Login | January 26, 2026
Winter night hike
PETE GLADDEN
Pete’s World
Published: January 26, 2026
A week ago, quite by accident, I ended up getting out on a hike far later in the day than I would’ve liked.
Yet having that gnawing feeling that I absolutely had to do something, anything, in the form of PA (physical activity) for the day I reluctantly headed out on a hike about a half hour before sunset, knowing fully well that I’d be finishing in the dark.
Now my younger self didn’t bat an eye when it came to tromping around in the dark on a hike, especially in the dead of winter.
Heck, those were the days when winter night hiking was as common as winter day hiking!
But alas, over the past decade or so, well, I guess you could say, I’ve softened a bit around the edges, eventually turning into an evening homebody - most notably during the winter.
Indeed, these days my typical winter evening PA has entailed swapping out my shoes for a pair of toasty warm slippers, slipping into some comfy cotton PJs, and stretching out on the sofa to tune into the local TV news, all the while watching that big red sun set over the frozen landscape outside our living room windows.
Anyway, during this recent night hike, I rediscovered what I’d originally uncovered in the past, that when the winter sun sets an indescribable ethereal kind of magic ensues for those outside immersed in the dark.
Consequently, that little “hike born of necessity” revealed to me what I’d been missing out on for far too long: That sense of wonder, that air of mysteriousness and that feeling of being, all of which seem to go hand-in-hand with a cold winter night’s hike.
Sequestering myself during winter evenings had more or less left me wallowing in a prolonged wintertime rut.
Now does this wintertime evening rut thing sound familiar to you?
If so let me share with you several of the wonderful attributes that winter night hiking can provide to you.
And who knows, just maybe you’ll get out there to experience exactly what I accidentally rediscovered a few weeks ago.
So first and foremost, when you do a winter night hike one of the most amazing phenomenon that you’ll confront is the feeling of being.
There's the sound of your breathing in the cold winter air, the crunching of the frozen ground beneath your feet, the cold nipping at your cheeks and nose and the branches creaking and crackling above your head as the wind wisps across the barren, semi-frozen treetops.
Then there’s the peace and solitude.
One’s sense of aloneness is magnified tenfold on a winter’s night.
Why?
I’m not exactly sure but maybe it’s due to the lack of sunlight and the sense of disorientation that darkness brings.
Indeed, one of the things I love about winter night hiking is that even on a trail you’re totally familiar with, what used to be known suddenly becomes unknown.
And such unfamiliarity coupled with the cold, icy stillness of a winter night can turn the otherwise ordinary into the extraordinary.
Couple that with the rising of the moon, the twinkling of the stars and the evaporation of any and all horizon lines. It all combines to make winter nights truly magical, where you can’t help but to get this inexplicable feeling that there’s so much in this existence that’s far bigger than we are.
Now my final advice for those of you contemplating winter night hiking is this: Either leave that cell phone in the car or switch it to the airplane mode if you take it with you.
Forget about voice calls, texts and emails.
That way you’re not enticed to stop, take out the phone and instinctually check out a text or email notification.
What’s more, getting your phone out will immediately squelch that night vision which took your eyes five or so minutes to acquire.
Electronic-less night hiking allows your to truly focus on the task at hand - to thoroughly enjoy your temporary state of heightened sensory awareness.
Yes indeed, the exhilaration garnered from wintertime night hiking just might be the catalyst to usher you out of those paralyzing wintertime doldrums.
It definitely has for me!