Tumomac Hill at Night

View of Tucson through the saguaros. Apple needs to up their low-light photography capabilities.

Hiked up Tumomac Hill at night just because apparently it's a thing they do here. Kinda boring unless you're with someone and chatting, as many of the people I encountered were—some, prospective Darwin Award winners perhaps, even on cell phones. But I was able to make use of my new rechargeable head lamp, a Fenix HL50 that pretty much kicks butt. It has five levels of brightness, from red, which allows one to find one's way in camp without bothering others and will stay on for hundreds of hours, to full-on deer-in-the-headlights that will run the battery down in 90 minutes.

This charges with a USB connector just like your phone and can also be taken out of its cradle and used like a regular flashlight.

Low red for reading maps or futzing about camp.

Low beam, which I used to good avail on a quarter moon night on a paved trail.

I can't see going much beyond this medium beam for most night-time hikes.

Medium high.

Full-on nuclear, yikes. LED technology is pretty amazing.