When the days are scorching and the nights are cool, I find it a good strategy to hike at night, especially when there is a long way between water sources.
At first, I tried walking all night long and found that to be torture. Half way through the night, I started to hallucinate, and by 5:30 am, I threw my pack down on the trail, flopped over it and went to sleep. What I found worked best was to hike until about midnight, sleep until about 4am, hike until 10:30 am, and then sleep again and start hiking about 3:30pm.
I like to carry a little Photon Light, in addition to my LED headlamp, just in case something happens to my headlamp and I need to make camp. It’s also good for a light if I need to change the batteries, in the dark.
Tip: If you lose the trail, try shining your flashlight low, right over the surface of the ground. This way you can often pick up the footprints of the hiker who went before you. If I still can’t find the trail, I just go to sleep and find it when it gets daylight
Related post: Backpacking Lights
I think it’s pretty neat to go hiking at night, but I will not do it alone. I wouldn’t want to lose the trail and I would have a few other concerns as well.