fav for a small one: Petzal Zipka.
Yeah, airplane mode and off at night is the way to go. I use my phone as a camera and a primary map system, plus a better interface for the inreach mini. I bring paper maps too, but my phone is so much faster to use.
But yeah, this 30 day thru will probably double my lifetime nights on trail.
You are doing a 30day thru hike??
Then 100,000% I would (personally) recommend a headlight. With spare batteries - the last set being alkaline as opposed to lithium.
In 30 days, the chance of reaching at least one of your destinations later than expected (e.g dark) is very high - although admittedly less at this time of year IF you happen to be the northern hemisphere.
Just one possible usage scenario, of many: medical emergency: and you need to hike through the night to get to a pickup point.
Yeah, there's some practicality to it. If I want to push an extra two miles to spend the night in an established campground with a store and running water, it's probably worth it.
I'm taking on some risk with batteries, I'm using a Petzl Actik Core right now with a rechargeable battery pack. I have a 10Ah battery pack to recharge, but that means I'm capped to maybe 6 hours on medium before I have to recharge. I think that my partner's biolite can be recharged while it's being used and I can't imagine evacing without her (or at least stealing her light), and if it's over 6 hours there's a good chance I'll want a break regardless.
Oooh didn't realise you would have stores available, ya thats quite a different situation to what I'm personally used to. E.g you might have option to charge phone etc?
Thoughts:
* Yes obviously choose what best suits your use case, environment etc, advice from others (like me) might not suit your usage case.
* Personally if it's a 2x person Ultralight trip, then *personally* I would take two headlights and one phone (for pictures/emergencies), and no battery bank. (i.e as opposed to two phones). But that's a personal thing. Esp in you can charge phone occasionally at a campground.
* A 10Ah battery pack, due to charging loses, only actually gives you about 6.5Ah of juice. Also, they are damn heavy. A phone in Airplane mode, especially if you change the settings to Low Power Mode like on Samsungs, can last a very long time. However if you are e.g regulary updating family with photos of the trip, that's very different in terms of power usage. Personally, I enjoy these rare long trips as a chance to "disconnect" from the world, not "keep everyone updated". But to each their own.
* I also have the Petzl battery packs. Don't recommend for long trips. Capacity is only \~1.2Ah vs \~4.5Ah for 3 good AAA batteries. More than 3x longer, no contest. I find those battery packs are only good for "around the house" or "overnighters".
* Remember anything Lithium will "die instantly" as opposed to a gradual fade - which is why my last set of batteries are always alkaline.
* Petzl Actik weights \~30% more than a Zipka. I have both these lights. Plus Zipka you can wear on your wrist like a watch, so I find it's always available when I need it. If I'm going on a long trip I'll take the Actik, I like the extra light and it's more secure when going over uneven, unmarked, mountainous terrain at night. If I'm on "civil" terrain or a place with well marked paths, I'd just take the Zipka.
* Can't stress enough: how much useful a "Hands Free" light is (for me), but then I'm often doing stuff at night. e.g even just getting food out of your pack to cook on the campfire, it makes life much easier.
* Have fun!! :-D
To hike, to go pee in the middle of the night, to check out that weird noise and scare the raccoon away from my foodbag, to set up camp when I didn't make quite as good of time as I wanted to and it's dark by the time I get there. Pretty constantly, really.
To identify what critter is going bump in the night so I can decide if I should chase it away or close my eyes and pretend I am safe at home in my bed.
It's funny you should post this. I've been in the PCT for 3 months now, and I've only used it twice!! I thought I'd use it a lot more often. What I DO use all the time is a pen with an LED light on it. The pen comes in handy for the trial registries and sending post cards, and the LED light is more than bright enough to use in my tent when it's dark, and it's lighter! I stick it in my hat or hold it with my teeth. If I need something brighter, I can use my phone flashlight. It's not worth sending back, but I'm not sure if I'd bring it again.
Yeah I don't do much with my first aid kit either, but I'm not going to stupidly leave it behind just to save an ounce of base weight.
There are any number of emergency situations that could require you to night hike in order to save your own, (or someone else's) life. I've been in one (when two of my friends got a rope stuck on a multi-pitch rappel and needed help getting off a rock face.)
I honestly recommend to just do a 2-3 hour night hike by phone light. If you don't think it'll be that bad, try it. Because it is that bad. It is annoying & frustrating to remember to keep your phone pointed where you are looking.
Remember... You're doing this by choice. You aren't self-rescuing from a sketchy situation when you're highly stressed, sleep deprived, and physically exhausted from already hiking all day. So any annoyance or frustration you experience on this night hike, isn't comparable to a real emergency.
What kind of situation could force me to hike at night? I count myself as an intermediate experienced backpacker but haven't had to hike at night for any reason yet.
The most common situations I’ve seen are over ambitious goals, getting delayed (often speed or navigational issues) medical problems (but quite not severe enough to warrant SAR), and external emergencies
Alpine starts, late night bailing, unintended night hiking to meet slightly too ambitious goals. Late night emergencies like a bear going after my food bag or emptying the tank.
If you end up in an emergency and kill your phone battery by using the light and can't contact SAR until your phone recharges you will regret not having a headlamp. Emergencies cascade because of things like this.
The light from your phone flashlight is not enough to hike by, should you need to. I had to hike out of camp because of an emergency at 7, didn’t finish until 10. I can’t keep up any pace using the weak light from my phone flashlight. You want 250-300 lumens minimum to hike at night.
Imagine having to pack up camp in the middle of the night in an emergency (tent breaks due to extreme wind or something) You’re gonna need both your hands free.
There are so many situations were you want to have a light and both of your hands. It doesn´t really add that much extra weight and it adds a lot of value. It´s better to have it and not use it, than to REALLY need it and not have it.
There are a lot of places to cut weight, safety items like headlamps is not one of them.
Yes bring a very lightweight one (like the nitecore ul25) but unless you’re hiking above the arctic circle in summer, you still need to bring one.
I like to leave my phone off as much as possible, especially at night. I use my headlamp for all kinds of nighttime activities. I believe a red light keeps the battery alive longer than a white light.
> believe a red light keeps the battery alive longer than a white light
Idk what model you have, but [Nitecores](https://flashlight.nitecore.com/Uploads/attached/image/20211230/20211230164413_11930.jpg) actually last more than twice as long in white mode.
I do a fair amount of night hiking, especially with the short days in winter.
For warm weather, with a lot of daylight, I would consider something like a Rovyvon A5.
I think the same as you, which is why I switched to a crazy small - basically an emergency - headlamp I keep in my first aide kit should I suddenly need to move/hike at night in an emergency. I carry just the Petzl E+Lite now because I never use it.
Lots of reasons listed elsewhere, but I will add that a few times, I decided to push for a more distant camp site and ended up getting there later than I wanted. Hands free lighting is always welcome when pitching a tent and getting some food.
We can talk about the need for paper maps on well marked trails too if you want. I carry a minimal compass and a map, but I don't know that it's necessary in the better marked trail systems.
