Conservative miles when starting a thru hike

[BrianLe]

I think that there can be a lot of variation in this, and certainly how much weight you're carrying is a big factor. I was 54 when I hiked the AT, and started in pretty lousy physical condition --- I had had foot surgery 3 months before and for most of the intervening time wasn't able to walk much to train. I averaged 12 - 13 miles per day the first week out and generally increased it from there, and once out of snow did 20+ pretty much every full hiking days apart from in the Whites.
That start worked fine for me; for someone else a slower start might be more prudent. It's hard to quantify, but I'm sure that the fact that it wasn't my first long distance trip helped too.

[RED-DOG]

For me having a lot of Patience in the beginning was KEY to having successful Thru's.

[Don H]

I was 53 when I thrued and started doing about 10 miles a day and bumped it up from there. I saw many people trying to bust out big miles in the beginning ending up with knee problems. Throughout my hike I tried to keep mileage under 20 a day, although on several occasions I went over. It can be tough when everyone else is doing 25 - 30 miles a day. They didn't finish any faster than me, I just took fewer zeros. You can see the milage I did at:http://trailjournals.com/donhoward

[Datto]

Originally Posted by Datto
Here's a link to my on-line AT thru-hike journal:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=5030


Thanks! I hadn't seen that one before, and it's hilarious!

Thanks -- I had lots of fun writing my on-line journal every day of my AT thru-hike. Glad you're enjoying it.


Datto

[4shot]

I did not have any serious medical, physical or mental problems. It turned out to be quite a adventure. Take it easy, don't give up your chance to have one.

Grampie, no offense but...you may have been ok physically or medically but the fact that you wanted to even attempt a thru, much less complete the thing, is seen by many (hikers or otherwise) to be evidence of a pre-existing mental problem. If I had a nickle for every time someone told me I was crazy for walking 2200 miles with a pack on my back I'd probably have about $4.22 if my math is correct.

[Marta]

Another thing that can contribute to hiking very low miles at the beginning of a hike is the time it takes to get going in the morning and to deal with evening chores. A new aspirant I'm keeping in touch with this year lamented that it is taking him two full hours to get going in the morning. I doubt the evening routine is any easier. For a lot of new hikers, the strangeness of the camping/hiking/camping routine is disturbing and exhausting. It cuts way into the time and energy available for moving forward.

[Kookork]

For whatever it's worth, you can find all the detailed statistics of my 2009 thru-hike here: http://allenf.com/blog/?p=261

I started out hiking 60 - 80 miles per week. A few weeks later I was doing 100+ miles per week through the Smokies. I think my biggest week was 133.3 miles in Pennsylvania, at the end of June.


I did my first 20+ mile day on day 4 out of Neels Gap, but I followed that up with an extra short day as it beat up my feet a bit. I was in fairly good hiking shape when I started, but especially at the beginning I found my legs could walk more than my feet could tolerate. You need to let your feet toughen up or you will pound them into hamburger.

As a point of reference, I was 50 the year of my thru-hike.

Monkeywrench:

I absolutely loved your spreadsheet and statistics. I plan to do the same in 2014 and you gave me the blueprint how to do it.I am an active member in another forum( that has nothing to do with hiking) and they call me statistics Guy or in short stats guy.
Thank you.

[evyck da fleet]

I planned to start off at 12 mile days when I hiked last year which is what I was doing on weekend hikes. I like to challenge myself so it was difficult to keep to that mileage. A couple things I did was stay up late around the campfires so I would get up late and hike until around four or five instead of stopping early and wondering what to do. I'd also find someone(s) who was planning to hike the same mileage the next day so I'd have to keep my word and stop where I said I would. I did try to push it too hard too early and wound up shutting up to Trail Days a day early to take four days off to rest a leg issue that had developed from stupidly trying to do several back to back twenties so I could hike into Damascus for Trail Days.

[QiWiz]

If you go to trailjournals.com you can see what I did starting out two years ago at age 57, with light pack, plenty of experience, but overweight and limited pre-hike conditioning. I found that for the first two weeks I averaged almost exactly 1.5 miles per hour (including stops, photo ops, meals/snacks, getting water, chatting up other hikers, etc.) from the time I started hiking in the morning until I stopped hiking in the evening. If I wanted to go 12 miles, I needed to budget 8 hours; for 15 miles, 10 hours, etc. By the time I got to Hot Springs at the end of 3 weeks, I was approaching 2 miles per hour rather than 1.5

Hope that helps. I had a destination in mind each day, and I would basically keep walking till I got there. Sometimes I went farther than planned, and got ahead of schedule. This felt really good whenever it happened, and led to being able to get some hostel stays and restaurant meals I had not planned on. I never stopped short of my goal. Just my way to do it. HYOH.

