View Full Version : Garlic and other high milers
I read your trail journal and was particularly impressed with the miles you boys put in. Just the section between Atkins and Daleville averaged about 23/day. Did you guys start early and hike late everyday or just average 2.25 mph for 9-10 hr days?
I did 18 mile days over the last section and felt pretty good (start at dawn and hike to about 3p.m., 20 min lunch, lots of 1-min 'breathers') , but I need to increase to +20/day average for the next section I'm doing (Atkins-Daleville). I've been doing a lot of running and have just finished a half marathon, but I haven't found that running necessarily translates into being a stronger hiker, or at least it didn't last year.
My starting pack weight is about 26 lbs, which includes 4 days food and 2 liters water. That's about as light as I can go, except when water is plentiful, I'll only carry a liter.
Any tips?
jersey joe
03-20-2009, 11:38
I think running, and generally being in good shape is a great start. Might help eliminate some of those '1-min breathers' Otherwise, if you want to get your miles per day up, just hike later into the day.
Something else to consider outside of your pack weight is your footwear. If you are wearing boots, maybe consider a lighter trail runner?
Read this article:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=184425#post184425
I find that the key to larger mileage days is not so much speed as consistency.
Get up on the trail fairly early, walk all day.
26 lbs with 2 ltrs of water and 4 days of food is pretty good! I would not sweat it. :)
TJ aka Teej
03-20-2009, 12:28
Get up on the trail fairly early, walk all day.
Simple answers are often the best ones.
Kerosene
03-20-2009, 12:51
I averaged 23 mpd on my section hike from Atkins to Damascus (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=262033) in June 2007. I'm about your age, carry a 26-pound pack with 3-4 days of supplies, and play a lot of soccer to keep in shape. While I hike at a reasonable clip once I get going (2.3-3.1 mph on this section), the amount of daylight available in June certainly helps to cover the miles. It's a beautiful section, an easy trail, and I had fantastic weather. Enjoy!
I would make two observations regarding average "miles per day":
1) Lower mileage people probably tend to spend more time enjoying the sights, spend more time on breaks, and spend more time in their campsites/shelters. They probably spend as much (or more) time CAMPING and ENJOYING THE SIGHTS as they do HIKING. They enjoy the social aspects of the AT. On WhiteBlaze, you read of people who start their actual hiking sometime between 8:00-10:00 am. Then take a lunch break of 45-60 minutes. Then set up camp sometime between 3:00-5:30 pm. That's 6-10 hours of actual hiking per day (plus many "zero days" spent in town).
2) Higher mileage folks are probably more focused on the actual HIKING experience than on the CAMPING and SOCIAL aspects of the AT. They start hiking by 6:00 am or 7:00 am. Take shorter rest breaks and shorter lunch breaks. They stop hiking between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm. (or sometimes even later). They hike 10-14 hours per day and have far fewer "zero days". They get farther faster because are hiking more hours each day and are spending less time in town. They can have somewhat lighter packs because they cover the distance between water sources and resupply points in half the time as "lower" mileage hikers. (The lighter packs help them to "comfortably" cover even greater mileage).
In the end, it is pretty much all a matter of personal preferences (or sometimes physical/medical limitations). Long distance hikers are not necessarily always super athletes. They simply spend more time hiking and less time camping. That makes a big difference in your average miles per day.
I'm a late riser :)
Single biggest aid to doing big miles days for me on the PCT was the cook and walk method.
I think we "waste" (don't criticize) much time setting up camp early a few hours before we sleep. I got in a habit of stopping around 5-6 pm, cooking dinner near a water source and then hikiing on another hour or two until it was getting too dark to see. Of course this method may be a bit more challenging on the AT as you can't always camp anywhere, but I found the whole setting up, looking for a spot, filtering water, cooking, eater, cleaning routine to be inefficient, at least as far as miles go. Nothing wrong with that approach though.
Have a blast most importantly.
I would make two observations regarding average "miles per day":
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Excellent summary..if one slight quibble.. Enjoying the sights and hiking all day are not mutually exclusive. :) Otherwise, about a good a summary as I've seen. Thanks for posting. It will be a good one to refer people to in the future.
Cheers!
(Two more hours and I'm outta here..woo hoo!)