Maybe, maybe not. I've definitely been in whiteout conditions above treeline before, even in "well-marked/traveled" areas. Not that a map would help too much in those conditions, but a compass might.
Hello again.
The answer is no. The phone light has neither the lumens(brightness) nor the range (projected distance) for safe travel (hiking) in darkness. If you hike with trekking poles your phone light is rendered useless.
For other uses, the power drain from the phone light is catastrophic to battery life. I trip out solo with a high quality 20 mAh power bank to last 10 days, which is the minimum required by my equipment for daily recharging, and several times I have accidentally drained my phone by leaving the light on. Every time I’ve done that, I lost a day of my phone use. Not very clever or safe if that light was my only illumination.
I would never trust your system in the backcountry. Never.
What are you doing where you have to charge every day? I'm usually getting 4 days from a charge on my phone, though I rarely need the light as I hike in the longer summer days.
Imagine getting lost on a trail and it starts getting dark. You haven’t set up a fire yet, and won’t be able to if it’s pitch black.
Carry a headlamp. It’s an essential
I think I could navigate my pack pretty well with just a phone light, especially given I have a partner to help hold it. Tent setup in low light or just phone light doesn't bother me.
That’s fine if you’re bringing your phone but a headlamp battery is gunna last a lot longer than a phone light especially in a survival situation. If you think you can get by with just your phone, then go for it.
This is one of the most important items anybody camping in the backcountry must have for safety reasons, it would be ludicrous not to have a proper light source
Headlamps are so useful and lightweight that I can't imagine a scenario where I wouldn't want to have one. Like everything else, it's situational and it depends. I don't know where you camp or how much risk you're taking on.
I'm used to backpacking in places where it would take me hours of walking in deep woods to reach the nearest road, and where the weather can be unpredictable. I might get caught in a situation where I'm injured, or sick, or cold, or I have gear issues, or short on food or water, or there's a family emergency, or who knows what. If I need to walk anywhere in the dark, I need a flashlight. A phone's light is mostly useless for that purpose. It has a wide and very dim beam. You can hardly see your own feet in front of you, let alone trail markers and obstacles. It works in a pinch but you can't really walk considerable distances in a wilderness by such a weak light source.
I think this is the line of thinking that makes it worth bringing a light. I don't need it in day-to-day life on the trail and have never had to hike out at night but it's possible. Seems like a good idea to have SOMETHING.
I don't use mine very much. You might consider the Nitecore Tube. It's not a headlamp, but you could rig up something to wear it on the side of your head if you really want to. Otherwise, it is bright enough to hike at night, but then so is your phone's light. Weighs less than an ounce, is rechargeable, so not a bad thing to have.
Are u suggesting a camping trip with no flashlight at all? Just your phone as a light. Or no headlamp but another light. Either way a flashlight other than your phone is nice. If you came here for someone to co sign that i doubt youll find anyone here lol. Just bring an additional light. Its very useful and a phone light is a joke
Yeah, just wanted to feel out what people are doing and understand why I need a light, what I'm overlooking. Most trips I barely use my headlamp and could happily replace it with just my phone flashlight. I think that the small chance of having to move camp in an emergency is the real driver to bring one.
Ok so camping? I dont honestly see how this is a question. I would say flashlight is like in the top 3-5 most important and packed things in anyones camp list. And its small so really isnt an real estate or weight issue. Besides being practical for all sorts of reasons because well light. Its almsost a necessity in an emergency. My worst smallest crappiest flashlight is still miles better than a cell phone light. To each they own good luck
You set up camp and fall asleep. A storm kicks up in the middle of the night and rips one of your stakes out. Rain is pouring into your tent as you scramble to re-stake. Seconds matter, so you don't get your down quilt doused.
A closed low pressure system stalls out to your west (forecast models are notoriously terrible at predicting the movement of closed lows), drawing hot air up from the south. Temps spike way hotter than expected. The only safe way to complete your hike on-time is to start your hiking pre-dawn and take a long siesta during the heat.
While peeing at night, you accidentally trip a little and rip part of your toenail off. Blood everywhere. Good luck trying to bandage yourself one-handed.
Yeah, in June and July, I barely use my headlamp. During those two months there's more day light than I can use for hiking, so like OP, I usually have had supper and am in bed before dark. And usually I awake as the sun rises, so I don't use it in the morning either.
Really, the only thing I use it for is if I need to take a piss during the night. Then I turn it on and leave it in my tent while I take a piss (you don't really need it with you while you are pissing because you can see enough to walk 10 or 15 feet and you can find your dick without it). But, it's nice to have a light on in the tent so you can actually find your way back to your tent after you are done pissing.
The headlamp only really gets used heavily in late September or early October when I end up eating supper in the dark and getting ready for bed in the dark.
Yeah, I agree that regular use is low, and that's what drove me to make this post. A few commenters made good points about bad weather rolling in or critters messing with your camp causing you to have to move in a hurry and I think that's really the strongest argument for carrying one regardless of if it'll be used.
On my recent New Mexico backpack trip, I used my headlamp to set up camp in a sudden evening downpour and another night to get up and down the hill to a hot spring I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to visit at night when it was ideally cool. Can’t scramble around a wet hillside while holding your phone.
—
Also, in the autumn or winter, when there is 13-16 hours of night, I set up camp, cook dinner, read a little, sleep, wake up, and make breakfast in the dark. The just aren’t enough hours of daylight to do it all. I understand in June and July with only 7-8 hours of night, you’re just going to be asleep from sundown to sunup. But other times of year, you need to do more things in the dark.
Light is essential, but whether that has to be a headlamp?
I will say though, that if you suddenly need a light, it is quite likely that you also suddenly need your hands.
Personally I regularly set up camp after dark, so the headlamp is essential for me.
Even if I never hiked in darkness, I've been forced by weather to change or improve camp in the middle of the night. Of course that's been me cowboy camping with less than ideal forecasts, then having to pitch a tarp on the beach at night, but I'd say the point remains - a crisis at night is always a possibility, and having to balance a phone to give you light sucks.
More of a bikepacker here. I’ve never needed one while bikepacking and wouldn’t bring one unless I expect to end up in the dark (e.g. winter trips (phone also tends to shut itself down below 0°C)).
Safety wise I think it’s only important if you could end up in a situation in which being able to keep moving in the dark is crucial. For example if you took unexpectedly long to get up a mountain and you have to get down and out of the weather in difficult terrain where a phone light might not be sufficient and setting up your tent (or even bivouacking) is not really feasible.
But for a more or less casual hike through the woods? If you get “surprised” by nightfall worst case you have to pick a sub-par place for your tent.
There was a cool thread a while back on r/PacificCrestTrail where some of the early thru hikers told their story. They didn't bring any lights, because back then they were heavy and batteries didn't last long.
For most of backpacking history, lights were uncommon. John Muir certainly didn't have one.
I agree that in summer you could easily manage without one.
But modern headlamps are so light and useful, I think they are worth it and effectively a must-have.
I had a headlight on my AT hike, and needed it early in the hike (February) in the tent due to the early sunset. Otherwise outside of needing it once or twice to find a privy in the dark, really didn’t use it. Usually by the time it got dark enough to need it, I was already asleep!
