trainin...

[jefals]

I haven't done the math, but is it true that you have to be able to do a lot of consistent 20 mile days in order to make it from Springer to Katahdin between March and October? If it is, I ain't ready!

[Lone Wolf]

no. not true.

[SteelCut]

I think that Warren Doyle has a good breakdown of miles per day required to achieve a thru hike in a certain amount of time.

http://www.warrendoyle.com/ATBook.html

[Old Hiker]

I haven't done the math, but is it true that you have to be able to do a lot of consistent 20 mile days in order to make it from Springer to Katahdin between March and October? If it is, I ain't ready!

I suggest that you do the math.

Figure 210 days (214 actual) hiking if you are talking 01 March through 30 September. 2185 miles ( +/- ). Divide. 10.4 miles per day. IF you don't take zeros/neroes. Not likely.

20 miles per day is 3.6 months: 105 days. Very doable if you have initiative.

Enjoy your hike !

[kayak karl]

slow and steady wins the walk. you may do 6 mile day in the beginning, but when you do your first 20 mile day you won't believe it. you will check the map 3 times just to be sure

[Gambit McCrae]

I suggest that you do the math.

Figure 210 days (214 actual) hiking if you are talking 01 March through 30 September. 2185 miles ( +/- ). Divide. 10.4 miles per day. IF you don't take zeros/neroes. Not likely.

20 miles per day is 3.6 months: 105 days. Very doable if you have initiative.

Enjoy your hike !

slow and steady wins the walk. you may do 6 mile day in the beginning, but when you do your first 20 mile day you won't believe it. you will check the map 3 times just to be sure

+1 on both of these. I started out(section hiking and driving to the AT every weekend) with 6-10 miles days. Now after almost a year, If I dont pull 16-20 with a backpack on I know I fell short of what I am capable of.
That being said, hiking every day apposed to hiking 3, off 5 then hiking 3 again, is when hiking everyday you have little to no time to recover, hence zero days. Its an equal balance, if you push bigger miles, you will have to take more zeros to recover, if you walk it in shorter days, it will take longer, yet you wont have to take as many zero days. The hand off for me is, i would rather push bigger miles, and get my town time in as I enjoy a good beer and burger. But at the same time im not in a rush to make it to ME either. HYOH

[Tianto]

Short answer is no however, a great place to glean data on this subject is on trail journals dot com. There you can click through hikers posts and see their daily milage fluctuations and get a good idea on their average. Many hikers post daily, giving you the opportunity to passively observe what it took them to complete the trail, thereby avoiding the message board ego-maniacs opinion/I gotta have a thousand posts on the forum. This is what I did before my thru, finding it extremely insightful and much less bias than what you'll find here.

[Nooga]

slow and steady wins the walk. you may do 6 mile day in the beginning, but when you do your first 20 mile day you won't believe it. you will check the map 3 times just to be sure

Agree. Take it easy until Damascus to allow your body to adjust, then up your daily mileage. Never heard anyone who complained about taking too long.

[Old Hiker]

I agree with Kayak Karl - I forgot to add that my first 2-3 weeks of my attempt averaged from 8 - 14 per day. I WAS carrying too much gear. 1st day over 12 was after Video and a couple of other guys in the Smokies challenged me to do better. I think my best day was 18ish.

Slow and steady at first, but it WAS picking up before I had to quit.

[rocketsocks]

My math says 15's will get ya there in plenty on time between those dates.

[88BlueGT]

Can I ask what a "leftover" menu is?

[Wülfgang]

Distance = Rate x Time

Where Distance is in Miles, Rate is in Miles per hour per day, and Time is in days.

So, for 2180 Miles, if you hiked at an average rate of 2.5 mph for 8 HIKING hours per day (figure 2-3 hours for breaks and camp chores), you would be traveling an average of 20 miles per day and arrive at Katahdin in 109 days, if you took no zeroes.

Figure in 12-15 zeroes (approx 1 per week) and that would put you at 121-124 days, or just over 4 months.

[jefals]

Great advice and info from everyone; thanks a lot. Old Hiker advised me to do the math, but looks like I got an "old hiker" to do the math for me! Thanks O.H.
I did a 16.8 mile "hike" around a lake Sunday with about 8 or 9 pounds in my backpack (a gallon canteen of water). Except for the fact that it was 16.8 miles, it was easy walking ... no hills, bright sunny day, cool for most of the 1st half. My legs were pretty heavy at the finish, and I was sure glad I didn't have to do it again the next day!
On my AT hike, I do want to enjoy zero days and the towns along the way; but I do know you have to get to the end by mid-OCT at the latest, and while I'd like to make it all the way, I'm not sure I will -- I think the adventure along the way -- meeting some of you folks maybe and others along the way, experience the trail magic etc. -- whether I make it all the way or not, I know it's gonna be a great time!

[Gambit McCrae]

Short answer is no however, a great place to glean data on this subject is on trail journals dot com. There you can click through hikers posts and see their daily milage fluctuations and get a good idea on their average. Many hikers post daily, giving you the opportunity to passively observe what it took them to complete the trail, thereby avoiding the message board ego-maniacs opinion/I gotta have a thousand posts on the forum. This is what I did before my thru, finding it extremely insightful and much less bias than what you'll find here.

Welcome to the WhiteBlaze Network!

