Last week, I had put the kids to bed and decided it would be the perfect time for a hike. There’s no ticking clock, you know? I could take all night if I wanted! I had forgotten that I’ve tried this before.

When we were in college, Mark and I decided to do a romantic, moonlit, midnight hike. The drive up to Limber Pine in Logan Canyon is beautiful in the daylight. At midnight, it nearly put us to sleep. Then we stumbled around, with nothing to look at but the eight feet of trail directly in front of us. Mostly because we had forgotten there would be no moon. We drove back home thoroughly underwhelmed.

This time, I left my husband home and took the dog. She thought it was just about the best idea I’d ever had. I’m pretty sure she likes hiking better than anything. Better than food, better than me, better than anything. And dogs have those mirror things at the back of their eyes, so the dark doesn’t really bother her. It bothered me though. Which surprised me. I go camping and I sleep like a baby. I love sitting on my porch watching the moon rise. I’ll go running at night on a deserted country road without batting an eye. But this night, every snapped twig was a bear looking for dinner. I was ready to turn around after 30 minutes. The only thing that made it worth it were these cool spiders I had to keep stepping over. Their eyes glittered blue in my headlamp like sapphire sequins dotting the trail.

So if you’ve never done a trail in the dark, do it just to say you have. You never know, you might see something you’d never notice otherwise. But as for me, I’m leaving the night hikes to the critters from now on.                          -Liz