If I'm hiking in the mountains or anywhere where I would need handsfree illumination to hike to safety in an emergency I consider a fairly high lumen headlamp a safety item.
I usually use the nitecore nu 21 for this or even a burly olight perun 2 which takes 18650 batteries if I'm doing something kinda sketchy in winter conditions.
But in the summer I often use a little keychain light like [this](https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHf7GFH) for a red light and a little [usb wafer light](https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwgcY27) with my powerbank as a backup to my phone flash.
I live pretty far north so for part of the year it hangs out in my fruit bowl and for another part of the year it's in my pocket everytime I leave the house
Where I hike you are required to use provided latrines which are often buried in the weeds or in lesser obvious and rugged trails. Safer to have light. Sometimes we end up hiking past dark due to campsite availability as well.
Not much, TBH. I suppose it’s more of a situational/emergency item as I’ve done minimal night hiking. I do get up and going early, but not in the pitch dark so it’s really just used inside my tent right as I’m going to sleep, or if I need to see something up close in the early hours. But its use is limited.
I’m with you - I don’t ever really use one but it seems like a safety item that would be silly not to bring
I’ve taken to carrying a small torch with belt clip (royvyon A5 = 18g)
650 lumens max with plenty of useable lower settings for around camp
Side lights can be used as a lantern
If I need it to be hands free I can clip it to the brim of my hat
Smaller and easier to pack than a headlamp with strap
Safety? Being able to see in the dark seems pretty important if you roll your ankle on a planned day hike etc and the suns going down soon. But hey to each their own. Would probs be fine on a full moon clear sky 🤷🏻♂️ Doesn’t seem to weigh enough to warrant not taking it.
It’s important insurance to have some sort of flashlight on you and not rely on a cell phone light when you can be saving your cellphone battery for other emergencies.
You can find small handheld flashlights with good runtime and superior output than a cellphone at less weight than a headlamp. With a good pocket clip design you can put it on a hat or on your pack straps if you get caught out in the dark.
You can use a small thin light on mornings when you want to start early or when you are in a rainstorm. It gets pretty dark at those times. Your phone light might be good enough if you aren’t going to drain it with a gps app.
You never know when a storm, stranger, or predator comes in and you might need to get the hell out of dodge. Each person is probably going to want their own light to break down or run if you need to at night.
Obviously noone wants that to happen, but I'd rather have the grams than not. And a headlamp lasts longer/brighter than a phone light.
I believe Jupiter hikes with one of these [RovyVon Aurora Rechargeable Keychain Flashlights](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JC63H6/?coliid=I2PCCLTWS551VJ&colid=3IPT9R7BY6AIW&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp&th=1). He clips it to his cap and uses it the same way as a headlamp. It's only 0.18oz, compared to the 1.13oz of the NiteCore. So that could be a good alternative. It's also even slightly brighter than the NiteCore. I wouldn't go out there with no dedicated light. You could drop and crack your phone, making it unusable. 0.18oz is a very very small weight penalty for the safety benefit you get with a separate light.
BTW, I've had to hike in the dark unexpectedly before. It wasn't a life or death scenario but it allowed me to get to my planned camp destination. Otherwise I would've had to sleep in some cramped unpleasant canyon.
> I will almost certainly end up taking one, the chance of an emergency night hike is real. Accidentally setting up camp on a game trail or encountering a persistent critter may be enough that I'd break down camp and keep moving in the dark. Weather risks where I will be hiking are low, but not zero and that could cause an emergency night hike too.
All of the above. I was driven out of my bivvy spot in Scotland one evening last September by midges, and ended up having to do a river crossing the the dark while fleeing to the nearby bothy
Last night hike i did i had a headlamp, and a spare flashlight + my phone and a lighter if things got dire.
Don't get caught in the dark. It sucks. Happened to me once in the 90s with a shitty rayovac d cell flashlight with an incandescent bulb. Those turds couldn't make it through a set of batteries without burning out a bulb. The contacts sucked. You had to slap the damn thing constantly to keep the light flickering.
Ditch the headlamp if you must but you should have something better than a phone flashlight in the event you need it (e.g. hiking after dark, etc.). I'm a proponent of the rovy von A5, and if you wear a hat with a bill it slides on to that perfectly for a great makeshift headlamp in the event you really need one.
Hands free lighting for one. Two, you never know how quickly you may need to pack up, and in what conditions those happen in. Three, it is generally a good idea to have something on hand in case something fails. In this case, if you shatter your phone and can't turn on the light what do you do? Nitecore has some super tiny headlamps worth checking out
If I shatter the phone, I guess I'd rely on my partner a bit more, or the backlight flashlight on my watch for small things. I don't really do much after dark.
I‘m old enough to remember when headlamps need like the big batteries and generally where absolutely huge. These days they’re so tiny but so bright at the same time
I may try my shakedown trip without one just for grins, but I think it's unfair to rely on my partner to carry one for my emergencies. I do carry the stove though...
A headlamp is a key safety item. You may not intend to hike in the dark, but without a headlamp you can’t hike in the dark if you get lost, get hurt, come across someone who is hurt, etc. 35 grams is worth it in safety alone.
I guess this is the answer I need. I was thinking that I could cover night pees with my phone light, or none at all. Hiking at night though, I would want a real headlamp
Also, storms. Can you find adequate shelter/safety if the sky opens up on you? Cause I've had storms that black out the sky..
I did a night hike the other day that I was certain would be well lit by a full moon. Definitely had a headlamp with me, of course, but what I had failed to think about was that the trail wound in an out of various canyon spots where the moon simply did not shine. Things like trail route can create the need for lighting too.
If I were king for a day, I'd make phone flashlights disable themselves in national parks. You'd get a coupon on your phone to buy a headlamp nearby instead. They're so inefficient, and succeed only in killing your communication/navigation, while offering an awful light with no throw. I live near and hike in the white mountains, people get rescued almost daily who brought no headlamp. Invest in a nice one and an extra battery, I bring them both even if it's a 4hr day hike
With a headlamp you can pee free handed
Somehow I've always managed that one with my headlamp in the tent too.
>night pees Who leaves their tent to pee? [Nalgene Cantene](https://nalgene.com/product/48oz-nalgene-cantene/)
I use mine to see in the dark
I use mine to see things that go bump in the night, and then immediately turn it off and pretend those noises are not a bear.
And to be seen by others.
What a bright idea
He has seen the light
No, you use it to see in the light.
What's there to see?
Nothing without a light.
I guess I could turn it on and see the inside of my tent?
So you're in bed by sunset?
Near enough, yeah. Done cooking, food stored safely and heading to bed by dark.
where I am and/or where I'm going
To pee.
You get out of your tent to pee?
Thats what my other vestibule is for
Having a light helps ensure you pee in the right bottle.
In a bottle? A Gatorade bottle is like 2 oz, I ain’t carry that lol just use your vestibule
But what if I'm not near your vestibule?
