[pct-l] Nite Hiking and Flashlights

[Sean Nordeen]

>>Any recommendations for a lightweight flashlight that's powerful enough for night hiking?  I've been using a BlackDiamond Ion, but it doesn't create enough light for me to hike at night.
I use to use a headlamp for many years.  Then back in 2008, I was
reading some comments on backpackinglight.com
about how some ultralighters were using tiny flashlights instead of
headlamps since they can be lighter and brighter. The advantages of
using a flashlight is the light can be held down at waist level and you
get better depth preception since raised objects and holes are casting
shadows.  I find that I don't need to have as bright of light to hike with and
the lowest setting on my flashlight when hiking on descent trail.
The disadvantage is that you only have one hand free to hold a
pole. But since you can see better, you aren't stumbling over things as
much so I stumble far less then I did trying to hike with a headlamp.

I have been hiking with a flashlight instead of a headlamp ever since.
It worked for me
well on the PCT, the AT, as well as many other hikes where I choose to
hike in the dark
for several hours.  A recent example, back over the winter break, I
was backpacking in Joshua Tree NP
and choose to hike for a couple of hours in the dark due to a late
start and starting after sunset.
I was going up this canyon where the trail was essentially loose sand
at the bottom.
Previous hiker's footprints and what few signs of a real trail were
very obvious while
holding my flashlight at waist level.  When I tried holding it up at
my head, I couldn't
see anything in the sand.

My current flashlight is a Fenix LD12.  They aren't cheap but they
last.  The specs are:
Turbo - 125 Lumens - 2 hr. 20 min.
High - 65 Lumens - 4 hr. 45 min.
Mid - 30 Lumens - 10 hr. 15 min.
Low - 3 Lumens - 100 hr.

I find the lowest setting is more than enough to hike with and use
around camp.  I only use
the higher settings when I need to see a good distance around me such
as looking for
a campsite off trail.

-Miner