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Guy
12-28-2009, 15:35
How many hours a day would you say that you typically walked per day?

That is, assuming that you didn't have to stop early to hitch into a town or start late or some thing like that. A typical full day.

I'm currently planning on 10 hour days, even though I know there's going to be some days that go over that and some days that are way under that.

SurferNerd
12-28-2009, 15:38
On my practice and shakedown hikes, I've done about 9 hours a day. Don't forget about daylight standard time changes, some days are shorter and harder to get a long day in, while others are good for going long times.

Jester2000
12-28-2009, 15:42
Somewhere between 8 and 10 semed to be standard for me.

BrianLe
12-28-2009, 15:50
What time of year? In starting the AT in late Feb I expect I'll hike less hours than I will in, say, June (when there's just a lot more hours of sunlight).

There are a lot of factors here, to include the weather, trail quality, elevation gain/loss ahead, hiking companions (or not), specific camp sites you might want or for some reason need to get to, water availability, sometimes local regulations (where you can and cannot camp), whether you have a package at the next post office and the hours/days it's open ...

I guess the real answer is "I don't know", but a guess on the PCT was something on the order of 10 hours for a typical full day, maybe 11 (?). The variables above (plus likely others) really shifted things around on a day-to-day basis.

Guy
12-28-2009, 16:05
I wasn't really expecting a precise answer. Just a kind of a rough idea. Thanks!

burger
12-28-2009, 16:16
Once I got my mileage up, I usually started walking around 7am and finished around 7pm. I took maybe 2 45-minute breaks a day. Other than that, it was all walking.

wcgornto
12-28-2009, 16:18
I hiked eight to ten hours per day on average. Once my trail legs were well developed, I hiked around 20 miles a day, at about 2.5 miles an hour, i.e., eight hours. Add in another hour for breaks, etc., that's roughly nine hours a day. When I stretched longer miles, 23, 25, 26, I hiled up to eleven hours a day.

Miner
12-28-2009, 16:21
Depends on how long I was on the trail and what time of year it was. Early on, I had daily mileage goals that determined how long I walked so I often had short days as I wanted to avoid injury by overdoing it. Latter on, I pretty much hiked from dawn to dusk taking a long break for lunch and dinner and several smaller breaks during the day. I easily did more then 10hours on a regular basis and closer to 12hours on occasion. Latter on in Washington, with the rapidly shortening days, I dropped many breaks and I held off dinner until I made camp and often ate by flashlight inorder to keep my hiking day as long as possible.

It really depends on what your goals are for the distance you want to cover and how fast you are hiking. I hiked with a guy who hiked much faster then me but took really long breaks to read his book. I definitely hiked longer to cover the same miles as he did. I also think it depends on whether you are hiking with a group or mostly solo. If you are hiking with alot of people, you are more likely to want to socialize around camp and thus stop early. If you hike solo like I did for most of the trail, then you tend to stop only when you want to go to bed so you hike longer. As I also hike faster and get more miles in while its cool in the morning (heat makes me slow down), I tended to get up earlier then most and was looking at a longer day.

gravy4601
12-28-2009, 16:28
I think allot has to do with the temp, weather and the terrain to factor in also

garlic08
12-28-2009, 16:40
Ten to twelve hours for me.

neighbor dave
12-28-2009, 16:47
6 am to 6 pm

Disney
12-28-2009, 17:03
Usually 8-10, with 10 to 12 about once or twice a week. I liked low mileage days.

Meta
12-28-2009, 18:17
10-12 usually, with a few 14+ hour days a month. That's after breaks are deducted. Often, late in the trail in Oregon and Washington, I would walk all day with only a short 30 minute lunch break, or sometimes not even that. Just eat while I walked.

Dogwood
12-28-2009, 18:34
I'm the same as Meta. 10-12 avg/day, with a few 14 + hour days per month and some 8 hr or less days thrown in doing cloud formation surveys, watching the birds on the thermal rises, and listening to the heartbeats of the crickets on the PCT.