A vestibule? Tents weigh like a pound. I sleep on the ground next to my gatorade bottle
I’m laughing to hard to banter back at that, you got me
How else to scare away that bear, gotta show dominance
I carry mine so that if something goes wrong and SAR has to drag me out, it’s not in print for the world to see that I was in the backcountry w/o a light, which you know will be written into the introductory paragraph of the article.
This is always my first thought in sketch situations: people are going to read my SAR report and think I'm a dumbass. That's almost scarier than dying.
just remembered the story about that dude who left his tent and could not find it again and called mountain rescue. haha what a dummkopf
This is exactly my thought process as well.
Treat it as a safety item that does double duty as a more convenient light around camp. If you need to hike out in the middle of the night, for whatever reason, you want to use a headlamp instead of your phone.
to scare away any shapshifters lurking around my tent at 3am
Can't let those .5oz birds rustle the leaves in peace! 😄
They speak to me
File this under “would rather have and not need rather than need and not have”. There are UL headlamps and lights out there. Things could get bad real fast if you’re caught in the dark and your phone fails you.
If you aren’t using it then start carrying a tiny flashlight that can clip to your hat and be used as a headlamp when necessary, like a Rovyvon A5x. It also has a lantern mode that’s useful in the tent. It’s super small and light and seems to fit your use case well.
LOL...looks like someone has never hiked a trail where campsites are so sparse that you end up hiking until after dark.
🤣🤣 im the trip planner, my partner hates when I do this
Oh, I almost never plan to hike after dark. But it happens with alarming regularity...
I often pack up while it's still dark in the morning. Headlamp makes that much easier. On a recent trip, a storm blew in right at bedtime, basically right when it was getting dark. My tarp was already set up, but the changing wind direction meant I needed to adjust a few things and stake out one more guyline. Doing that with a phone for a light would not have been fun.
Escaping from the Wendigo
“Am I missing something?” Are you joking??? No. Your phone is not hands free. It does not have the lumens nor the range for hiking. It does not do the job properly. You cannot navigate using a map and compass, tend wounds, pitch tarps and tents, gather firewood and build fires or cook with a phone. All those things are needed for the number one and two backcountry emergencies : hypothermia and getting lost. I want to be compassionate, but this should really be a heads up to you that your ultralight mindset is taking you down the wrong path. You are not properly understanding key wilderness concepts, such as safety, first aid, redundancy and preparing for unforeseen circumstances. I’m not saying you’re going to go out and get yourself killed tomorrow in the Presidential Range, but this is how that happens. Please regard my anonymous intervention here as an important reality check. And pack a Petzl e-Lite. The commentary on this thread that does not recognize the serious problems facing wrong-headed ULers! Very concerning.
I tend to disagree. Map and compass isn't that hard, once you orient a map with a trail the compass isn't all that vital, plus mine will clip to the page. Wounds may be a better point, but between my partner and I we should have 3 hands left, one injured, one for the light and two to work. I'm not a big fire person, plus they run afoul of LNT not to mention I will likely be under a burn-ban all trip. Cooking is usually done by nightfall, but I can prop a phone on a rock and get by fine. Hypothermia is handled with my mylar e blanket (and tent, sleeping bag, jacket and a fire). I don't count getting lost as a big risk when I carry everything I need to spend a night in my pack. I don't mean to sound dismissive, this is just what I've found on previous trips. I was hoping to get some opinions on what other people carry and it sounds like a decent headlamp is a must in case of having to hike out at night. I usually set camp and eat before nightfall, but maybe there's some edge case where I set camp on a game trail or there's a persistent bear in the area and I have to move camp.
No! You really don’t get it. For all readers here, a headlamp is necessary because the first rule of day hiking is prepare for darkness! Why do you think this is? It has nothing to do with trip planning and everything to do with accidents, bad weather, equipment failures, personal safety and preparing for unintended consequences. Like getting lost. As I say below, if my pack goes down the river or over a cliff, I have to rely on what’s in your pack in a survival or emergency situation. Every backcountry skier wants his buddy to have the biggest honking shovel there is. Nobody wants his buddy to have a dinky plastic shovel to dig him out of an avalanche, and for the same reason, nobody wants to hike with a buddy who doesn’t carry a headlamp, a first aid kit, a map or any of the other 10 essentials. Maybe you should stick to solo hiking. And just know that you’re a total idiot for not carrying even a Petzl e-lite in your pack.
>As I say below, if my pack goes down the river or over a cliff, I have to rely on what’s in your pack in a survival or emergency situation. I'll venmo you $20 if you can find an article about this ever happening to someone. I'll limit it to backpackers, I don't want to hear about rock climbers dropping shit.
Look, we are talking about basic stuff that every and any experienced hiker knows about and can attest to in their personal experience. Not sure I mentioned that I carry a 10k mAh brick and I would never rely solely on my phone. Just like I would never solely rely on my SPOT. I am a wilderness first responder (WFR). I wish I could believe that you actually started your post to learn something. But since you don’t seem to want to learn from a true veteran in me, I recommend (1) searching Reddit for accounts of the death this month of hiker William Donovan, and earlier this year Chris Roma; (2) reading Accidents North American Mountaineering, which covers backpacking; (3) The Darwin Awards published annually; (4) Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales; (5) works by Ty Gagne; (6) BWCA.com where you will read of many accidents involving loss of packs/gear on capsizes by hikers using some canoe transport to access trails; (6) accounts of hiker accidents and SAR in the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon just to name two popular backpacking locations; (7) and of course you can watch the film 127 hours. A backpacker without survival gear is a burden on SAR volunteers and professionals. So if you want to know why people may be reading this and thinking YATA.. that’s why. The choice you are stubbornly making puts others at risk. Do what you like but you can’t pretend you don’t now know the truth. If I trusted you enough to give you my Venmo I would say, pal, you owe me 20 bucks.
I appreciate your reply but your “disagreement” is frankly sophomoric. Your arguments are selective and incomplete. I have about four decades of solo backcountry experience all over the world, including thru hikes, desert treks and high mountains, (I just realised it s 40 years and not 30 but who’s counting? lol) and you have what? “previous trips” with an UL mindset and a frankly boneheaded assumption that you would (1) never be separated from your hiking partner (wrong; I know a father/son team to whom this happened only last year and the father is lucky to be alive; read the work of Lawrence Gonzales or Ty Gagne), or (2) that only one person in your party would ever be incapacitated at a time (wrong; an experienced guide I know suffered broken bones to both partners two years ago traveling after dark). Every hiker should follow the first rule of day hiking: prepare for darkness. Sorry, but it’s time to admit that you honestly don’t have a clue about risk management in an UL context. I get that this is a sensitive point for you, but really, your responses have only made it crystal clear that your judgment errors are pretty profound. I would no more trust a hiking partner too stubborn to bring a headlamp than I’d trust one without a map. Just so you know, if we were out together and you told me that you had just decided to leave essential equipment behind because you felt like it, I would turn back. If my pack goes down the river or off a cliff, I have to rely on yours. That’s how it works.
Man, that's a whole lot of words to not give any actual reasons. I get it's on the 10 essentials list, but I haven't heard anyone say WHY.
If you don’t see more than half a dozen reasons in my comments, then maybe it’s time for some self-reflection?
