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This is something I have pondered on multiple occasions, when the light of the full moon and the altitude induced insomnia kept me awake long into the night.

I realize that this would be an unusual strategy, but I have heard of people doing it, such as Jedediah Smith while crossing a desert on his explorations or this person who was going to try to break the unsupported and without resupply speed record on the John Muir Trail.

Would there be any advantages to hiking during the night and sleeping during the day?

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    Practice your night land nav.
    – DLS3141
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 21:50
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    To be a fully balanced question, you should consider disadvantages of night travel in addition to advantages. For example - its hard to sleep when the sun is up and at its hottest.
    – Criggie
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 23:54
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    I'm puzzled that the light of the full moon keeps you awake and you expect to sleep better under the light of the sun…
    – gerrit
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 11:40
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    @gerrit His wolf genes kick in under the light of the full moon. :)
    – ab2
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 13:55
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    @CharlieBrumbaugh Head down into the valley before you put up the tent: (1) more oxygen, (2) more mountains to block the moonlight, (3) more trees to block the moonlight, three times more sleep ;-)
    – gerrit
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 15:24

9 Answers 9

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There are several reasons, though not all of them would apply for one's usual holiday trip.

Remaining unseen

Obviously, during night its dark and this gives you a fair bit of cover if you want to remain unseen. This reason for traveling at night is common for many hunters in the animal kingdom (and sometimes also their prey), has been used by humans in insecure or hostile territory for centuries and remains a standard technique for some military operations even today.

Evading the elements

Hiking throughout the night and resting in the day can be especially useful in hot, arid conditions. For example in deserts, extreme heat during the day and severe cold in the night often come together. Hiking during the night here serves the double purpose of keeping you active and warm when it is cold while allowing you to save water resources during the day.

Boosting morale

When conditions get worse (cold, moisture), getting up during the night and starting to hike will not only make you feel warm again, it will also boost your morale. Being active, and actively coping with a bad situation rather than staying miserable in the tent for the rest of the night will make you feel better.

You want to avoid tourists

No, seriously, this is a real case in point. Most people travel during the day and one of the reasons we (or at least, I) get outdoors is to enjoy some quietness in the wild. Depending where you are, hiking at night is your best bet to fulfill this dream.

Navigation (only very theoretical)

Consider a situation where it is all cloudy during the day (so you do not see the sun), you lack a compass and currently have no sense of direction: if you are capable of navigating with the stars, you might consider waiting until dark and hope that the sky will clear up until then.

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    Another environmental reason is to avoid avalanches and rock/ice fall induced by melt during the warmer parts of the day.
    – user5330
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 23:34
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    Under "Evading the elements", I can add a case in point, but more short-term than your examples. A weather window is no respecter of normal waking hours; there's been a few times that I've been holed up waiting out a storm, and had to move at night before the next storm arrived.
    – Toby Speight
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 9:11
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    The last point is not theoretical. If you are lost and/or get into an accident, navigating with the help of stars is very useful. It is a fun skill to have, and a backup in case more technological navigational aids fail. I believe there was a story about scouts that got lost with no compass/gps and returned with the help of local geographic knowledge and star navigation.
    – Mindwin Remember Monica
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 13:51
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    @mattnz Also, glacier fed streams are easy to cross in the morning but become raging torrents in the afternoon. Some hikers have needed to wait for night to get back.
    – Keith McClary
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 5:06
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    Related to what Toby said, storms in Colorado at least are much more likely in the afternoon, and moving at night could substantially reduce your lightning risk.
    – Rocky
    Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 16:00
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The main advantages are:

  1. You don't need sunscreen

  2. Even with a full moon, the night sky is awesome

  3. Things look (and sound) weirdly and wonderfully different in moonlight

  4. In summer, the temperature will be much more conducive to brisk hiking than during the heat of the day

The OP did not ask about disadvantages, but the main disadvantage is #3 -- that things look weirdly different. If you are hiking cross-country, this could cause you to become disoriented and even lost, even in territory that you know well.