Tagless
12-28-2009, 21:33
Ten hour days were average for Tag-along and I. That included lunch and short breaks. Maintaining that effort, you should be well postured to make it all the way!

handlebar
12-28-2009, 23:56
Depends on the time of year. I tended to wake up at first light--when you can only see in black and white and roll over for a beauty sleep until I could see colors. Then I'd eat breakfast from my sleeping bag if I was cowboy camping and packup and be off shortly after sunrise. I hiked until about an hour before sunset which gave me about an hour and half to set up camp, cook, eat and jump in my sleeping bag. When the days were long in June and July, I often stopped about 5pm, cooked and ate dinner, then continued hiking until dusk. When I started out in early April, I hiked from about 7:30 to 6PM with an hour or so off for breaks within that time period. Later, as the days grew longer, my hike still started around 7am, but didn't end until about 8:30 or 9pm with 2 hours of total breaks for about 11 hours hiking time. At my normal pace of about 2.5 mph that gave me roughly 25-27 mile days.

Johnny Thunder
12-29-2009, 00:08
Is it tough managing your pace if you start day zero? I've heard that it's almost difficult not getting to Kennedy too early. Like, you're "rushing" to hop from one water source to another down South and end up doing days that are too big to keep you on track.

Jim Adams
12-29-2009, 00:14
totally depends on whether I'm out of alcohol or not and the distance to the next batch.

geek

Dogwood
12-29-2009, 01:40
JohnnyThunder, if you go to www.postholer.com (http://www.postholer.com) you'll not only find snow depths in various places along the PCT but a suggested entry date for the southern Sierras which is typically considered to be Kennedy Meadows for NOBO PCTers. It's updated frequently. I found it to be fairly accurate for most thru-hikers. Saw many who got to KM too early in 08 awaiting lower snow levels, healing up, or awaiting packages. Gotta go go go. Gotta go go go. Gotta wait wait wait Gotta wait wait wait!

Meta
12-29-2009, 02:40
It is possible to get to the Sierras too early. However, be ware the postholer recommended date. I often find it to be way too late. I entered in early June, 10+ days before the postholer recommended date, both years. Both years were fine. And indeed, I had lower and easier stream crossings (not that in an average year they're even worth noticing, to be honest. At least not if you're 5'11" 200 pounds or so) and more epic photographs. Navigating on snow is not hard at all if you have a map. Even people who got lost (I never really did -- I might lose the trail but it's really simple to just follow the valley down or up, with an eye on your map for sudden turns) and went up the wrong pass will admit that very rarely happens, and when it does it's just tiring, not scary.

so don't be scared to get to kennedy meadows june 1st, fifth, tenth, whatever, even though postholer might say june 15th. Although it's entering in May that intimidates me. People still do it, though.

sbhikes
12-29-2009, 11:21
I hiked usually 12-14 hours a day. I didn't like to take breaks longer than about 15 minutes. I did a lot of eating while walking downhill.

In the 70s people used to hike through the Sierras in April and May. They brought snowshoes.

Jester2000
12-29-2009, 11:21
Is it tough managing your pace if you start day zero? I've heard that it's almost difficult not getting to Kennedy too early. Like, you're "rushing" to hop from one water source to another down South and end up doing days that are too big to keep you on track.

It seemed to me that the people who got hung up at KM were people who started well before the kickoff in order to avoid the crowds. Most of them were their own crowd who had reached Warner Springs by the kickoff. Many of those hikers ended up getting hung up at KM, partially because of the snow but also because of the Clover Fire (this was in '08).

Guy
12-29-2009, 11:33
I hiked usually 12-14 hours a day. I didn't like to take breaks longer than about 15 minutes. I did a lot of eating while walking downhill.

In the 70s people used to hike through the Sierras in April and May. They brought snowshoes.

How do you navigate Forester Pass in Snowshoes? That sounds just a little scary. But I'm a wuss, I guess.

Spirit Walker
12-29-2009, 13:21
For Forester Pass, you use your ice axe to cut steps across the ice chute. Then do a butt slide down the other side. It's fun to drop 1000' in 3 minutes ;-)

As to the original question - in the desert you get used to starting very very early. Many hikers are up and out before or just at dawn. They may take a long midday break, if it is really hot, but then they hike until dark or thereabouts. We usually stop an hour or so before dark, so I have time to cook and clean up and read for a while, but we were frequently passed by hikers who were continuing into the early night hours. It isn't necessary, unless you are a student who needs to be back in August.

There is a certain amount of competitiveness among long distance hikers. Doing long long days or big miles becomes a game, a contest. Bragging about hiking until 11 pm or hiking 40 miles was fairly common. We also saw a lot of injury (shin splints, stress fractures, etc.) that was avoidable and people who burned out by pushing past the point of enjoyment. You need to decide what kind of hike you want to have. If pushing your body to the limit is enjoyable, then go for it. If you want to relax and take your time then do that. The tread on the PCT is such that you can generally walk faster than 2 mph. If you hike 10 hours a day, you'll be able to do 20-25 miles a day, except in deep snow. You can do more - but you don't need to in order to finish the trail before winter sets in.