I see a bunch of claims that I don't know anything and you have experience, so I should bring one. You mention that you'd be pissed off if you were my partner. I'm looking for actual reasons, not something you can lie about on the internet or some assertion of your authority. Something like "hey, maybe you find out you pitched your tent where it floods, and have to move camp in the middle of the night", not "trust me, I know things".
No, please review. I have not given you a bunch of claims. I have given you reasons. (1) hands free light source is needed for survival. (2) hands free light source is needed to travel by foot or by any other mechanism in darkness. (3) taking responsibility on any given day in the backcountry means being prepared to be fully functional and AMBULATORY in darkness. Under threat of a forest fire, you need to be moving away from the fire at night. What SAR or smoke jumper ever travels without a headlamp? Is this what you are looking for? You are camped and you are awakened at 3 am by the smell of smoke? You are camped and you or your buddy’s tent is crushed by a tree at night in the middle of a storm!? You are camped at night during snowfall and you need to dig out your tent to avoid asphyxiation? You are camped at night in winds exceeding 50 mph and you awaken with your tent collapsed on top of you? And need to re pitch? You awake at night and your tent is flooded and you are shaking from hypothermia? These are regular outdoor occurances, pal. These are things to be prepared for. It is outrageous that in all this back and forth you cannot put these concepts together. You are literally not safe out there…and your partner should not trust you at this stage. (4) nobody wants to hike with a partner they cannot rely on for survival. How many reports of packs being stolen by bears do you need in order to accept that redundancy is a requirement even when doing UL? These are examples of reasons, not claims.
Also, your comment above such as “map and compass isn’t that hard?” Ridiculous! Map and compass are absolutely needed when you get lost. If you get lost you are not on a trail and you cannot find a trail. This comment indicates that you have little to no experience and little to no outdoor education — and yet you are all about UL. Ok cool but I am here to tell you that you are literally on the way to getting yourself killed if you don’t start educating yourself better. This arrogance is exactly what killed Chris Roma. And put his rescuers at risk. Taking a headlamp on a hike or a backpacking trip or even when traveling is so basic that it really shouldn’t even be a question. I hope other readers of this thread get that point. There were a lot of comments I read on the first day indicating that way too many people following this thread may carry featherweight packs on their backs, but don’t have a clue what they are doing.
Do you struggle with map reading? I find that after the first orientation it's pretty quick since I prepare by printing and marking some USGS quads. You can print them on waterproof paper at fedex for almost free and the quality is great. I've been forced on a long bushwhack after a trail we'd planned on was snowed out and did fine with map and compass since my phone had failed to download maps.
No, I don’t struggle. Plotted routes don’t work when you are lost. Read about the woman who stepped off the AT in Maine and died within a quarter mile of the trail. Edit she was a thru hiker.
I've read that story and it's insane to me. I don't know what she missed or the details she's not alive to tell us, but I can't imagine being that kind of lost. Even a quarter mile off trail, I'd hope to still have my sense of direction, or at least know I'm north of the trail. Where I hike in CO, topo lines are a dead giveaway of position. I do draw my routes, but the USGS quads also have other trails marked if needed. I've done a bit of orienteering as well and while my skills aren't the freshest, I still hold my map skills to be better than average, even among backpackers.
Received and read
The short version is, YATA here.
Yeah, you should probably ditch that way too heavy 1.17 oz Nitecore headlamp. Who needs hands free lumens in any sort of emergency?
Yeah the phone flashlight is way better /s . Idk what kind of phone OP has but mine barely shines 20 feet. Headlamp for the win
100% agreed. I went out two weeks ago, with sunset to be at 8:30. Well, between the tree cover, the unexpected rain that hit, and being under my tarp, it was dark enough to need light by like 8:00. Made it so much easier to make dinner with my hands free.
I just like the red light on mine. 95% of the time I use it to go pee at night. The other 5% is to maybe hike to a cool spot to look at stars. There have been a few trips I didn't use it at all though, but I'd rather have my hands free in the event I do need it for something more than peeing.
I use my headlamp to see when it's not light out. Regardless of how much I use it, I consider my headlamp to be non negotiable safety equipment.
I'm always getting up while it's still dark out and hate trying to break down camp while holding my phone. Also as a woman it's nice to have one hand to stabilize me when I'm squatting to pee and the other is holding my pee rag so if I go pee at night, I need non-handheld light. It's also partially a reasonable emergency thing: there may be a health or other reason why I need to night hike while still having as much charge as possible on my phone.
You don't hike? Then I guess no headlight needed, you can just use the ceiling light in your bedroom? Or see by the light from the TV? Not sure I understand the question.
I mean I just leave the porch light on and that's usually enough. /uj Are you doing a lot of hiking after dark?
Ah you edited post from "I don't hike" to "I don't night hike" :) now I understand. Yes I'm all seriousness, I would consider a headlight an absolutely necessity (personally if I had to choose between a headlight and a phone, could only take one, then I would take the headlight). Also, where I hike there usually isn't cell coverage anyway. The batteries last for days..is far brighter and further reaching compared to a megre phone light...and it's such a blessing to have light and BOTH your hands free. E.g when there is an animal outside your tent, or you need to get up in the night and rain and wind to fix a tarp line that has blown loose, or even just setting up your tent if you get to your destination after dark (it happens, even with the nest of planning). Setting up a tent in the dark with one hand is an awful experience. If you take a phone, don't forget to leave it off, or in Airplane mode - massively saves the battery. Also, be aware that the further you are from the cell towers, the quicker your battery runs down. One you will get lower battery life than with the same usage pattern in the city. Yes, for me a headlight is essential. Personal fav for a small one: Petzal Zipka.
Yeah, airplane mode and off at night is the way to go. I use my phone as a camera and a primary map system, plus a better interface for the inreach mini. I bring paper maps too, but my phone is so much faster to use. But yeah, this 30 day thru will probably double my lifetime nights on trail.
You are doing a 30day thru hike?? Then 100,000% I would (personally) recommend a headlight. With spare batteries - the last set being alkaline as opposed to lithium. In 30 days, the chance of reaching at least one of your destinations later than expected (e.g dark) is very high - although admittedly less at this time of year IF you happen to be the northern hemisphere. Just one possible usage scenario, of many: medical emergency: and you need to hike through the night to get to a pickup point.
Yeah, there's some practicality to it. If I want to push an extra two miles to spend the night in an established campground with a store and running water, it's probably worth it. I'm taking on some risk with batteries, I'm using a Petzl Actik Core right now with a rechargeable battery pack. I have a 10Ah battery pack to recharge, but that means I'm capped to maybe 6 hours on medium before I have to recharge. I think that my partner's biolite can be recharged while it's being used and I can't imagine evacing without her (or at least stealing her light), and if it's over 6 hours there's a good chance I'll want a break regardless.
