“You’re on Mountain Time” – but am I really?

The sun was shining today as I left the house at 7am, thanks daylight savings time! And I enjoyed it, it is easier to see deer running across the road when it is light out, and I plan to enjoy it because it doesn’t last forever. Soon enough it will be dark out when I get up anyhow, hopefully sometime all day because of rain clouds.

There is this camping myth about time and daylight: Mountain Time. More specifically, that you wake up with the sun go to bed at sunset. Somehow automatically you are so in touch with nature the moment lay your head down on a sleeping pad that you can throw that watch away.

I’m calling bull.

When hiking the TRT for 12 days Trails and I used out watch alarms to wake us up every single morning. We went to bed early, got up early, but we had destinations and a schedule to stick to. Sure we got super good at falling asleep with the sun – as illustrated by being the first people in bed at the Mount Rose campground, before toddlers – and trained in wrenching our body’s out of bed with the sunrise so we could bust out some miles before it got hot. Without that morning alarm ensuring my early awakening I don’t know if I would have made it. I definitely wouldn’t have made it 164+ miles in 12 days.

Here is the best picture of my watch I could find from the TRT. Incidentally right before getting on this boat across Echo Lake a PCT thru-hiker had read my watch for the time from 6 feet away and then hurried off to get to his destination before nightfall.

Supposedly, if you are truly on Mountain Time you need to not have a schedule.

But it’s hard to not have a schedule: People need to go to work on Monday. & I would really like to see the destination at the end of the hike. & All the primo produce will already be snapped up at the farmers market. & We are all going to miss the first set at concert down at the Mountain Sage…

Maybe if through hiking the PCT I would have adapted eventually. But in the mean time you can pry my alarm over my cold asleep body. Or acknowledge the fact that my mountain weary body is staying in my cozy sleeping bag a little after the sun rises!