BrianLe
12-29-2009, 16:14
"How do you navigate Forester Pass in Snowshoes? That sounds just a little scary. But I'm a wuss, I guess."

I don't think you're a wuss --- Forester ain't easy when the snow covers the switchbacks. Cutting steps up might have been a good approach, but it seems like it would be a bit slow ...
I ended up going more or less straight up, a lot more like "climbing" than Whitney had been the day before, including an icy patch that caused me a little trepidation. Once at higher elevation I could look down and see where the switchbacks went, but from below it was just snow and infrequent bare spots. I did this on June 12th 2008 (http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=3841616e3126534c8adf582322b3dc 48&entry_id=3379), FWIW. Talking about hours of hiking per day, 25 miles that day including two passes was a pretty long one ... another case of pushing the miles due to post office hours.

Meta
12-29-2009, 17:23
There is a certain amount of competitiveness among long distance hikers. Doing long long days or big miles becomes a game, a contest. Bragging about hiking until 11 pm or hiking 40 miles was fairly common. We also saw a lot of injury (shin splints, stress fractures, etc.) that was avoidable and people who burned out by pushing past the point of enjoyment. You need to decide what kind of hike you want to have. If pushing your body to the limit is enjoyable, then go for it. If you want to relax and take your time then do that. The tread on the PCT is such that you can generally walk faster than 2 mph. If you hike 10 hours a day, you'll be able to do 20-25 miles a day, except in deep snow. You can do more - but you don't need to in order to finish the trail before winter sets in.

you don't NEED to do it, but don't think it's always a death march for people who do big miles. I do 30-35 every day after the sierras, two years in a row. It was only very very rarely any kind of work and was almost always still fun. And when it wasn't, it was the section, not the miles (section O, for instance). If it wasn't fun I wouldn't do it. That's really what you need to think about, what's fun for you. And you can't decide that until you're on the trail. So don't look down on people who do 20s, but don't look down at people who do 30s, either. To each their own. And I've never been injured from big miles. But again, you need to know yourself. Don't let anyone tell you to do it any way but the way that feels good. Be that big miles or small miles.

Treefingers
12-29-2009, 18:35
Expect to make 2.5 miles an hr if your in average shape and the terrain is rolling....I wouldn't put expectations you how many hours you should walk a day...I think many thru hikers including myself would say that the one thing they would change is to stop and take in the views, smell the roses, chat with other hikers and enjoy themselves more and worry less about racing to the hut...It is an adventure of a lifetime and when you get to the end you probably wish you were still on the trail enjoying yourself.

Geo.
01-01-2010, 18:46
How many hours a day would you say that you typically walked per day?

That is, assuming that you didn't have to stop early to hitch into a town or start late or some thing like that. A typical full day.

I'm currently planning on 10 hour days, even though I know there's going to be some days that go over that and some days that are way under that.

I hiked solo (he travels fastest who travels alone!) 8-10hr days typically. Usually started early at first sign of light which meant I could get good miles in before the sun came in and also needed less water, and in the Sierra it meant the snow was still firm for climbing to a pass. Also meant I could finish at a reasonable time and kick back a bit in camp at the end of my day.
I left KM June 3rd. Used an ice axe to cut steps across the Forester chute. Snow wasn't too bad then, though it's bound to vary from year to year I'd think.

TwoForty
01-10-2010, 23:00
I'd leave camp by 6am and stop for camp around 7pm. Of course I take a lot of breaks in between, including a long lunch siesta and breaks at pretty much every water hole. I'd say I got a good 9 hours of walking at 2.5mph a day.

Meta
01-11-2010, 15:03
Side note, I and most of the other people I hiked with walk a casual but solid pace at about 3mph. When I'm pushing I can hike 4mph+ for a couple hours. And 3.5mph indefinitely as long as I have enough food for energy.

Guy
01-11-2010, 16:07
Meta,

Would you consider yourself a fast hiker relative to most people?

3.5 MPH seems pretty fast to me. When I've carried a GPS I've found that my top speed that I can maintain for an extended period of time is about 3.0 MPH. That was on a trail with very uneven grade and lots of roots and rocks, though. More like the AT is described than the PCT (I've never been on either, so I'm just going by other's descriptions).