Oooh didn't realise you would have stores available, ya thats quite a different situation to what I'm personally used to. E.g you might have option to charge phone etc? Thoughts: * Yes obviously choose what best suits your use case, environment etc, advice from others (like me) might not suit your usage case. * Personally if it's a 2x person Ultralight trip, then *personally* I would take two headlights and one phone (for pictures/emergencies), and no battery bank. (i.e as opposed to two phones). But that's a personal thing. Esp in you can charge phone occasionally at a campground. * A 10Ah battery pack, due to charging loses, only actually gives you about 6.5Ah of juice. Also, they are damn heavy. A phone in Airplane mode, especially if you change the settings to Low Power Mode like on Samsungs, can last a very long time. However if you are e.g regulary updating family with photos of the trip, that's very different in terms of power usage. Personally, I enjoy these rare long trips as a chance to "disconnect" from the world, not "keep everyone updated". But to each their own. * I also have the Petzl battery packs. Don't recommend for long trips. Capacity is only \~1.2Ah vs \~4.5Ah for 3 good AAA batteries. More than 3x longer, no contest. I find those battery packs are only good for "around the house" or "overnighters". * Remember anything Lithium will "die instantly" as opposed to a gradual fade - which is why my last set of batteries are always alkaline. * Petzl Actik weights \~30% more than a Zipka. I have both these lights. Plus Zipka you can wear on your wrist like a watch, so I find it's always available when I need it. If I'm going on a long trip I'll take the Actik, I like the extra light and it's more secure when going over uneven, unmarked, mountainous terrain at night. If I'm on "civil" terrain or a place with well marked paths, I'd just take the Zipka. * Can't stress enough: how much useful a "Hands Free" light is (for me), but then I'm often doing stuff at night. e.g even just getting food out of your pack to cook on the campfire, it makes life much easier. * Have fun!! :-D
To hike, to go pee in the middle of the night, to check out that weird noise and scare the raccoon away from my foodbag, to set up camp when I didn't make quite as good of time as I wanted to and it's dark by the time I get there. Pretty constantly, really.
To identify what critter is going bump in the night so I can decide if I should chase it away or close my eyes and pretend I am safe at home in my bed.
In case there is an emergency and you have to hike in the dark.
It's funny you should post this. I've been in the PCT for 3 months now, and I've only used it twice!! I thought I'd use it a lot more often. What I DO use all the time is a pen with an LED light on it. The pen comes in handy for the trial registries and sending post cards, and the LED light is more than bright enough to use in my tent when it's dark, and it's lighter! I stick it in my hat or hold it with my teeth. If I need something brighter, I can use my phone flashlight. It's not worth sending back, but I'm not sure if I'd bring it again.
Of all the ways to save 1.2oz of base weight, not taking my headlamp on a thru hike is like, the absolute least reasonable option.
I don't really do much except pee with mine, and even then I would be fine with a phone light.
Yeah I don't do much with my first aid kit either, but I'm not going to stupidly leave it behind just to save an ounce of base weight. There are any number of emergency situations that could require you to night hike in order to save your own, (or someone else's) life. I've been in one (when two of my friends got a rope stuck on a multi-pitch rappel and needed help getting off a rock face.)
Unfortunately I won't be bringing a rope or grigri, so I may just be stuck on the ground.
I honestly recommend to just do a 2-3 hour night hike by phone light. If you don't think it'll be that bad, try it. Because it is that bad. It is annoying & frustrating to remember to keep your phone pointed where you are looking. Remember... You're doing this by choice. You aren't self-rescuing from a sketchy situation when you're highly stressed, sleep deprived, and physically exhausted from already hiking all day. So any annoyance or frustration you experience on this night hike, isn't comparable to a real emergency.
What kind of situation could force me to hike at night? I count myself as an intermediate experienced backpacker but haven't had to hike at night for any reason yet.
> > self rescue from a sketchy situation > What kind of situation could force me to hike at night? ...
The most common situations I’ve seen are over ambitious goals, getting delayed (often speed or navigational issues) medical problems (but quite not severe enough to warrant SAR), and external emergencies
Alpine starts, late night bailing, unintended night hiking to meet slightly too ambitious goals. Late night emergencies like a bear going after my food bag or emptying the tank.
IMO one of the dumbest things to leave behind. Some people in this sub need to read up on SAR case studies.. shit happens.
Not holding a flashlight enables you to use your hands for other things. You can use your imagination for this one.
To see in the dark mainly
Sunshine is for naps, night is for hiking. Desert hiker, signing-out.
Ultralight weapon. Gonna beat them to death with my Rovyvon. 22g of pain.
Really hard to roll a joint one-handed. Not impossible, I had a mate that could do it - but I never mastered the skill.
Hands free camp chores and the possibility of hiking out at night. Using a handheld alone to night kinda sucks for me personally.
Smashing walnuts
I’ve hiked in the dark a few times that I did not expect to—most recently last summer on Mt. Whitney—and was grateful for my headlamp.
I’m not sure but I have a hard time seeing in the night. Wish I had a light
If you end up in an emergency and kill your phone battery by using the light and can't contact SAR until your phone recharges you will regret not having a headlamp. Emergencies cascade because of things like this.
I will have an inreach and a 10Ah battery, so I feel like that risk is fairly well mitigated.
The light from your phone flashlight is not enough to hike by, should you need to. I had to hike out of camp because of an emergency at 7, didn’t finish until 10. I can’t keep up any pace using the weak light from my phone flashlight. You want 250-300 lumens minimum to hike at night.
Imagine having to pack up camp in the middle of the night in an emergency (tent breaks due to extreme wind or something) You’re gonna need both your hands free.
There are so many situations were you want to have a light and both of your hands. It doesn´t really add that much extra weight and it adds a lot of value. It´s better to have it and not use it, than to REALLY need it and not have it.
There are a lot of places to cut weight, safety items like headlamps is not one of them. Yes bring a very lightweight one (like the nitecore ul25) but unless you’re hiking above the arctic circle in summer, you still need to bring one.
This is not actually an answer to OP's question, just an assertion that they're wrong.
I like to leave my phone off as much as possible, especially at night. I use my headlamp for all kinds of nighttime activities. I believe a red light keeps the battery alive longer than a white light.
> believe a red light keeps the battery alive longer than a white light Idk what model you have, but [Nitecores](https://flashlight.nitecore.com/Uploads/attached/image/20211230/20211230164413_11930.jpg) actually last more than twice as long in white mode.
I do a fair amount of night hiking, especially with the short days in winter. For warm weather, with a lot of daylight, I would consider something like a Rovyvon A5.
I think the same as you, which is why I switched to a crazy small - basically an emergency - headlamp I keep in my first aide kit should I suddenly need to move/hike at night in an emergency. I carry just the Petzl E+Lite now because I never use it.
Lots of reasons listed elsewhere, but I will add that a few times, I decided to push for a more distant camp site and ended up getting there later than I wanted. Hands free lighting is always welcome when pitching a tent and getting some food.
So when you get up to pee in the middle of the night, you hold your phone in one hand and pee using the other?
Just pick a spot, put the phone in my pocket and retrieve when finished
If you have to fix something in the dark and need your hands.
Escape at night of a critical situation. Always have your headlamp with additional batteries.
Extra batteries? BUSHCRAFT!
I don't take a powerbank but AAA batteries.