Many Walks
03-20-2009, 15:06
Two simple things come to mind, eat cold food for breakfast and lunch, save the cooking for evening.
Get up early and hit the trail, you can eat on the way. Don't limit yourself to shelters or campsites that can cut your mileage. If you shoot for a campsite at your desired distance that's great, otherwise hike till you're ready to stop and stealth camp.
Without restarting the old debate about long and short mileage (as in which is better) I'd like to add one observation about the fine summary prain4u laid out that Mags touched on. It's true distance hikers may spend less time enjoying every site, but I think if you're covering more ground you can see the sites along the way and be selective about where you spend more time. If you can make long miles you can choose to make it to that great overlook instead of stopping at the short mileage shelter. It's all HYOH, but I don't think high mileage automatically means that hikers miss the views, while you won't stop for long at every one, you'll be able to make it out to the really great ones. Wish you the best!
Blissful
03-20-2009, 15:08
I've been doing a lot of running and have just finished a half marathon, but I haven't found that running necessarily translates into being a stronger hiker, or at least it didn't last year.
Any tips?
You are using leg muscles differently runnng than hiking. PLus carrying the weight on top of it. Need to give them time to adjust, esp. at your age, or you're asking for injury.
Why do you need to do such high miles anyway? Seems a shame to rush. Short on time?
Enjoying the sights and hiking all day are not mutually exclusive.
I agree--they don't have to be mutually exclusive (they usually aren't mutually exclusive for me--even on an urban trip). HOWEVER, so many people "linger" and then "linger some more" while enjoying the sights. THAT is what often makes the two activities mutually exclusive. It is not wrong to spend all day enjoying a certain view. However, you are not going to cover 25 miles in a day if you spend 2-3 hours looking at just one waterfall. It is a trade-off.
(Thanks for the nice feedback on my previous post. It is appreciated!)
I spend two or three hours a day staring at my navel . . . maybe that's my low-mileage downfall? :eek: :p
Actually, I am much into the camping aspect and completely respect those who like doing big mileage days, but I like to kick back and spend several hours in camp before dark, especially if it is a very nice campsite. That would change some if I were going to do a thru, but I still think I'd shoot for about as low mileage a day average as I could and still finish before the Katahdin snow flies, say 4/1 - 10/1.
garlic08
03-20-2009, 19:44
Most of our days were dawn to dusk hiking, which were just the perfect days for us. I think our typical daily average from camp to camp was 2 mph. Our one 30-mile day took us 15 hours, I'm sure.
I think our "secret", if we had one, was being able to move for two hours without needing to stop at all, not even for breathers. Of course we usually stopped more often to marvel at things and take side trips, but we were able to keep moving. We could often move 6 miles in those two hours. Do that four times a day with reasonable breaks in between, and you've got 24 miles.
Another "secret" was keeping a sustainable pace, thinking always about tomorrow and next week and next month. We never sprinted for town or pushed our limits in a single day. We never hurt ourselves, and had no blister problems. We only took three zeroes, and those were all to visit friends and family and we were always happy to hit the trail again.
Pretty much everything we packed supported the walking, nothing more. So our base weights in the summer were closer to 8 pounds. We never once carried more than 20 pounds total. We were lucky with a wet year, so we often carried no water at all. Since a one-liter bottle of water was the heaviest single item in our pack, including the pack, water management was important for us and we were pretty successful with it. I helped carry water out of the canoe at Upper Goose Pond shelter, four gallons at time (32 pounds) up the small hill from the pond, and a few trips wiped me out. Then I realized that was what most hikers were carrying all day, every day. So I really can't stress enough how much the lighter load helps.
Neither of us considers ourselves an athlete, but we stay very active. Despite having a combined age of 114 (wow), we both stay in shape by doing a lot of hiking, all year. Skiing and bicycling keep up the aerobic levels so the climbs go by quickly and with good humor, so important on the AT. One of Pickle's old friends calls him the poster child for weight training. The guy's joints and tendons are massively strong. I've never seen him limp once.
As far as enjoying the trail, I'm pretty sure no one we saw enjoyed the hike any more than we did. Most other hikers we met did not take many of the side trips we did, mainly because they were in pain or wiped out. For instance, we walked over to Dismal Falls and were the only ones to do so out of the two dozen hikers we saw that day.
