how many miles?!

[hikerboy57]

Is it possible to thru hike without obsessinvg about miles every day?
I usually plan my section hiles with alternative loops and bail points so i dont have to worry about my pace.
But what about a thru.how do you get the mpd out of your mind?

[rocketsocks]

Someone posted a while back about looking at a thru-hike as a series of smaller section hikes,or from resupply to resupply,or just day to day,by the end of the day i'd like to be here,what ever it takes as to remove any anxiety from this duanting task and make them a much smaller series of tasks.Seems to make sence to me,and is achievable if you can trick yourself into believing it,me,I trick easy,so no problem,and no thang!

[4shot]

that is difficult for most, especially early on, as the task seems so big.As has been said on here before, don't focus on the fact that you are walking to Maine or Georgia.Break it down into smaller hikes - focus on getting just to your next resupply point. Another thing, towards the end (when I was wearing down a bit), I just treated it like a job - I just hiked from about 8 until 5:30 or 6 and stopped no matter the mileage. Of course, I enjoy camping and R & R in the woods, other thru hikers do not.Try and understand that the mileage will come easy enough after 4 -6 weeks. People tend to worry about their 8 - 12 mpd average at the beginning and really have a hard time visualizing that they will be able to do 20 - 30 mpd thru a big portion of the trail after rounding into shape.good luck on your hike.

[Papa D]

Trail life will give you the flexibility you seem to desire to a point - - there is nothing wrong with zero days or sitting by a creek all afternoon from time to time BUT, by definition, thru-hiking is a goal of hiking about 2185 miles - - even if you don't have traditional time constraints like work and family to worry about, you will probably have the time constraints imposed by the change of seasons. if you are NOBO, you will pretty much have to make it to Baxter State Park by October 15 (when the overnight camping closes). If you are SOBO, you really can't start until late May and then you will fight mud and black flies - - if you start later SOBO, you will run into rough winter (and sometimes nearly impossible) trail conditions in Tennessee and North Carolina - especially in the Smokies. So, to respond to your question, it is not so important to obsess (as you say) about miles per day BUT if your goal is thru-hiking you have to get a certain amount of miles done in a set time period (which varies somewhat from hiker to hiker) - - if you don't think of it in miles per day, maybe it's miles per week - - most thru hikers hike the trail in the 85-115 miles per week range - - maybe this method of thinking frees your mind a bit such that you won't worry so much about your pace. It's not so much about going fast as much as it is sticking with going steady. Don't obsess - have fun. All this said though, I don't think you can legitimately thru-hike without at some point in some way playing the numbers game in your own mind at least to some extent.

[Don H]

For me, treating a thru as a series of section hikes worked for a while but by the time I got to NH it was all about just GETTING DONE!

[DavidNH]

hikerboy57... there is no need to obsess about miles per day. Simply hike a certain number of hours (say 5-7) per day for 5-6 days a week. Also, it's important to allow your self a reasonable amount of time to do a thru. For instance, if you have 6 months available, you only need to avg about 12 miles per day, a mileage well below what most thru hikers do. However, if you only had say 4.5 months available, then miles per day would be a constant concern. do yourself a favor by allowing your self at least 5.5-6 months for the hike.

David

[Blue Jay]

Is it possible to thru hike without obsessinvg about miles every day?
I usually plan my section hiles with alternative loops and bail points so i dont have to worry about my pace.
But what about a thru.how do you get the mpd out of your mind?

I believe it is possible, but highly unlikely.
Mile Slavery and it's resulting burnout is almost manditory.
It is also why a thru is so special.
I prefer 1000 mile sections.

[Moose2001]

I believe it is possible, but highly unlikely.
Mile Slavery and it's resulting burnout is almost manditory.
It is also why a thru is so special.
I prefer 1000 mile sections.

I would disagree that burnout and being a mile slave is mandatory. IMHO, it comes down to what your goals are and how much time you give yourself to do the hike. If your goal is to complete a thru in one year, then you have a deadline. You need to get to Katahdin (assuming you're going North) before the park switches over to winter conditions. Depending on the weather, that could happen Nov 15 or earlier. (Park closes for camping Oct 15). If you don't want to stress about miles, then you need to know you can easily do enough miles each day to get to Kathadin or makes sure you have plenty of time to make it. Maybe start in Feb instead of April.