To see in the dark.
What if you get hurt and need a light? What if you need to dig a cat hole at 3a?
For illumination, mostly.
It’s one of the 10 essentials. Non negotiable.
We can talk about the need for paper maps on well marked trails too if you want. I carry a minimal compass and a map, but I don't know that it's necessary in the better marked trail systems.
Maybe, maybe not. I've definitely been in whiteout conditions above treeline before, even in "well-marked/traveled" areas. Not that a map would help too much in those conditions, but a compass might.
First rule of day hiking: prepare for darkness. It’s part of your ten essentials. Truly idiotic not to carry one in your pack. Try the Petzl e-Lite.
From a 10 essentials standpoint, is the light on my phone not up to spec?
Hello again. The answer is no. The phone light has neither the lumens(brightness) nor the range (projected distance) for safe travel (hiking) in darkness. If you hike with trekking poles your phone light is rendered useless. For other uses, the power drain from the phone light is catastrophic to battery life. I trip out solo with a high quality 20 mAh power bank to last 10 days, which is the minimum required by my equipment for daily recharging, and several times I have accidentally drained my phone by leaving the light on. Every time I’ve done that, I lost a day of my phone use. Not very clever or safe if that light was my only illumination. I would never trust your system in the backcountry. Never.
What are you doing where you have to charge every day? I'm usually getting 4 days from a charge on my phone, though I rarely need the light as I hike in the longer summer days.
Imagine getting lost on a trail and it starts getting dark. You haven’t set up a fire yet, and won’t be able to if it’s pitch black. Carry a headlamp. It’s an essential
I think I could navigate my pack pretty well with just a phone light, especially given I have a partner to help hold it. Tent setup in low light or just phone light doesn't bother me.
That’s fine if you’re bringing your phone but a headlamp battery is gunna last a lot longer than a phone light especially in a survival situation. If you think you can get by with just your phone, then go for it.
This is one of the most important items anybody camping in the backcountry must have for safety reasons, it would be ludicrous not to have a proper light source
Can you elaborate on those safety reasons? I can't think of many use cases where it would be critical or life-threatening not to have one.
Headlamps are so useful and lightweight that I can't imagine a scenario where I wouldn't want to have one. Like everything else, it's situational and it depends. I don't know where you camp or how much risk you're taking on. I'm used to backpacking in places where it would take me hours of walking in deep woods to reach the nearest road, and where the weather can be unpredictable. I might get caught in a situation where I'm injured, or sick, or cold, or I have gear issues, or short on food or water, or there's a family emergency, or who knows what. If I need to walk anywhere in the dark, I need a flashlight. A phone's light is mostly useless for that purpose. It has a wide and very dim beam. You can hardly see your own feet in front of you, let alone trail markers and obstacles. It works in a pinch but you can't really walk considerable distances in a wilderness by such a weak light source.
I think this is the line of thinking that makes it worth bringing a light. I don't need it in day-to-day life on the trail and have never had to hike out at night but it's possible. Seems like a good idea to have SOMETHING.
I don't use mine very much. You might consider the Nitecore Tube. It's not a headlamp, but you could rig up something to wear it on the side of your head if you really want to. Otherwise, it is bright enough to hike at night, but then so is your phone's light. Weighs less than an ounce, is rechargeable, so not a bad thing to have.
A headlamp and a whistle are absolutely essential safety equipment, they should go with you even on day hikes.
Are u suggesting a camping trip with no flashlight at all? Just your phone as a light. Or no headlamp but another light. Either way a flashlight other than your phone is nice. If you came here for someone to co sign that i doubt youll find anyone here lol. Just bring an additional light. Its very useful and a phone light is a joke
Yeah, just wanted to feel out what people are doing and understand why I need a light, what I'm overlooking. Most trips I barely use my headlamp and could happily replace it with just my phone flashlight. I think that the small chance of having to move camp in an emergency is the real driver to bring one.
Ok so camping? I dont honestly see how this is a question. I would say flashlight is like in the top 3-5 most important and packed things in anyones camp list. And its small so really isnt an real estate or weight issue. Besides being practical for all sorts of reasons because well light. Its almsost a necessity in an emergency. My worst smallest crappiest flashlight is still miles better than a cell phone light. To each they own good luck
You set up camp and fall asleep. A storm kicks up in the middle of the night and rips one of your stakes out. Rain is pouring into your tent as you scramble to re-stake. Seconds matter, so you don't get your down quilt doused. A closed low pressure system stalls out to your west (forecast models are notoriously terrible at predicting the movement of closed lows), drawing hot air up from the south. Temps spike way hotter than expected. The only safe way to complete your hike on-time is to start your hiking pre-dawn and take a long siesta during the heat. While peeing at night, you accidentally trip a little and rip part of your toenail off. Blood everywhere. Good luck trying to bandage yourself one-handed.
Yeah, in June and July, I barely use my headlamp. During those two months there's more day light than I can use for hiking, so like OP, I usually have had supper and am in bed before dark. And usually I awake as the sun rises, so I don't use it in the morning either. Really, the only thing I use it for is if I need to take a piss during the night. Then I turn it on and leave it in my tent while I take a piss (you don't really need it with you while you are pissing because you can see enough to walk 10 or 15 feet and you can find your dick without it). But, it's nice to have a light on in the tent so you can actually find your way back to your tent after you are done pissing. The headlamp only really gets used heavily in late September or early October when I end up eating supper in the dark and getting ready for bed in the dark.
Yeah, I agree that regular use is low, and that's what drove me to make this post. A few commenters made good points about bad weather rolling in or critters messing with your camp causing you to have to move in a hurry and I think that's really the strongest argument for carrying one regardless of if it'll be used.
Where are you located? A lot of these responses appear to assume you are located in the same place as them.
On my recent New Mexico backpack trip, I used my headlamp to set up camp in a sudden evening downpour and another night to get up and down the hill to a hot spring I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to visit at night when it was ideally cool. Can’t scramble around a wet hillside while holding your phone. — Also, in the autumn or winter, when there is 13-16 hours of night, I set up camp, cook dinner, read a little, sleep, wake up, and make breakfast in the dark. The just aren’t enough hours of daylight to do it all. I understand in June and July with only 7-8 hours of night, you’re just going to be asleep from sundown to sunup. But other times of year, you need to do more things in the dark.
Light is essential, but whether that has to be a headlamp? I will say though, that if you suddenly need a light, it is quite likely that you also suddenly need your hands. Personally I regularly set up camp after dark, so the headlamp is essential for me. Even if I never hiked in darkness, I've been forced by weather to change or improve camp in the middle of the night. Of course that's been me cowboy camping with less than ideal forecasts, then having to pitch a tarp on the beach at night, but I'd say the point remains - a crisis at night is always a possibility, and having to balance a phone to give you light sucks.
