An interesting recently discovered blog called As the Crow Flies discusses hiking after dark:
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’m sorta addicted to blue skies and vistas so it might take me awhile to get my brain around night hiking, but I can see the potential.
Terrain is a big consideration. I’ve had some great night hikes on smooth trails, or not-too-bumpy terrain. When we tried to hike the grassy, rocky Hat Creek Rim on the PCT, though, all we got for it were bruises.