Either way....those who stress and become mile monsters loss much of the joy of the hike. Big miles are cool. Stressing isn't.

[Spirit Walker]

What I have done is to plan very conservatively, assuming it will take longer to do each section than it actually does. That way I have some flexibility within each section, and I'm almost always a bit ahead ofschedule. The only downside is I usually end up with extra food - but that's not all bad.

The other part is to stop forcing your day to end at the shelters or obvious camping spots. That makes for a lot of days that are much shorter or longer than you are capable of hiking comfortably. Because western trails don't have shelters and quite often water sources are far apart, we have gotten into the habit of camelling up at springs, cooking where there is water, then carrying enough water to get us through the night and into the next day. Then we camp wherever we happen to be at the end of the day. It makes for a lot more flexibility and a lot more miles.

[ChinMusic]

What I have done is to plan very conservatively, assuming it will take longer to do each section than it actually does.
I have no set plan at all. If I did have a plan I'd prob throw it out after a week or so.

I don't fear colder weather but do fear hot weather. So I am planning an early start. Based on the experiences of others I assume I will be doing 20s after a month, so I should have plenty of time to do what I want.

I am more of a hiker than a camper. I prefer hiking most of the day. So even at a slow pace I get miles in without much thought. I'm guessing that preferring to hike will take care of the miles.

[WIAPilot]

I am only in the planning stages, but the approach I'm going by is that first I'm using the 2012 A.T. Guide by David AWOL Miller. Infinitely better than the other guide (I have both) because it shows the elevation and hills; springs and water sources and how reliable they generally are; hostels, hotels, camp sites, shelters, etc. It allows me to somewhat plan my "schedule" and the campsite, hostel, hotel or area that I hope to be at that night. It can't predict the weather, however, so my schedule will have to be adjusted continually. But at least I have a goal each day. I am focused on each day, rather than the whole 2,184 miles. Time will tell if this was a good strategy or not. For my personality type, I think it is, but you may be different.

[Tenderheart]

my pace.
But what about a thru.how do you get the mpd out of your mind?

If you find out, you let me know.

[WanderWoman]

I think I can help you with that TH.

[Odd Man Out]

It seems to me that the miles per day obsession is not just driven by the need to finish the trail on time, but also by the short term goal of getting to the next resupply town "on schedule". Much of the planning literature I read (here and elsewhere) stresses the importance of carrying just the right amount of food to get to the next town so you don't carry too much. This strategy requires that you have a plan (short term) and stick to it. On another recent thread there was discussion about why east coast hikers seem so obsessed with planning their long distance hikes around so many resupply stops/mail drops. Some say carrying less food allows you to hike faster. Others say carrying more food allows you to skip towns and thus hike faster. Some say carrying any more weight than necessary is evil. I for one hope that I will be able to trim my pack weight enough so that I can carry enough extra food to stay on the trail longer and linger over a nice view if I want and not worry about resupply schedules.

[swjohnsey]

No. If you want to get to Maine you need to think about the number of miles you do a day.

[stranger]

Start hiking no later than 8 am, and stop 30 minutes before dark, do this 6 days a week and you will be done in 4-4.5 months. People take six months cause they end up sitting around shelters for 4 hours waiting for it to get dark and taking 28 zero days, etc...

My good friend thrued in 122 days and never did 'big' days...he took about 7-8 zeros and couldn't understand how it could take someone 6 months...but most people spend ALOT of time doing things other than hiking.

I have never thru-hiked but typically average around 20-23 miles per 'hiking' day on the AT on a serious hike, but then I hike 7 miles into town and take a zero, your average drops quickly when you log 7 miles for 2 days!! That's where the time goes for most hikers I believe.