[MJW155]

Georgia is legit tough and some water sources are miles apart. If you are hiking entire trail, don't be concerned with milage. Hike what is comfortable. I'd say 95% of the trail in Georgia is either up or down. Very few flat areas.

[jj2044]

For the first couple days, just shelter hop, hawk is a little over 8 miles in, the next is less then 8 from Hawk, take it slow see how your body is doing and then add more miles.

[Kerosene]

My body has significantly aged over the past 13 years of AT section hiking (age 42-55), mostly due to knee cartilage loss associated with decades of soccer. Of course, the soccer kept me in good enough shape that I could step onto the trail and crank out consecutive 20+ mile days at 2.5 mph down south, but I knew that I was always playing the odds with regard to stress injuries.

I accompanied a thru-hiker from Amicalola in April 2004, just to get a sense of the thru-hiker herd. We started slowly with 3 consecutive 12-mile days, which was a lovely way to break in. Early start from Amicalola to Hickory Flatts Cemetery, then the top of Ramrock Mtn., then Neel Gap. As I only had a week, I used that nice warm-up to crank out 3 consecutive 18-mile days in lovely weather (Blue Mtn. LT, Dicks Creek Gap, to my car at Standing Indian Campground via Kimsey Creek Trail). I should've kept on to Winding Stair Gap as that section proved a lot easier than I had been told.

In general, I'd suggest 10-12 mile days to start, keeping to a moderate pace throughout the day. You will be ready to ramp up the mileage to the high teens (or higher) long before your body's tendons are ready, so increase slowly (the 10% per week number is probably a good rule of thumb). There are certainly a lot of people, usually younger ones, who can get out of the gates faster and never get hurt, but there are a lot of others who end up having to get off due to injury and are never heard of again. In fact, one of my soccer/hiking buddies on the last 12-mile day in Georgia tried to push the envelope in pace and ended up wrenching his knee, forcing him off at Neel Gap.

[Jack Tarlin]

One very quick thought: After more than six weeks of daily observation and inter-action with new prospective thru-hikers in North Georgia, the vast majority of folks seem to do best when they're doing 7-12 miles a day at first, and then move up from there. There have been many who insist on doing 12-16 a day at the outset of their hikes. Most of these can now be found in the same location. It is called "home."

[Another Kevin]

One very quick thought: After more than six weeks of daily observation and inter-action with new prospective thru-hikers in North Georgia, the vast majority of folks seem to do best when they're doing 7-12 miles a day at first, and then move up from there. There have been many who insist on doing 12-16 a day at the outset of their hikes. Most of these can now be found in the same location. It is called "home."

I'm a clueless weekender, but that makes sense to me. I'm a snail at home, I typically do 8-12 mile days on trail in good weather, often much less on bushwhacks or in winter. Why would I try to start with more in Georgia? They tell me that if you do a long hike, start easy and have patience, the miles will come. Since I can only get out for a few weekends and short sections, they've never come to me, but I have a good time doing what I can manage. Isn't that supposed to be the point?

[stranger]

I am 54 and looking forward to starting an AT northbound thru hike in 2014. I frequently see advice to not over-do the miles when starting out - 8 or 10 miles per day. I am interested in hearing from folks who planned to do this and actually followed thru with their plan. Did you frequently feel you could have done more miles? If so, was it easy or difficult to stop? Or did you frequently feel that 8 - 10 miles was an appropriate max when starting out. If you successfully completed your thru hike, do you attribute some aspect of your success to sticking with that plan?

Likewise, I'm interested in hearing from folks who intended to limit their miles at the beginning but did not follow through with that plan. Any regrets?

Thanks.

I have not thru-hiked, but spent alot of time on the AT over the years. I've sectioned (500 miles+) from Springer twice, at 19 and 33 years old. I personally think that the whole 8 mile thing is a little conservative. I turn 38 next month, smoked for 20 years, and drank heavily for 15...not the worlds' most fit guy! From my experience, there is no reason why someone can't start out pulling 12-16 miles per day, even 16-18 if they take the time to prepare physically. Even if (IF) I'm a faster, stronger hiker...scaled down that would still mean 10-14 miles per day. This also assumes someone would have SOME experience, and not start with 35-40lbs on their back.

8 miles would take me 3 hours, less if it's raining...that's alot of time sitting around shelters or campsites thinking too much. For me, I'm out there to hike, and sitting around camp for 6 hours is NOT HIKING. So, for this guy...it makes little sense.

I would probably recommend something like starting early, say 7am, hiking your 8 miles...rest for 3-4 hours, then hike another 5-7 miles for the day, arriving into camp around 5-6pm. I think this makes alot more sense than hiking 8 mile days and sitting around camp for 5 hours waiting for it to get dark!

