If you’ve never hiked at night before you have to try it. While it’s true that you need to be more cautious and prepared to hike at night. It will open you up to a whole new world that you could never experience while on a day hike.
It’s perhaps best said by the poet John Daniel.
“In darkness I remember that it is not knowledge to which we most deeply belong but mystery, and I sense in the mystery of night a beauty that exceeds even the great and notable beauties of the daylit world.”
— John Daniel
The great thing about hiking at night is that not only do you gain a whole new perspective of the world but you also can enjoy a ton of different night hike activities that you could never do on a daytime hike.
Top 10 Night Hike Activities to Try
Night Time Meditation
Even if you are not a fan of meditation or have never tried it before you should give night time meditations a try.
To practice night time meditation you want to hike far enough to remove yourself from any sights or sounds of human activity and pick a comfortable place to sit. Then sit perfectly still and either close your eyes or leave them open whichever you prefer and simply listen as the natural world around you comes to life.
You will more than likely hear sounds that you have never experienced before during the daytime.
Nocturnal Find and Seek
Locate nocturnal wildlife and animals such as frogs, toads, earthworms, and small rodents while hiking at night.
Try to see how much life you can discover that comes alive at night. I can assure you speaking for myself I was amazed at how much was going on around me in a darkened forest.
Rock Fireworks
Find or bring with you quartz rocks and then strike or rub them together. Doing this will cause a visible light around the quartz.
The light you see is actually a small electrical discharge caused by the realignment of the crystalline molecules of the quartz that you interrupted by striking or rubbing them together.
Find and Locate the North Star
Polaris or the North Star as it is more commonly known was a key navigation point for early sailors before the advent of modern GPS. Even to this day, it can still be an excellent navigation tool when modern technology fails.
It’s also just fun to know more about the natural world that surrounds you.
The easiest way to locate the North Star is to use the Big Dipper. Once you have found the big dipper you want to locate the bowl of the Big Dipper as the two outer most points of the bowl point directly to the North Star.
Before looking for the North Star don’t forget to pause your hike so you don’t fall or hurt yourself while looking.
Look for Night Time Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living thing and is actually easier to see on a night hike than you might think. For example, while hiking a night you can look for fireflies, glowworms which are firefly larvae, or decaying wood containing foxfire fungi.
The key to finding bioluminescence when hiking at night is to make sure you have extinguished all the bright lights such as flashlights that can oftentimes drown out the much fainter bioluminescence.
Night Owl Call
In order to do this night time hiking activity, you need to have a recording of a common owl call or learn to imitate it with your voice. If you need a little help learning to imitate an owl call check out this helpful video on how to make an owl call.
Once you have your recording or you’ve learned to make the owl call the next thing to do is to break it out on your next night hike to see if you can get an owl to return your call.
You never know he or she might just have something interesting to say.
Spider Eyes
While spiders creep many people out, if you’re not creeped out by them a fun activity to do while hiking at night is an activity called spider eyes which is really quite simple.
The only thing you need is a flashlight and all you have to do is hold the flashlight to your forehead to get the right angle. Then shine the light into dense foliage or vegetation to see if you can get a reflection back from the eyes of a spider.
Stary Night Pictionary
Much like you might try to find objects in the shapes of clouds during the day time you can instead use the stars at night to try and see or imagine objects in the night’s sky.
If making up objects in the night’s sky is not your thing and you need a little more substance you could always learn the constellations by using a star finder like this one on Amazon that glows in the dark and has all the zodiac signs and try to locate them while hiking at night.
Remember though it’s important to come to a stop while you’re hiking before you attempt this so as not to fall or hurt yourself while trying to play stary night Pictionary.
The Disappearing Head Trick
The disappearing head trick requires two people and all you need to do is stand a few feet away from each other on the hiking path while staring at each other’s head.
If you stare long at each other’s heads it will appear that your hiking buddy has lost their head.
This is due to a trick your brain plays in the absence of enough light to see your surroundings well by filling in the blanks of what it knows should be there such as woods and trees that are behind your hiking partner’s head.
The Quiet Game
Attempt to walk through nature on a hike at night without making a sound. This can be much more difficult than you think thanks to the leaves, branches, and twigs scattered across the ground in the woods.
Learn how to walk quietly through nature and see how long you can go without making a sound while hiking at night.
How to Stay Safe Hiking at Night
Now that we know all the fun and interesting things we can do while hiking at night other than just hiking its important we know how to stay safe while were having all this fun.
Tips on How to Stay Safe While Hiking at Night
- As with most things, there is safety in numbers and this is never truer than when hiking at night. It is never a good idea, in my opinion, to hike at night by yourself. While this doesn’t mean you can’t have a little separation from you and the group to enjoy the splendors of solitude. It’s always a good idea to have someone relatively close by in case something goes wrong.
- It’s important when hiking at night to dress for the weather. Even if it was pretty warm during the day you will be surprised how cool it can get or feel at night. So it’s best to leave the shorts and t-shirts behind and instead opt for long sleeves and pants when hiking at night.
- Obviously, it goes without saying to bring plenty of light when hiking at night. You might not think about bringing multiple sources of light though. I would recommend not only bringing a flashlight but also bringing at least one additional light source such as this rechargeable headlamp I got off of Amazon that I really like to provide additional lumination or a back up if one fails.
- It’s also a good idea to bring an extra set of batteries in case your batteries die in your flashlight mid-hike.
- When hiking at night it’s best to choose a trail you know and that you have been on before. It’s never a good idea to try and explore a new trail at night as there can be obstacles or dangers that might be hard to see at nighttime.