[Bronk]

I spent 4 months hiking 850 miles from Springer to Waynesboro. I could do 20 mile days after awhile, but I didn't enjoy doing it. So I just decided I was going to go slow and hike as long as I was still having fun. That ended up being near the end of June when it got hot. Everybody passed me. And I mean everybody. Most of the people I started with had either dropped off the trail or were nearly to Maine by the time I made it to Waynesboro.

Not worrying about the miles allowed me the flexibility to do things differently than a lot of people do them. Can't tell you how many times I came across a nice view or just a neat spot and took off my pack and stayed there all day (or for 4 days) while everyone else said "that's neat, but I've got to get to X (shelter, water source, town) by X (tonite, tomorrow, this week)." After awhile I started leaving town with at least 7 days worth of food so that I could just lolly gag my way up the trail and not worry about having to get to town to resupply. I think my average miles per day was 7 or 8 by the end...when I hiked I usually did 10 or 12 mile days, but I took a lot of zero days on the trail, and only a handful in town, so the zero days brought my average down.

If your goal is to finish the whole trail in one shot then my method probably isn't the right way to go about it. Had I stayed on the trail I doubt I would have made it all the way before Baxter was closed for the season. But I figured you don't get many opportunities in life to take a several month long vacation and I was going to make it fun and not turn it into a job. When it stopped being fun I got off the trail.

[moldy]

It's not possible to hike the entire trail and not develope an obsession about your daily milage. This is a reality of the trail that is arrived at by every last hiker. These thoughts emerge at about the same place where your daily milage jumps from about 12 to over 18. You can see this jump in mileage a few weeks after starting and is often associated with getting your "trail legs" or being in better physical shape. This jump in performance can be better attributed to the new mental awareness you have about just how far 2200 trail miles truly is. You wake up one morning after 3 weeks of rough work, look at the map and calculate that you still have 90 percent of the trail ahead of you. This is how humans solve problems. You resolve to take action. You hear people say things like, break camp in 20 minutes, first one out of the shelter, 10 miles by 12 noon, stop talkin'n and keep walkin'. If you don't decide to step up your game you may be one of those folks who, at this point, who just go home. It will be worse for thru-hikers but section hikers will get it too. No obsession no progression!

[fiddlehead]

The problem is usually that it's important to know where the water is and the data book, or guidebook, or whatever, has these listed by miles.
So, how are you going to know how much water to carry between water sources if you don't know how many miles between water? Answer (comes from experience and knowing how to find water where there is none listed, or going far without needing much, or carrying more than you need. )
None of it makes as much sense as knowing the mileage and using it as a tool.

But, if you want to not care about things like that, it's best to have a bunch of experience so you don't run out too soon.

Besides water, you should be aware of how many days food you have left in your pack and where the next road crossing is (to resupply)
Again, distance calculations help a lot to know this.
But, not totally necessary.
I've seen people go 2-3 days on just a pack of Ramen. (But I wouldn't want to do it. )

Knowledge is a tool. Whether you use it or not is up to you.

[Grampie]

Thru-hike is about getting from one end of the AT to the other in one season. There are a prescribed number of miles you have to travel to do this. Enter these miles into a equation with the number of days you have alocated to hike and you come up with a number. This number is your daily milage. Use the number as the average number of miles you should hike in a day. Keep a eye on that number. If you fall below, you need to do more. If you stay above you have time to spare, "0" days etc.
It gives you a general idea as to where you stand and the progress you are making.
Folks who fall behind a schedule have a tendency to give up because they start to feel that they will never make it. Then they start blue blazing and skipping sections.

[peakbagger]

I sectioned the trail but did do a 5 week stretch. My approach is to set a reasonable minimum daily mileage goal to a specific point and then would look at "stretch goals" in case the going was good and in the mood. Inevitably early in the hike, I would hit the minimum goals and as I got in shape I would hit the stretch goals. By having the minimum goal in mind, if I wanted to stop along the way to take a break I knew where I needed to be that night. Once you get the long daylight days up north, you reasonably can hike from 5am to 8PM if you pace yourself. The one thing I learned is stop once an hour for 5 minutes, it feels coutnerporductive in the morning but it makes a big difference later in the day

[BrianLe]

While I think that you do need to keep mileage progress in mind in any long distance backpacking, IMO it depends a lot on which trail you're hiking, in which direction, and when you start. If you start NOBO on the AT leaving towards the earlier side then I don't think you need to be really mileage driven. This is less true on the other trails if you hope to finish in the same year.

