Quick Tip: Headlamp and Depth Perception

Don't go towards the light...

Perhaps you've heard me say it before:  It should be a crime to manufacture and sell flashlights that don't strap to one's head.  The headlamp is a perfect invention.  I think if I ever own a house, it won't have light fixtures.  Why light up where you're not looking?  Instead, everyone will rock a bulb on the forehead when needed.  Brilliant, eh? In my uber-energy efficient living arrangement, everyone will keep both hands free:  free from holding a light, and free from turning switches on and off.  

Light on light.  Trick of photography, or Jed being an altitude-addled idiot? Ian McEleney Photo

In the backcountry, it makes even more sense.  Whether hiking, tooth brushing, or being even more active, the benefits of a strapped light source are clear.  Lightweight headlamp options abound; LED technology means batteries remain small and power lasts long.  

If suggesting regulation of something as seemingly innocuous as the strap on your headlamp is so stereotypically "California" of me, allow me to take it a step further with some hypocrisy compounded with self-self-rightousness. 

In short, lights that strap to your head are great, but I don't always wear mine on my head. In fact, when I'm on rough ground and need to move fast, it works better to have it in my hand.  You see, having a light sitting right between your eyes means that you see everything that is lit up.  And nothing that is not.  You don't see the shadows of roots, rocks, and topography.  Try it next time you're trying to motor on uneven ground.  Hold the light in your hand, down at waist level.  Shadows will pop out and you'll wonder how you ever functioned otherwise.  Just don't let the Ministry of Truth know you've regressed so.  

Still can't see?  Light 'er up old school.  Cochise, Halloween 2010.