1 mph ?

[Grinder]

That's an interesting observation, Garlic. It matches my own experience. I just never thought of it that way.

I walk 3 mph in town, on pavement. On the trail, after a week or two, I think 1.2 or 1.3 is about average
I'm old, so climbing puts me anerobic pretty fast and my speed drops as low as 1/2mph pretty fast for the climb.

It took me FOREVER to accept that "it is what it is!"

[Drybones]

The only reason to know hiking pace is for scheduling campsites and re-supply. I hike at a leisure pace, normally take a 20-30 minute break every 2.5 hours or so and my time for 20 miles is consistantly 9 hours. I wouldn't get hung up on how fast you hike, focus on having a good time.

[moldy]

If you want, you can do better. Much better. Here are some tricks. It's not your lungs or your legs that slow you down, it's your brain. Concentrate on your pace, don't let your mind wander so far that it slows you down. Turn on your cruise control. Repeat a mantra that's like a cadence. 2 mile pace, 2 mile pace, 2 mile pace, left right...left. Over and over again. Another thing you can do is to not stop going up mountains to catch your breath. Just slow down. You can catch your breath going down the other side. Don't forget to speed up going downhill, you paid for it, why not collect it. Take advantage of your daily energy store. First thing in the AM with batteries charged, and the need to get warm, go for a fast start to the day. I keep telling myself, ten by twelve, ten by twelve. I'm 63 years old, I want to have 10 miles behind me by noon. So my hiking day is morning loaded. I want to get the bulk done in the AM. If I can do 10 by 12 the rest of the afternoon is gravy. I can wander 5 to 10 more and have a good day. With a 10 hour day at 1mph you get 10 miles per day and the AT will take 220 days. 2mph it's only 110 days.

[HooKooDooKu]

The rule of thumb I've always heard for hiking (and this is a moving speed discounting rest periods) is that the average person hikes at 2MPH, adding one hour for every 1,000' in elevation change.

I've found that rule to be highly accurate for flat to up-hill hikes. For down hill hikes, adding any time to the 2MPH rule seems to only come into play if the terrain is particularly steep... but even then I personally don't come close to adding a full hour for 1,000' down hill.

Of course this is just a rule of thumb, as stronger experienced hikers will typically be able to hike faster, while others (such as young children) will tent to hike a little slower. But if the terrain is modest, I find that will just a little encouragement, my 7yo can maintain the 2MPH +1hour/1,000' rule.

[Bronk]

Are you getting where you need to go in the right time frame? Are you having fun? Even if you're only going 1mph, if you hike from 8am to 6pm you're going to make 10 miles in a day. There's no hurry to get anywhere.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

Are you getting where you need to go in the right time frame? Are you having fun? Even if you're only going 1mph, if you hike from 8am to 6pm you're going to make 10 miles in a day. There's no hurry to get anywhere.

I'm with you Bronk....what's the hurry? +/- 1mph lets me stop and smell ALL the roses....

[Namtrag]

We always plan our day so we don't have to ever average a certain speed. For example in the fall and winter, we plan to hike 8-10 miles a day, so we just start at 9 am. If we get to our next stop at 1pm or 3pm, doesn't matter to us. Either one gives us plenty of time to set up camp, get water, get bear bag rope slung over the tree, start a fire, etc before it gets dark.

On our last trip, I left Tinker Cliffs about 2 minutes before the 2 speed hikers in our group. Within 10 minutes they had caught and passed me. It was downhill and I was trying to go as fast as I could to see if I could keep ahead or even with them. I was close to losing it several times as I tripped on roots and rocks which were under the leaves. Even at my breakneck pace, they still blew by me and ended up getting to the shelter at least 40 minutes ahead of me. I still haven't figured out how people can hike so fast.

[MDSection12]

The group I usually hike with tends to average 2.5 mph over the course of a day, so including stops. We don't really think about it, it just works out that way.

When by myself I am usually up over 3 mph, including stops.

[Feral Bill]

Re-reading the thread, it would seem that YMMV.

[hikerboy57]

once you get to your destination, stop.

[MDSection12]

chevy is offering supplier pricing on all 2013 and 2014 models

Just start a 'GoFundMe' account if you want us to fund your hike.

[HikerMom58]

chevy is offering supplier pricing on all 2013 and 2014 models

Put this on mp's Black Friday Deals thread as well.

I wonder when that roller pack thread will appear again? We might be able to "make the miles" going downhill on that.. I did a search for that thread and came up with this one ....

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ir-with-wheels

My sides hurt....

[John B]

I average 18-23 mile days on AT sections south of Damascus, a little faster in the southern third of VA. I can't speak about areas in the north because I've never been there. I usually start at day break and hike until 3-4pm. I take very little time for snacks and lunch. My pack weight is about 25 lbs with 4 days food and a liter of water. If you're not using hiking poles, I've found them to be a big help in re speed. Oddly, I've found that lightweight hiking boots help me go faster than trail runners because my feet don't get as sore. I go a lot faster when I don't have someone hiking with me, too -- if someone is with me, I spend too much time waiting around while they rest, eat, yadda.