I also take the view that we all have a limited amount of days on the trail, a somewhat fixed number...I don't believe it's infinite. So an 8 mile day means you are losing a day and only hiking 8 miles, most hikers don't get to Katahdin, I never did and I can hike 30 miles a day when fit...I would rather spend time getting fit, then hitting Springer ready to go, thus maximizing my time on the trail. I think alot of hikers quit early cause they've been out for 2 weeks and have only hiked 100 miles, and I'm sure just as many quit from starting out too fast as well - it's a gamble either way.

But starting with experience, with a 25lb pack, and in trail shape...that can't hurt you, EVER. That's what I would do. Then just take it day by day, and in some cases hour by hour.

Feel free to ignore much/all of this, you'll be fine either way, just do what makes sense to you.

[Papa D]

I think you should be able to easily start at 8 miles per day and add 1 mile per day every two days to 14 miles. So, Day 1 is 8 miles, day three is 10 miles, day 5 is 12 miles and day 7 is 14 miles. You should be able to increase this a bit but by the time you build to an 18 mile day in 10 days, you should consider a NERO day - this is about a half day or a third of a day (Nero = nearly zero miles). Nero days are great because you get something done in terms of trail miles but you also get some "town time" (laundry, shower, reading, a bunk somewhere, etc.) - - -I find that my average miles per day can easily get to 20 but over 3, 4 , or 5 weeks or more (up to a thru) that an average of 14 miles per day (including down time) is really pretty legit.

[stranger]

Upon reading my entry...I think it can be summed up by saying hiking is mostly mental, regardless of miles, you will be fine if your head is straight.

Short days, long ones...doesnt' really matter if you are strong upstairs, and no amount of physical training can prepare for the mental part really, but it can make the hills easier and the miles come with less effort, which MIGHT mean less stress on your noggin, more confidence, and less blisters and tendonitis - probably a good thing.

[Another Kevin]

A lot of people just can't start out in trail shape, either because they live in the flatlands, or because winding matters up before starting a thru consumes all the time that they'd spend getting in shape.

You're fit, even if you are a onetime smoker and drinker. I know for me, never being in trail shape (since I'm always just a clueless weekender), that my personal Naismith rule is "half an hour per mile, plus 40 min per 1000 ft elevation change." Coming off an inactive winter, I didn't make even that in todays six miles around the local nature preserve (which is a gorge, so there were a couple of 600 ft pointless downs and ups). I know, I'm a snail. But for me, a 12-mile day would have been a solid eight hours walking. More than 12 would likely have left me hurt.

And it's taking me frustratingly long for conditioning to improve. I'm afraid that I'm getting to be an old man, and that sort of thing doesn't come quickly any more.

Just a clueless-weekender point of view.

[SunnyWalker]

Hare and Tortise all the way. Purchase some good trekking poles, they will help your knees and etc., on the downhill if you use them right. If you read some of the books and journals you'll see that it seems to appear that many hikers received injuries due to a refusal to slow it down a little. The continuous high mileage seems to be a real stressor on the ole body.

[Marta]

Actually the time issue is key, I think. For a hike that lasts more than a weekend, I want to be almost completely recovered from one day before I start hiking the next morning. For me that means hiking an eight-hour day, or less. If I'm not very fit, or there's snow on the ground, or the terrain is difficult, I might just cover 12 miles. If I'm in great hiking shape and things go well, I might cover 24 miles.

Hiking speeds vary wildly. It's not just speed covering ground. It also includes time spent getting water and fiddling with shoes and gear. Resting. Catching your breath...or not needing to. If, for instance, if a hiker is having blister problems, they should stop and deal with hot spots before they become blisters, rather than just toughing it out. That cuts way into one's speed. People who aren't used to backpacking can spend crazy amounts of time just trying to find stuff in their backpacks. Or getting the load well balanced. Or figuring out the right mix of clothing for a given weather condition.

For a lot of people, the whole pre-hike period is so stressful that they arrive at the start tired and mentally exhausted. They don't sleep well, and feel crummy during the day.

What I'm saying is there's no perfect mileage that works for all hikers. If eight miles only takes you three hours to cover, you will probably want to hike further. But if eight miles feels like a full day's work, don't let someone else make you feel like you're never going to make it.

When I was starting SOBO, the NOBOs coming towards me were engaging in a lot of chest thumping about their awesome mileage. I found it rather obnoxious, frankly. I get that it's very gratifying to become fabulously fit and strong, and one has a right to be proud of the accomplishment. But making oneself feel good doesn't need to involve making other people feel bad.

It's not a competition. Especially as one gets older, and recovery from injuries becomes slower and more difficult, it's best to err on the side of caution at first.

For me, hiking low miles at the beginning of my long hike was also partly about freedom. For the first time in my adult life I was answerable to no one--not kids, not parents, not husband, not boss, not co-workers. If I felt like knocking off "work" at one in the afternoon and going for a swim, I could. If I felt like laying in my tent and listening to the rain in the morning, instead of getting up and making some miles, I could. When I go hiking it's my damn hike and I can do whatever suits me.