Jester2000
01-11-2010, 16:28
Meta,

Would you consider yourself a fast hiker relative to most people?

3.5 MPH seems pretty fast to me. When I've carried a GPS I've found that my top speed that I can maintain for an extended period of time is about 3.0 MPH. That was on a trail with very uneven grade and lots of roots and rocks, though. More like the AT is described than the PCT (I've never been on either, so I'm just going by other's descriptions).

Meta's speed is about what I was capable of on the PCT as well. With the smoother footbed, I found it easier to get into a rhythm that allowed for that kind of speed. I found the AT much harder in that respect (what with the roots and rocks and such).

Spokes
01-11-2010, 16:37
Somewhere around 10 (+/-) hours worked for me on the AT. Most seem to say you'll average more on the PCT. I'm researching it now for a possible 2011 hike.

Miner
01-12-2010, 01:14
Meta,

Would you consider yourself a fast hiker relative to most people?

3.5 MPH seems pretty fast to me. When I've carried a GPS I've found that my top speed that I can maintain for an extended period of time is about 3.0 MPH. That was on a trail with very uneven grade and lots of roots and rocks, though. More like the AT is described than the PCT (I've never been on either, so I'm just going by other's descriptions).

I'd say he was on the faster side rather then slower side. He'd have quickly overtaken most slower hikers and never seen anyone who couldn't keep up (my assumption here). I was towards the back of the herd (left Kennedy Meadows ~June 23) and slowly was moving up through it but never got anywhere near the front end. I can't say what was toward the front of the herd because if they were that fast, I would have never seen them. From my experience, I'd say 3-3.5mph was the average that I saw. Sure there were some faster, but they were rare or far to the North of me.

Meta
01-12-2010, 17:19
I'm fairly fast but I never broke any records or anything. I'd say I was at the upper range of the commonly-seen speeds. But really, on the trail, when you think fast it's not mph but instead miles per day. Because it doesn't matter if you hike 4mph if you spend three days in town or take 50 breaks a day.

I was in the front of the pack both years (started early and started low miles per day in 2008. 2009 I started from the kickoff but started going fast right away) so my sample base might be skewed but I only know older people and section hikers who can't do at least 3mph reliably by the time you're out of the sierras. 3mph is what I view as "easy walking pace" even for other people.

Also pack size is a factor, I guess, to a degree. You don't need to be a tiny-pack ultralighter but then again if you're hauling around 45 pounds of crap it's going to make 3mph a lot harder.

Jester2000
01-12-2010, 17:30
Because it doesn't matter if you hike 4mph if you spend three days in town or take 50 breaks a day.

Haha! That's pretty much how I operate, at least the town part . . .

Egads
01-12-2010, 19:20
I have noticed that I hike less hours than I used to, but cover the same or more miles per day.

I used to hike for about 10-12 hours in a day and have done 14 hours, but usually only 6-8 hours now

leaftye
01-12-2010, 19:31
If I could hike at 4 mph, I'd only hike 6-8 hours too. The rest of the time would be spent eating, hydrating, stretching and doing self-myofascial release.

Meta
01-12-2010, 22:02
... and doing self-myofascial release.

This sounds like a euphemism. Take it easy, leaftye, it'd be really awkward to get caught on-trail in some self-myofascial release.

Egads
01-12-2010, 22:31
If I could hike at 4 mph, I'd only hike 6-8 hours too. The rest of the time would be spent eating, hydrating, stretching and doing self-myofascial release.


This sounds like a euphemism. Take it easy, leaftye, it'd be really awkward to get caught on-trail in some self-myofascial release.

Ahh...self massaging the muscle aches, not what you think he is saying :rolleyes:

leaftye
01-12-2010, 23:41
I think massage and diet will go a long way towards making this thru-hike successful. I've read too much about people starving and losing lots of weight, getting muscle/tendon injuries and having to go home early. My body, like others, will get a lot of abuse out there. I want to help it recover, and maybe even get better.

Self myofascial release is basically deep tissue massage. Its purpose is to break down scar tissue and knots that are weak spots that are often the site of worse or recurrence of injury.

I wish I could bring a foam roller on the trail with me, but the only one I found weighs 3 lbs. I'm thinking about cutting my 3" OD carbon fiber tube and wrapping it in CCF. The only problem is the OD will still be slightly less than 4" and foam rollers are usually 6". I suppose I could wrap it a few more times....I'll have to think about that...and I'm not crazy about the extra bulk even if it weighs 0 oz. Hmm...a bear canister may work too...