[Son Driven]

My plan was to get up with the sun & go down with the sun. I used a hammock that opened up more camping sites for myself. when I got within the last 90 minutes of of day light I would load up with water. When I spotted a nice spot for my hammock I would call it a day. Typically I ended up with 10 - 20 mile days, depending on terrain and injury. It took me seven months to the day to complete my 2013 AT through hike. If I did it again, the only thing I would change is the amount of days I spent in trail towns.

[ChinMusic]

once you get to your destination, stop.

words to live by

[Malto]

It makes little sense to try and compare your hiking speed to others unless you are planning hike with them. But having said that... 1mph is on the slower side at least based on what I've seen. But if it works for you then why change it? Some will try to say that going slower allows you to see more, others will say that going twice as far allows you to see more. They both can be right. I tend to do faster, longer days. The main reason I started (and learn to love) the longer days was because the higher mileage days allowed me to see parts of the Sierra on weekend trips that I would have never thought possible. Extending the trip beyond the weekends was also not an option since I was traveling to Ca. for work.

if you are happy with your mileage then great. If not then there are several things you could do to increase your mileage and likely still have fun. They include:
1) lighter pack.
2) Earlier start.
3) Later Finish.
4) Less frequent and shorter breaks.
5) get in better shape.

The combination of several or all of these will allow you to hike longer and faster if you chose to do so. I have found that there were hidden advantages to each of these strategies such as:
1) lighter pack - less soreness and simpler lifestyle.
2) Earlier start - cooler temperatures, more wildlife, less people, seeing the forest wake up.
3) Later Finish - cooler temperatures, less people, great views of sunsets.
4) Less frequent and shorter breaks. - less post startup soreness, ability to keep in stride.
5) get in better shape. - too many to list.

find what works for you, push yourself out of your routine occasionally to keep from getting stale and have fun.

[Gray Blazer]

At least you are moving. And if you move like that all day, you'll cover 8 or 10 miles. Sounds like a win/win to me.

[Another Kevin]

Are you getting where you need to go in the right time frame? Are you having fun? Even if you're only going 1mph, if you hike from 8am to 6pm you're going to make 10 miles in a day. There's no hurry to get anywhere.

Some sage here once said, "if you're in such a hurry, why are you walking?"

The people who quote speeds without taking terrain into account are blowing smoke. Does anyone imagine that you can make the same miles per day in the Whites that you can in Maryland?

I'll come back to my personal Naismith Rule. I'm slow, because (1) I'm getting old, (2) my knees weren't much good even in my youth, (3) I'm just a weekender or short sectioner, and so I never really get my "trail legs" the way a long-sectioner or thru-hiker would. So I budget 30 minutes to the mile (the same distance would take me 16-17 minutes on pavement at a pace that I can sustain all day) plus 40 minutes per 1000 feet of elevation change (up or down - they both slow me). That's a pace that I can keep up pretty much all day. I add time - sometimes a lot of time - for dealing with bushwhacking, sketchy scrambling, or ice and snow.

This turns out to be a pretty good planning rule. On my last weekend outing, I had a trip of 14 miles on trail + 2 miles roadwalk, with the on-trail segment having roughly 9000 feet of elevation change, about 7000 of it in the last six miles. So I budgeted 14*30 + 2*20 minutes = 7:40 for the walking plus 9*40 minutes = 6 hours additional for elevation changes. I added another hour because I knew there were two peaks that involved some Class IV scrambling.

So that came to a budget of roughly 15 hours for 16 miles. And that came out about right. I was actually on the move about five hours on the first day (got a late start) and ten hours on the second. Given that the days were getting shorter, I was not willing to budget more mileage than that, because the trail was one that I did not feel safe doing by headlamp.

That's not much more than a mile an hour. As I said, I'm slow. But I'm not that slow. I'm pretty typical for a clueless weekender who is never able really to get into trail shape. A lot of people passed me, but I was able to pass others. And there were a couple of groups that I was leapfrogging all the second day. I'd catch up to them when they were stopped, and then they'd blow by me when they were moving.

[1azarus]

...and there is the possibility you aren't giving yourself enough credit for what you do. You mentioned elsewhere that you've done some hiking in the white mountains. There, I think a blazing speed would be around 1 1/2 mph... And one mph must be close to average. A Huge variation in pace due to terrain difficulty is quite the norm. I do agree with the prevailing observation that it is about having a good time. You want to go fast, buy a car from hiker boy.

[Teacher & Snacktime]

UNFAIR!!! 1azurus is a speed-hiker.....shouldn't be here with the rest of us slow-poking peons!

(Another Kevin said it was all he could do to keep up with the hiking machine that your are.....come to think of it, so did Rocketsocks....face it....you're fast)