How do You Pass the Time on Long Nights?

Here is the first of what I hope will be an ongoing series of reader questions.
Jan-Willem Bol (@janwillembol) of the Netherlands writes:

“Ok, so the thing about hiking in winter is that there is always a fair chance of bad weather, the low temperatures and the long nights. That last one got me thinking. I don’t have a lot of camp experience – let alone in winter. I’m from the Netherlands and in the winter the sun sets at 4.30pm and doesn’t rise until 8.30am. That’s about 16 hours of darkness. I was wondering; what other people who go on hikes or camping trips do for so many hours? If the cold doesn’t kill you, how do you prevent boredom from doing so? Sixteen hours of sleep is borderline torture and cleaning your kit doesn’t take that long.

So what’s your camp routine when on an overnight winter hike? When do you set up camp? Do you start preparing dinner right away, or do you wait a few hours? And what do you do to kill the time? Play cards with your hiking buddy or simply talk into the night? Or do you carry a book or bring your dog? Or maybe you are the bushcraft type and carve your entire group their own personal cutlery? Whatever it is, I´d like to know.” – Jan-Willem.

How do you pass the time on those long hiking nights? Have a question you would like to ask? Submit it here.

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