The WhiteBlaze Network was created by a community of Appalachian Trail enthusiasts. Its intended purpose is to provide a forum for free exchange of ideas about the Appalachian Trail including its history, supporting the trail, hiking the trail, and general issues important to those that enjoy the Appalachian Trail.

This site is not about any one person or their idea of what the Appalachian Trail should be or to dictate to you (the hiker) how the trail is supposed to be used. We leave that for you to decide. Interact with the other members to get a better idea of what others on the trail are thinking and maybe you will get a better idea of what it is all about.

If you have any questions, don't look for an administrator with all the answers, even about how to run this site. Instead, come in and ask the members. Become a member, and you are equally as important as the rest of us.

So come on in and enjoy yourself!

Is this not what the site was created for? To gather opinions from other hikers?

[rocketsocks]

Short answer is no however, a great place to glean data on this subject is on trail journals dot com. There you can click through hikers posts and see their daily milage fluctuations and get a good idea on their average. Many hikers post daily, giving you the opportunity to passively observe what it took them to complete the trail, thereby avoiding the message board ego-maniacs opinion/I gotta have a thousand posts on the forum. This is what I did before my thru, finding it extremely insightful and much less bias than what you'll find here.

I gotta disagree there. While TJ's is a great resource in it's own right, it does not have near the the skinny or biased information many come here to find. And boards are what people make them, offering opinion without addressing the original posters question is just that...opinion.

[Wülfgang]

I frequent some other forums and WB is not, in my opinion, a discussion forum. It's a "let me give you my unsolicited, unrelated, and often unqualified opinion" forum. There is a lot of great info here but you have to dig for it though searches. TJ has more straightforward facts and reports from active hikers. Lots of armchair hikers here.

[Odd Man Out]

Also consult this article on hiking rates by section right here on WB. The most relevant table is this one. You indeed see that hikers tend to kick it up a notch after Damascus, but never anywhere close to 20 miles per day. Note that MPHD is mile per hiking day, which doesn't average in the zero mile days.

MPD ~~~~~~~ MPHD ~~~~~~ SECTION
9.4 miles..........(10.1 miles).........Springer to Georgia Border (75.6 miles)
11.2 miles........(12.0 miles).........Georgia Border to Fontana (87.5 miles)
12.2 miles........(14.0 miles).........Fontana to Damascus (297.1 miles)
13.4 miles........(15.9 miles).........Damascus to Waynesboro (388.6 miles)
14.4 miles........(16.8 miles).........Waynesboro to Harpers Ferry (161.1 miles)
13.9 miles........(16.8 miles).........Harpers Ferry to DWG (270.3 miles)
13.9 miles........(16.1 miles).........DWG to Kent (172.4 miles)
14.0 miles........(15.5 miles).........Kent to Glencliff (323.8 miles)
10.5 miles........(11.4 miles).........Glencliff to Gorham (100.6 miles)
11.1 miles........(12.5 miles).........Gorham to Stratton (110.1 miles)
13.6 miles........(14.7 miles).........Stratton to Katahdin (187.9 miles)
12.9 miles........(14.7 miles).........The entire AT (2175.0 miles)

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php?44

[Starchild]

Don't forget when you get your trail legs your mileage will increase, as well as your appetite (thank God for trail angels, trail magic and a thru hikers favorite bear 'Yogi' as that increase happened to me just as I left town and a long distance to resupply, now requiring 2x the food). It takes about 3-4 weeks of hiking, then, WOW it is a super human experience. My miles per day (excluding zeros and neros - as that was trail town induced) went from averaging 17 per day to 25 per day.

[garlic08]

Twenty mpd is needed after you graduate from the AT and go on to hike the PCT and/or the CDT (longer trails, shorter season, harder resupply/water sources).

I would caution anyone against trying to make 20 mpd out of the gate on the AT. That's tough going (unless you really know what you're doing and then you wouldn't be asking). I think by central VA many hikers are doing it, though.

[Dogwood]

Great advice and info from everyone; thanks a lot. Old Hiker advised me to do the math, but looks like I got an "old hiker" to do the math for me! Thanks O.H.
I did a 16.8 mile "hike" around a lake Sunday with about 8 or 9 pounds in my backpack (a gallon canteen of water). Except for the fact that it was 16.8 miles, it was easy walking ... no hills, bright sunny day, cool for most of the 1st half. My legs were pretty heavy at the finish, and I was sure glad I didn't have to do it again the next day!
On my AT hike, I do want to enjoy zero days and the towns along the way; but I do know you have to get to the end by mid-OCT at the latest, and while I'd like to make it all the way, I'm not sure I will -- I think the adventure along the way -- meeting some of you folks maybe and others along the way, experience the trail magic etc. -- whether I make it all the way or not, I know it's gonna be a great time!

DO NOT GET STRESSED! You're relating a six month AT thru-hiking time frame. Like Starchild said you'll likely build on your ability to crank out more mileage the further you get into your hike. That's what the majority of AT thru-hikers who finish do. Long distance hiking is an affair requiring adaption and mangagement of your hike, your body, your mind, emotions, etc. Allow yourself to evolve as a hiker. It doesn't all happen in one day or pre-hike for many successful AT thru-hiking finishers. Lose the beat the clock mentality. It sounds like you'll have a better hike if you do. Adapt as you need en route.