Remaining Daylight on Your Fingers

Is it time to stop and scrounge for shelter or is it better to keep trekking? Use this simple trick to measure the remaining daylight. Remember to allow yourself at least two hours to set up camp before the sun goes down.


Count the finger widths between the sun and the horizon. Each finger is equivalent to fifteen minutes, with each hand totaling an hour. When the sun dips low enough that only two hands fit. It's time to search for a suitable campsite and assemble a shelter: (A caveat: if you're near the poles, the sun will hover over the horizon for a longer period of time, giving you an innaccurate reading.
Labels:

16 comments:

  1. Randal L. SchwartzAugust 6, 2012 at 7:56 AM

    You'll get a better reading nearer the poles by tilting your hand according to your latitude. For example, at latitude 45, tilt your hand 45 degrees. At 60, tilt 60.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ghardymMarch 22, 2013 at 11:38 AM

      I knew there would be a way to compensate for latitude. Thanks for saving my brain cells. How would you compensate for winter hours?

      Delete
  2. Vague RaconteurAugust 6, 2012 at 8:36 AM

    That's a hell of a cool little trick. I've got to find a way to show it off somehow xD

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 6, 2012 at 11:17 AM

    What if you have really small hands?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. G. Scott LymanAugust 6, 2012 at 12:47 PM

      Ha!-- however, It'd be easy to 'hack' this to a custom time by going out one evening and doing a direct measurement (go out about an hour before local sunset and measure how many fingers it takes).

      Delete
    2. AnonymousAugust 8, 2012 at 1:16 PM

      Time speeds up to compensate.

      Delete
    3. Westlake Hills, TxJanuary 3, 2013 at 12:23 PM

      Really small hands? Hopefully you're a chic.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousJanuary 4, 2013 at 7:08 PM

      actually, as an interesting fact, every full grown hand is the same breadth. try it! line up all of your fingers and thumb into a perfectly flat shape by placing it on a table or something like that. then measure from the knuckle on your thumb closest to the palm, to the knuckle on you little finger at the knuckle closest to the palm. A full-grown hand will be almost exactly 4" across. This "hand" measurement is one of the oldest in the world, far preceding inches and feet. this is why horses are always measured in "hands" instead of inches/feet.

      Delete
    5. AnonymousMarch 22, 2013 at 5:45 PM

      Then why do gloves come in small, med & large? Although my hand is 4" across. My span from fingertip to fingertip when my hand is stretched out is 8" & the span from thumb tip to index finger tip is 6". Is everyone's that way?

      Delete
    6. AnonymousMarch 25, 2013 at 12:03 PM

      Sorry..hands are NOT the same breadth! Just did it with my hubby and his is at least 1" wider than mine!

      Delete
  4. Rick DeLanoAugust 8, 2012 at 2:24 PM

    And Anonymous gets the Albert Einstein Memorial Shrinking Rod Award!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousAugust 8, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    If you have small hands, your arm is usually shorter so it will still work.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousAugust 9, 2012 at 10:15 AM

    Uh... so that picture is supposedly of 2 hours before sunset. Really? It looks substantially closer than that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2012 at 3:12 PM

      You are right: fingers are out of scale and the sunset is closer!!!: the Sun moves its diameter in two minutes. (thirty times its diameter in an hour)... So diameter Sun= diameter finger in the picture---> 8 Suns to sunset ---> 16 minutes left.... Hurry back home, dude!

      Delete
  7. AnonymousSeptember 1, 2012 at 3:06 AM

    God bless you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2013 at 2:27 PM

    At the end o the game... you are blind !

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)