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    Wrt the disadvantage: A dog can help. You can see the trail better, but the dog can smell the trail better. That can really help when you can't see/find it.
    – Drew
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 2:18
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    @Drew: unless there are squirrels nearby!
    – whatsisname
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 2:35
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    @Drew: Helps if the dog is a border collie mix, with a large white tip on her tail. I like to hike in the evening and early night, and there have been more than a few times when I got back to the trailhead by following that waving white spot. Of course I could have used my headlamp if I really needed to, but that ruins my enjoyment of the darkness.
    – jamesqf
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 4:32
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    @Todd, whichever hemisphere you're in, you get more night hours in winter than summer. That's pretty much the definition of the seasons!
    – Toby Speight
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 9:08
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    As part of "weirdly different" too, it becomes hard/impossible to see holes, tree roots and other obstacles. Unless you're walking down a paved road, the major risk of night hiking is injury because of stumbling.
    – Graham
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 12:20
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Better sights

In some situations, there might be some beautiful things that can only be seen during the night.

This includes Northern lights (Aurora Borealis), but also some places might brag about the great view of the night sky or moon. Of course you can always watch during the night even if not hiking, but since you have to sleep you'd appreciate it for a longer time by hiking during the night.

Weather

Sometimes, the weather could be better this way, if it ends up raining during the day and not raining during the night, but that's a specific situation and not a general case.

Temperature

In very hot locations, it might be hard to hike during the entire day, or make you use up a ton of water, while sleeping would save that water and energy under the burning sun, and allow you to walk during the more comfortable night.

Fewer other people

You obviously could prefer to hike when there are as few other hikers as possible, to enjoy the nature more, and in that case night would be your best bet.

Keep in mind

Of course, in certain places or situations, all those advantages could apply to the day instead, so it really depends on where you are going, when you are goin, and what the weather will be.

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This is an edge case, but I'll add it nonetheless:

If you are hiking above the polar circle during summer, hiking during the 'night' will give you the rare chance to experience the wonder that is the midnights sun in the endless nordic summer.

There is nothing quite like starting a climb after dinner, summiting a mountain and having a snack in the midnights sun.

Of course the same applies for hikes in the far south (those are not quite as easily reachable though, as you need to be on Antarctica).

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Some types of wildlife might be easier to see (with flashlight) at night than by day: odd as this sounds I have seen this first-hand hiking in Borneo. During the day I spotted relatively few animals, however hiking at night I was able to see many strange insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates. My guess is this advantage is more pronounced in tropical rainforests. In other locales it might be that you just see different wildlife rather than different & more.

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Done it, in all seasons. Usually because I worked late and still wanted to camp. Depending on the time of the year bugs attack your headlamp, so carry it in your hand versus on your head. It's cooler usually, but easier to get lost.

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Something I've done in the Sierras where it can get quite hot at lower elevations during the day is to use the "siesta" method.

Get up early and hike until about noon. Wait out the hot hours of the day (roughly 1pm - 4pm) and start hiking again as the day cools off.

As far as hiking in the moonlight, even with the brightest full moon, it can be extremely disorienting. Without color vision your depth perception can be off, even relatively tame terrain can unnerve you.

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A disadvantage to be wary of is that nocturnal predators such as mountain lions are active during the night.

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  • This could be a disadvantage, although I'm not convinced you're more likely to be attacked by a mountain lion at night vs other times. Also stating a one line disadvantage without adding any advantages isn't really answering the question of "Are there and advantages?" There surely are many disadvantages, but the OP wants us to focus on the advantages. So if you can expand your answer to include some new advantages then I'll reverse my down-vote.
    – Erik
    Commented Mar 29, 2017 at 19:39
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    Not to mention that they are supposedly most active (hunting) around dawn and dusk, not in the depths of the night.
    – Drew
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 0:55
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Lapland in the spring

We are going on a 2-week trek in Finnish Lapland 27th may. As it turns out, there's more snow this year than on average. If the snow won't melt before our trip, we're planning on traveling at night when the temperature freezes the surface of the snow which makes it possible to travel on snow. During daytime it melts and won't carry you. At those latitudes, the sun won't set even at night so there won't be any problems with visibility. Added bonus is that potential mosquitoes will be hibernating when the temperature drops.

Lapland in the summer

The sun won't set so visibility is not an issue. It's also cooler than during the daytime.

Lapland in the fall

You're better off by traveling during the day as it's getting really dark and cold in the night time.

Lapland in the winter

Wind tends to calm down as the sun sets. Even in northern latitudes when the sun won't rise in the middle of the winter it is possible to travel in full moon if the sky is clear. Added bonus is the potential auroras which are just frickin awesome!!!

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