View Full Version : How many miles do you hike?
This is more of a survey than a poll.
Other than a thru-hike of any trail, about how many miles do you log in a calendar year?
FlimFlam
04-16-2008, 11:43
Well let's see....from house to car, car to work, work to car and car to house is about 1/8 mile/day. Multiply by 5 (days a week) then multiply by 50 (weeks).
Result: 31.25 miles.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
04-16-2008, 11:47
Pre auto accident and paralyzed leg muscles in 2004, I logged about 400 to 1400 miles a year. Since then, it has been more like 200 to 500.
bloodmountainman
04-16-2008, 11:54
If I am lucky enough to get time off , I may do about 300 miles a year.
500 to 750. averaging 85 nights.
hammock engineer
04-16-2008, 15:16
Not enough.
leeki pole
04-16-2008, 15:23
Not enough.
Heh! Good answer. About 900 miles for me, lots less than I'd like. But every mile is a good mile.
The Solemates
04-16-2008, 15:36
I wore a pedometer last year to answer this very question. I wore it everywhere. At work, on hiking trips, while playing basketball, trips to the park, mowing the lawn, etc. I "hiked" right at 2000 miles for the year, and averaged 5.4 miles per day; about 300 of those were weekend backpacking trips, which was a down year for me. I've done almost 200 this year alone so far. The average American walks 2-3 miles a day, so I felt good doubling that.
Kerosene
04-16-2008, 16:28
80-150 backpacking miles per year -- basically a week a year.
Add another 500 miles of running plus 400 miles of walking for exercise.
I have no idea to be honest. I'm out almost every weekend and often during the week. In winter, trade in my trail runners for nordic skis.
Maybe that will be my new year's resolution next year. :)
probably right around 300
AlwaysHiking
04-16-2008, 17:25
Only did about 400 last year. So far I have right around 100 miles logged for this year.
In the last last 3 years, I've ranged from about 300-600.
Jason of the Woods
04-16-2008, 19:31
Easily over 500. Right now we are doing 8-10 a day and actually enjoying the trail rather than running down it.;)
sasquatch2014
04-16-2008, 21:09
Started hiking last year after a long time away from the woods. Been good about keeping a journal. I don't include in my journal what my family calls my "nightly constitutional" which most times is between 2 to 3 miles. In the journal since 8/9/07 I have done 307.4 of this 171 miles are unique AT miles (I only count it the first time I walk it). Heading out for a 75 mile section this Saturday.
I wonder what my year to year milage will be.
not nearly enough. It's the things like the wife, the job, children...
Kerosene
04-16-2008, 21:55
Heading out for a 75 mile section this Saturday.What section are you covering next week, Sasquatch?
sasquatch2014
04-16-2008, 21:59
What section are you covering next week, Sasquatch?
Doggiebag and I are going from Front Royal up to I-70 in MD.
This survey gave me an idea!
The average american walks 657 miles per year (thats just the basic walking to the car, to the door... not hiking)
The average american also consumes about 22 gallons of beer per year. So... then that equates to the average american getting about 30 MPG.
Now that youve determined your yearly average miles, whats your MPG?
(I suggest the following forumla... at 657 since everyone walks that much, add your hiking miles to get your total yearly miles, then divide by 22)
My miles are 657 + 250 = 907 / 22 = 41.2 MPG.
Damn glad Im an American!
22 gallons of beer a year(Thats a average of less than 5 beers a week) :-? Would that make you above or below average:D
I just googled for the info.... Didnt take into consideration my own personal standing... I think my MPG is headed south!
[quote=Cuffs;597162]This survey gave me an idea!
[quote]
I almost always grab some "sports drinks" (Beer = carbs, calories and pain relief in one handy beverage) post-hike/ski.
That may skew the results. :)
Seriously though, other than my thru-hikes, it never occured to me to keep a total of mileage. I mean, some trips are social (hike to an overlook, pull ot the wine and cheese), (http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_gallery2&Itemid=36&g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=10127) some trips are long, (http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=51) some trips I spend a day looking at wild flowers and hardly rack up any mileage. And do I "count" ski tours?
I guess I'm at the point where counting mileage seems..well, too much trouble. I'm not really an athlete; I just like to be outdoors. :)
.
whitefoot_hp
04-18-2008, 16:41
i do 200 a day. from 6- 10.
X-LinkedHiker
04-18-2008, 17:38
2008 Mileage is already at 100 or so just on the trails.
Blissful
04-18-2008, 19:47
Mine varies so much year to year, I never know. But last year was the biggie. :)
I am running though at least 12 miles a week. That's about all my joints can stand.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
04-18-2008, 19:55
Dinos don't drink therefore Dinos get as many miles to the gallon as they walk. Dinos are the most efficient machines around :D
NICKTHEGREEK
04-18-2008, 20:01
Rarely more than 75-100 backpacking. Couple hundred more dayhiking. I don't let the miles define me. I do what I can when I feel like it, and circumstances permit.