Hope that answers your questions. Good luck with your next section, and most of all enjoy it.
The lighter packs help them to "comfortably" cover even greater mileage).
Lighter packs allow high mileage hikers to cover the distance. Honestly, 30+ days are not comfortable, but they are so satisfying
Jim Adams
03-21-2009, 00:45
Start out @ 3 mph and hike for 2 hours. Take a 30 minute break. Start out again @ 3 mph and hike for 2 hours. Take a 1 hour break. Eat, cool your feet and relax. Start out again @ 3 mph and hike for 2 hours. Take a 30 minute break. Start out again @ 3 mph and hike for 2 hours. If you start @ 7 am you will have a 24 mile day and in camp @ 5 pm.
I was taught this method by past thru hikers on my 1990 thru hike and it will work. I took 192 days to complete my thru hike in 1990 but I had 79 zero days. I completed my hike with only 113 actual hiking days...less than 4 months of total hiking time. I got to see everything because if it was really pretty...I just hung out there or stayed over.
geek
I took 192 days to complete my thru hike in 1990 but I had 79 zero days. I completed my hike with only 113 actual hiking days...less than 4 months of total hiking time.
WOW! That just blows my mind and demonstrates how totally different two people can be. (Note: I said "how "different"--not "how wrong").
I would go absolutely nuts taking that many "zero days" (unless I was injured). When I go hiking for a month, I probably take 2-4 "Zero Days"--AT THE MOST! You were taking approximately three "zero days" PER WEEK! :eek:
If good showers and resupply were available right on the trail, I would probably never even go into a town. Thus, I can't even fathom taking 79 "zero days".
As the sayings go: "To each their own" and "Hike Your Own Hike!" :cool:
I've never hiked dawn to dusk. I get up before dawn, eat and pack, and start hiking right at day break. VERY short lunch, very few breaks except for 1-min breathers when needed going up mountains. I tend to stop about 3pm because it seems to take me longer to get my gear set up, eat, get water, clean up, etc. I also like to go to sleep at sundown. I guess that's the problem. I need to be more efficient in camp.
I used to be a hiker, on occasion, anyways.
But when I started running trails, I got out A LOT more. So I began to see more by speeding up --indirectly.
I concur with Bliss on the different muscle use.
Also a hiker once told me, he took a hour off for recovery time at lunch, even napped. It gave him the energy to hike later into the evening.
garlic08
03-21-2009, 11:11
You know, on the AT, you don't really need to hike the long mile days. If over 200 days are available in the Eastern hiking season, why try to hike a trail in 100? There is seldom any need to hike a 30-mile day, ever. The only reasons I can think of are to save money, or to have time to do something else that season like attend school or get back to work, or in Pickle's case, to go hike another trail.
Out West, it's a different story. There's more pressure for a lighter pack and longer days. The hiking seasons are more like 150 days and the long trails are 500 miles longer. Water and food supplies are much farther apart.
Pickle and I met while hiking the PCT and we hiked the CDT together. Our hiking style is so molded by the Western trails, it's almost unrecognizable on the AT--lighter packs, fewer town stops, longer days.
It was suprising that it worked so well for us on the AT's tougher and steeper tread. But it's certainly not needed for a successful and fun AT hike.
stranger
03-22-2009, 05:17
I agree with earlier posts about high mile hikers enjoying the "hiking" while perhaps some lower mile hikers enjoying the "camping and social" part of the trail. I'm more of a hiker, therefore I like hiking longer days.
I did hit the trail in decent trail shape, not great, but decent and I was doing 20's in my first week pretty comfortably, but then again I tend to walk about 2.8 miles per hour or more so this does help. I agree that all you have to do is hit the trail early and walk all day, even at 2 miles per hour you can do 25's if you want do.
I remember leaving Franklin and hiking to Wesser Creek Shelter and meeting up with some guys I had seen in town, then had taken 2 days to do what I did in one day, however when I got to the shelter around 7pm they had said they stopped there for lunch and couldn't be bothered walking any further - they were happy to lounge around the shelter for 6-7 hours. Personally, I would go crazy doing that.
And I'm sure there are hikers out there who would go crazy with my schedule, saying things like "only 22 miles" and what not, to each their own.