Halloween night gets an extra hour this year

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. Then at 2 a.m., while you're zipped into the bag, the clocks fall back and hand you an hour. A free hour of sleep, on the one night of the year that's built for staying up late around a fire.

And it's a long night to begin with. At Bannack, in southwest Montana, the sun goes down at 6:20 on Saturday and comes back up at 7:11 by Sunday's clock. That's nearly fourteen hours of dark. Bring a warmer bag than you think you need, and a better story than you think you need, too.

01The hour you get back

Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, when the clock drops back to 1 a.m. Your phone handles it on its own. Your watch, the truck's dashboard and the little alarm clock in the tent don't.

Two exceptions. Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year, so nothing changes there. The Navajo Nation, which reaches into northeastern Arizona, does change.

Plan the drive home around the other half of the deal. Sunday's sunset comes about an hour earlier on the clock than Saturday's did: 5:19 at Bannack, 5:33 at Fayette in Michigan, 4:49 at Berlin-Ichthyosaur in Nevada. If you were counting on daylight for the last leg, pack up after lunch.

02Three hours of real dark

The Hunter's Moon is full tonight, at 9:11 p.m. Pacific (just after midnight Eastern). By Halloween it's a waning gibbous, about two-thirds lit, and it rises late. We ran the numbers for the three ghost-town campgrounds below:

Saturday, October 31, local daylight time, before the clocks change. Full dark is the end of astronomical twilight, when the sky stops brightening at the edges.

That leaves a window of a little over three hours between true dark and moonrise. Use it for stargazing. Use it for ghost stories. After that the moon lights up the whole campground and every tree throws a shadow, which is its own kind of spooky.

If you've been holding out for a full moon on Halloween, settle in. The next one is in 2039.

Keep your night vision while you're out there. The Camp Light in Campgrounder's Kit tab has a red setting, and it works with zero bars.

03Sleep next to a ghost town

Plenty of campgrounds claim a ghost. These three have a whole town, a short walk from your tent.

Bannack State ParkMontana

Montana's first big gold strike happened here in 1862, and Bannack went on to become the territory's first capital. More than fifty of its buildings still stand along Main Street and up the hillsides, and you can walk into a lot of them. The Bannack Association ran its Ghost Walks last weekend, with costumed actors re-enacting scenes from the town's rough early years. They sell out most years, so if that's the trip you want, watch for tickets in September.

The campground is open all year, with 28 sites. Drinking water is a summer-only thing, so bring your own. Camp sits at 5,837 feet and late October nights are cold. The townsite is on winter hours now, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

Bannack on Campgrounder →

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State ParkNevada

Two strange things at the end of one road. Berlin is a mining town from the 1890s that Nevada keeps in "arrested decay," which means nothing gets restored and nothing gets to fall down. Some of the people who lived there never left. They're in the town cemetery. A short trail away, the Fossil House shelters the bones of ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles that swam over central Nevada about 225 million years ago. It's the state fossil.

Halloween weekend is the last of the season here. The 14 campsites stay open all year, but drinking water typically runs only through the end of October, and Fossil House tours wrap up on November 1 (Saturdays and Sundays at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.). The park cancelled tours October 23 to 25, so call before you count on one. Camp runs from 6,840 to 7,880 feet up, so check road conditions before you go.

Berlin-Ichthyosaur on Campgrounder →

Fayette Historic State ParkMichigan

This one's close to home. Campgrounder started on the Great Lakes, and Fayette is about as Great Lakes as it gets: an iron-smelting company town on Snail Shell Harbor that ran from 1867 to 1891, then emptied out. More than twenty of its buildings still stand on the harbor.

You've missed it for this year. Fall Fest was October 3, with a costume contest and trick-or-treating in the campground, and the campground itself is seasonal. Furnace Hill Lodge stays open year-round if you want a winter look at an empty town. Put Fall Fest on next October's calendar now.

Fayette on Campgrounder →

04Trick-or-treat, site to site

A campground might be the best place there is to trick-or-treat. The walks are short, every site has a lantern going, and somebody's usually got a fire going. These parks are running it on Saturday, October 31:

• Oconee State Park, South CarolinaGames and hayrides from 2 to 5, then trick-or-treating at decorated campsites from 5 to 7, for kids 13 and under. The loops close to cars and golf carts while it's on. (details)
• South Llano River State Park, TexasCostumes and trick-or-treating through the camping loop, 5 to 7:30. (details)
• Don Carter State Park, GeorgiaTrick-or-treating in the RV and cottage loops, 6 to 7:30. Overnight guests set up outside their site and hand out prepackaged treats. (details)
• Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, ArizonaA family campout from Halloween into November 1, with a candlelit tour of the old courthouse and the town's trunk-or-treat. Arizona doesn't change its clocks, so this is the one place on the list that doesn't get the extra hour! (details)

Handing out candy from your site? Buy about twice what you think, keep it wrapped, and leave a lantern on at the picnic table so kids know you're open for business.

05Before you go

Late October is the quiet end of the shoulder season. Water gets shut off, some loops close, and the camp host may have gone home for the year. A few things help:

Check the dates. Look at the season on the listing, and call the park if it's close. Bring water. Bannack's is off for the season, and Berlin's usually goes off at the end of October. Pack for a long night. A warmer bag, a pad with real insulation under you, and fresh batteries, since cold drains them fast. Ask about fires at the entrance. The rules move with the weather. Mark your site. Tap Mark my site in the Kit when you arrive. Every loop road looks the same at 9 p.m.!

Happy Halloween from all of us! Go sleep somewhere with a story.