Nearly Normal
04-19-2008, 05:43
With the new brew pub the 7.1 % IPA goes a lot farther.
NorthCountryWoods
04-22-2008, 12:19
Never really kept mileage logs, but have to spend at least 50-60 nights a year sleeping in the woods or I go nuts.
Plodderman
07-31-2008, 11:31
Usually two long hikes a year of 75 to 100 miles a hike and probably ten to twelve miles a week when at home. Somewhere around 700 to 750 a year.
I've probably been averaging 100 AT miles and another 50 general hiking miles per year for the last 10 years or so. Last year's 700 was the exception.
fiddlehead
07-31-2008, 15:55
More than most is all i know.
Living in Thailand, one of the cultural differences you see here is that people will ride a motorbike to go even short distances. The reason is because they say that if they walk, then people will think they are too poor to own a motorbike. So Thai people don't walk a lot.
I either run or jog at least 3 days a week.
I have recently been working on designing a hiking trail here and right now have been spending 4 days already trying to connect two big mountains together via dirt roads and existing trails (the jungle is way too thick now that rainy season is here for bushwhacking)
I have rewalked some of the small dirt roads (in that section i am working on) 6 or 7 times. Each day i go out with my GPS and then come home and put things on Google earth and then put some more points into the GPS and go out again. I've attacked it from 3 different starting points already and have one short piece that i know there must be some exsisting roads or old roads but just can't seem to find them. (It is very very hilly or mountainous here in Phuket)
Anyway, it is helping me do lots of walking this past few weeks. It is great being up there where it is perfectly quiet with no people and no sounds of people. (Southern Phuket is on no fly routes so we never get planes flying over either)
Sorry for the rant buy i'm waiting on a download and whiteblaze is a much better way to wait.
The average american walks 657 miles per year (thats just the basic walking to the car, to the door... not hiking)
I don't know, I tend to doubt that.
The average american walks 657 miles per year (thats just the basic walking to the car, to the door... not hiking)
This sounds high to me. Do you have a cite?
That's almost one and half miles a day must be long drive way
kayak karl
07-31-2008, 18:49
I don't know, I tend to doubt that.
My daughter bought me a pedometer for Christmas. i wore it at work and did about 3 miles a day. i was surprised. BUT more surprised at the 1+ miles after work. park car, third floor apt, walk princess, change, bar for happy hour 4 blocks, dinner dinner 5 blocks, walk to store, walk home, walk princess AGAIN, walk around apt, go to bed. (this is no supermarket or walmart walk included)
If you live is a city i can see 2 miles a day, not even realizing it.
But on the average, Your right, I doubt it!
If you live is a city i can see 2 miles a day, not even realizing it.
But on the average, Your right, I doubt it!
It is true that city folk walk more than suburban folk -- and have health benefits to show from that. That's one of several disadvantages of suburban living.
Example: my inlaws live in the Bronx. From their apartment, it's a five-minute walk to an (admittedly) crappy supermarket. Here in the western 'burbs of Boston, I live about 2 miles from the nearest supermarket. It would easily be an hour or more round-trip, on foot. Not really practical, by foot... so I drive.
No Belay
08-02-2008, 18:15
Retired 2 pairs of boots, 3 stoves, and 7 hiking partners. :o
minnesotasmith
08-02-2008, 18:19
A good answer to "how do you hike" would be the line one fairly good LD runner I knew in high school would use, when asked what his race strategy was:
"I start out extremely fast, and run at ever-increasing speeds.".
:D:D:D
I don't know, I tend to doubt that.
That would be 1.8 miles a day.
I can see a significant minority doing this, but there are far too many couch potatoes for this to be a national average IMHO. I'd like to see the polling data and criteria.
Until 2007, I was averaging at least 500 miles per year on trails (backpacking and dayhiking combined). Some years over 1,000. The log I keep is just shy of 9,000 since I started keeping track.
In 2007 I only got in about 200 miles. So far this year it looks like a repeat of 2007, maybe a little more. Sort of a downward spiral due to changes in my life off the trails. :eek:
Dazzy001
08-11-2008, 22:47
About fourty, I know it's discusting....... A discrace to the term Backpacker...
SmokeHouse
08-11-2008, 23:44
hmmmmmmmmmm,,, around 500 on the trails.
alalskaman
08-13-2008, 19:01
I've been using a pedometer daily for a couple of years now. At first I wore it only when actually doing a walk or hike. Averaged about 5 miles a day. For a while now, have been just leaving it on all day, so it includes the trips up to the mailbox, the grocery store, bustling around the kitchen, etc. So now the daily average is about 7 miles per day, 43 or 44 miles per week. When I am trying to train for an upcoming hike, it is more. For 3 weeks early this summer the weekly average was around 80. Everyone thinks I walk a lot.
This is more of a survey than a poll.
Other than a thru-hike of any trail, about how many miles do you log in a calendar year?
About 1000.