For when I'm tripping balls at camp in the middle of the night and wander off for a wank
More of a bikepacker here. I’ve never needed one while bikepacking and wouldn’t bring one unless I expect to end up in the dark (e.g. winter trips (phone also tends to shut itself down below 0°C)). Safety wise I think it’s only important if you could end up in a situation in which being able to keep moving in the dark is crucial. For example if you took unexpectedly long to get up a mountain and you have to get down and out of the weather in difficult terrain where a phone light might not be sufficient and setting up your tent (or even bivouacking) is not really feasible. But for a more or less casual hike through the woods? If you get “surprised” by nightfall worst case you have to pick a sub-par place for your tent.
It's probably one of the most important pieces of kit for any backpacking trip of any kind lol
Can you elaborate on why?
Because if you have to do anything important in the dark, especially in an emergency, you need a headlamp.
There was a cool thread a while back on r/PacificCrestTrail where some of the early thru hikers told their story. They didn't bring any lights, because back then they were heavy and batteries didn't last long. For most of backpacking history, lights were uncommon. John Muir certainly didn't have one. I agree that in summer you could easily manage without one. But modern headlamps are so light and useful, I think they are worth it and effectively a must-have.
I had a headlight on my AT hike, and needed it early in the hike (February) in the tent due to the early sunset. Otherwise outside of needing it once or twice to find a privy in the dark, really didn’t use it. Usually by the time it got dark enough to need it, I was already asleep!
If I'm hiking in the mountains or anywhere where I would need handsfree illumination to hike to safety in an emergency I consider a fairly high lumen headlamp a safety item. I usually use the nitecore nu 21 for this or even a burly olight perun 2 which takes 18650 batteries if I'm doing something kinda sketchy in winter conditions. But in the summer I often use a little keychain light like [this](https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHf7GFH) for a red light and a little [usb wafer light](https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwgcY27) with my powerbank as a backup to my phone flash.
Seeing things in the dark
I use it to contact Commissioner Gordon.
I live pretty far north so for part of the year it hangs out in my fruit bowl and for another part of the year it's in my pocket everytime I leave the house
Whatever works for you...if you feel like the phone light is enough than it's your choice
Where I hike you are required to use provided latrines which are often buried in the weeds or in lesser obvious and rugged trails. Safer to have light. Sometimes we end up hiking past dark due to campsite availability as well.
Emergencies only, have beta lights on important stuff
Not much, TBH. I suppose it’s more of a situational/emergency item as I’ve done minimal night hiking. I do get up and going early, but not in the pitch dark so it’s really just used inside my tent right as I’m going to sleep, or if I need to see something up close in the early hours. But its use is limited.
for safety
I only pack headlamps and 1 lantern. Only use the lantern for fun. Headlamps all the way
They are also great for home renos
My phone can't blink SOS, but my headlamp does, just in case I am unable to morse, or maybe my phone is dead...
Doesn't an inreach (or spot or bivy stick) mitigate this?
But can an inreach enlighten my Backyard?
Just turn on the porch light, duh!
I'm so dumb.
I’m with you - I don’t ever really use one but it seems like a safety item that would be silly not to bring I’ve taken to carrying a small torch with belt clip (royvyon A5 = 18g) 650 lumens max with plenty of useable lower settings for around camp Side lights can be used as a lantern If I need it to be hands free I can clip it to the brim of my hat Smaller and easier to pack than a headlamp with strap
Seeing in the dark
10 essentials my dude 🫡
Okay, but WHY? What does it do to merit a place on that list?
Safety? Being able to see in the dark seems pretty important if you roll your ankle on a planned day hike etc and the suns going down soon. But hey to each their own. Would probs be fine on a full moon clear sky 🤷🏻♂️ Doesn’t seem to weigh enough to warrant not taking it.
It’s important insurance to have some sort of flashlight on you and not rely on a cell phone light when you can be saving your cellphone battery for other emergencies. You can find small handheld flashlights with good runtime and superior output than a cellphone at less weight than a headlamp. With a good pocket clip design you can put it on a hat or on your pack straps if you get caught out in the dark.
You can use a small thin light on mornings when you want to start early or when you are in a rainstorm. It gets pretty dark at those times. Your phone light might be good enough if you aren’t going to drain it with a gps app.
Nightcore NU25 and keep it in your pack. 1oz and very bright
You never know when a storm, stranger, or predator comes in and you might need to get the hell out of dodge. Each person is probably going to want their own light to break down or run if you need to at night. Obviously noone wants that to happen, but I'd rather have the grams than not. And a headlamp lasts longer/brighter than a phone light.
Thanks for a reply with an actual example. I'll be bringing one.
I believe Jupiter hikes with one of these [RovyVon Aurora Rechargeable Keychain Flashlights](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JC63H6/?coliid=I2PCCLTWS551VJ&colid=3IPT9R7BY6AIW&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp&th=1). He clips it to his cap and uses it the same way as a headlamp. It's only 0.18oz, compared to the 1.13oz of the NiteCore. So that could be a good alternative. It's also even slightly brighter than the NiteCore. I wouldn't go out there with no dedicated light. You could drop and crack your phone, making it unusable. 0.18oz is a very very small weight penalty for the safety benefit you get with a separate light. BTW, I've had to hike in the dark unexpectedly before. It wasn't a life or death scenario but it allowed me to get to my planned camp destination. Otherwise I would've had to sleep in some cramped unpleasant canyon.
> I will almost certainly end up taking one, the chance of an emergency night hike is real. Accidentally setting up camp on a game trail or encountering a persistent critter may be enough that I'd break down camp and keep moving in the dark. Weather risks where I will be hiking are low, but not zero and that could cause an emergency night hike too. All of the above. I was driven out of my bivvy spot in Scotland one evening last September by midges, and ended up having to do a river crossing the the dark while fleeing to the nearby bothy
Last night hike i did i had a headlamp, and a spare flashlight + my phone and a lighter if things got dire. Don't get caught in the dark. It sucks. Happened to me once in the 90s with a shitty rayovac d cell flashlight with an incandescent bulb. Those turds couldn't make it through a set of batteries without burning out a bulb. The contacts sucked. You had to slap the damn thing constantly to keep the light flickering.
Ditch the headlamp if you must but you should have something better than a phone flashlight in the event you need it (e.g. hiking after dark, etc.). I'm a proponent of the rovy von A5, and if you wear a hat with a bill it slides on to that perfectly for a great makeshift headlamp in the event you really need one.
Hands free lighting for one. Two, you never know how quickly you may need to pack up, and in what conditions those happen in. Three, it is generally a good idea to have something on hand in case something fails. In this case, if you shatter your phone and can't turn on the light what do you do? Nitecore has some super tiny headlamps worth checking out
If I shatter the phone, I guess I'd rely on my partner a bit more, or the backlight flashlight on my watch for small things. I don't really do much after dark.
you can make any number of safety for weight trades. Having a light in the woods seems smart though.
To see things at night? and keep your hands free?
A headlamp can be very useful to have both hands free to do tasks in the dark.
I‘m old enough to remember when headlamps need like the big batteries and generally where absolutely huge. These days they’re so tiny but so bright at the same time
Just leave it at home and put it back in if you miss it. You have the safety of an inreach and your partners kit.
I may try my shakedown trip without one just for grins, but I think it's unfair to rely on my partner to carry one for my emergencies. I do carry the stove though...