I agree with whoever it was that talked about "thousand mile sections", i.e., consider chunk-hiking rather than thru-hiking if you're concerned.
Another thing you can consider is flipping to knock out the part(s) that you fear might not be hikeable later in the year.

[Pony]

I did the trail in two sections. Springer to Damascus, and Damscus to Katahdin. On the GA-VA section I obsessed about mileage. The end result was I wasn't having fun and got off trail in Damascus. On the VA-ME section the only time I really obsessed about mileage was trying to get to a PO or other deadlines, meeting family mostly. Other than that I winged it. Some days I would get up intending to hike 20 miles and stopped at four or five. Other days I planned on eight and cranked out twenty. If you just keep moving you'll eventually get there. I enjoy hiking but hiking the AT isn't all about hiking for me. Lots of other things to do on and off the trail. A lot of people treat the AT like a job and I think many of them were annoyed that I did it differently. I must have been doing it all wrong. I woke up whenever I felt like it. Hiked til I felt like stopping. Took zeros whenever I felt like it. I went to town whenever I wanted even if I had just been there the day before. There is absolutely no right way to hike the trail and every hiker has a different experience. And if you have enough time, you absolutely do NOT have to obsess over miles.

Yeah, I know, I never thru hiked, but a 1,700 mile section is about as close as you can get. Not much difference.

[Skid.]

I wouldn't recommend it, but not carrying a map or guide would make it difficult to check mileage daily.

[mrmoose97]

I thru-hiked in 1997. I spent a lot of time in the months before starting planning my days. id plan 4 days between towns here and there etc.. but it wasn't meant to lay out each and everyday when i got to the trail, it was more of a mental exercise to hike the entire thing in my imagination. Once i hit the trail, the schedule i made out went out the door. I did looesely follow it but if i hit town early or a day or so late, it didnt matter. For example, when i got to Shenandoah National Park, due to injuries, i was 10 days behind my "schedule" but upon leaving the park, i was a few days ahead because i was feeling better got sick of the "green tunnel" real fast. I hiked into damascus the monday before traildays and left town the tuesday afterwards, taking 7 zero days.

I then went on to finish in 186 total days. I guess my point is the miles will come when they do (my longest day was 33 miles and my shortest hiking day was under 1 mile). I never felt rushed and just knew i would finish the whole thing in one shot.

Do your homework. plan it out but dont obsess over it. be ready for changes. And hike your own hike..

[hikerboy57]

I did the trail in two sections. Springer to Damascus, and Damscus to Katahdin. On the GA-VA section I obsessed about mileage. The end result was I wasn't having fun and got off trail in Damascus. On the VA-ME section the only time I really obsessed about mileage was trying to get to a PO or other deadlines, meeting family mostly. Other than that I winged it. Some days I would get up intending to hike 20 miles and stopped at four or five. Other days I planned on eight and cranked out twenty. If I like your attitudeyou just keep moving you'll eventually get there. I enjoy hiking but hiking the AT isn't all about hiking for me. Lots of other things to do on and off the trail. A lot of people treat the AT like a job and I think many of them were annoyed that I did it differently. I must have been doing it all wrong. I woke up whenever I felt like it. Hiked til I felt like stopping. Took zeros whenever I felt like it. I went to town whenever I wanted even if I had just been there the day before. There is absolutely no right way to hike the trail and every hiker has a different experience. And if you have enough time, you absolutely do NOT have to obsess over miles.

Yeah, I know, I never thru hiked, but a 1,700 mile section is about as close as you can get. Not much difference.i like your attitude.id probably take the same approach.its the journey not the destination.

[Miner]

What I heard from a guy who quit a thru-hike and his reason why. "You can't thru-hike without carring about how many miles you hike each day; at least if your goal is to hike the entire trail. My problem is I'm too lazy. I only want to hike a couple of miles a day until I reach a nice place and then I want to just stay there awhile."