How many miles to plan a day?

[Spiritual Pillgrim]

If things go as planned, I want to kick off northbound in early to mid march in order to beat the spring rush . I would expect my early milaeage will be shorter do to limited daylight, snow, a heavier pack and not having trail legs. As time goes on I would expect my daily mileage to increase. I don't want to have many 20 mile days and would like to average 12-15 miles a day. My paper plan has about a 6 month time frame. I don't feel like rushing or trying to break any speed records. So what might I "average" each day/month as I walk north. My biggest problem is trying to figure out where to send mail drops (and how many). I will need to have them pretty much set to go for my trail support team (that is, my wife) when I take off.

[TooTall]

Maybe 8 miles to start, 12 miles a day in a couple weeks then in a few more weeks about 15 miles a day average the rest of the hike. You'll do more that 15 miles some days but you'll also be taking days off so it'll average out.

If you can't decide just go with the lower mileage (extra food in the mail drop). Take what you need until the next drop based on your current mileage. Toss the rest of the food into a hiker box. Or you could mail the food ahead in a bounce box. You could supplement your mail drops with some food purchases along the trail. Your might be doing that anyways as your food preferences can change drastically once you start the hike.

Too Tall Paul

[saimyoji]

...........

[Peaks]

There have been several threads on mileage and time required for a thru-hike. Also, the subject is covered in several books that deal with planning. Do some reading and research.

[The Solemates]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]If things go as planned, I want to kick off northbound in early to mid march in order to beat the spring rush

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lone Wolf]

Mid-March you ain't gonna beat no rush. Plans get tossed aside after day 1. Let it all happen.

[Skyline]

Mid-March you ain't gonna beat no rush. Plans get tossed aside after day 1. Let it all happen.

Damn Wolf I was just about to post those exact words. I can't believe we agree 100% on something! :-)

If you want to avoid the spring crowds, leave earlier than March 1 or beyond late April. But other than that, your thought re: daily mileage is a good one. Six months total is a good plan, and you could do that April 15 > October 15. If you could drop it to 5-1/2 months, late April to early October would be even better.

[Lone Wolf]

Ain't that somethin!

[Kerosene]

I wouldn't bother trying to pack up all your re-supply boxes and trying to figure out when and where to send them before you leave. As L. Wolf suggests, whatever plans you start with will very quickly change enough that you will have wasted a lot of time, food, and postage.

Too Tall gives a good approximation of how your miles may build up over time, which is probably pretty good for most 40-something American males. Don't let yourself get sucked into big mileage days early on, even if your body feels just fine. After a month you will have a much better sense for what you're capable of, with many people easily walking consecutive 20-mile days in Virginia when the days are longer, their packs are lighter, and their joints are used to it. Other consistent advice is that you should plan to cut back your average daily mileage by perhaps 30% once you reach the Whites, as the terrain is tougher and the views are incredible.

Rather than try to pre-plan all your mail drops, consider creating a "standard box" that you can have shipped up the trail a few weeks before you get to a town. Also, use a bounce box to ship other items ahead of you. Finally, supplement your mail drops with other food from the local grocery store so you don't get bored to tears of oatmeal/ramen/mac&cheese/whatever.

[Singe03]

No plan is going to last more than a couple of days, there are just too many variables to make any sort of detailed pre-planning work. Besides, who needs the stress of hiking to an itenery when virtually everything will conspire to thwart it.

It may seem like alot now, but the 20 mile days a bit later in the hike are nothing, they will feel natural, in fact more natural than 15 will feel early on. I only planned two 20+ days on my entire trip (by plan I mean deciding to do a 20+ tomorrow as I go to bed), yet I wound up doing quite a few. Usually when I had a long day it was because I planned a 16 or so mile day, got to where I planned to stop early and decided to keep moving for a whole variety of reasons. I felt good, wanted to take advantage of good weather, weather sucked and I'm soaked already so why stop now, wanted to be alone, wanted to be with company, wanted to catch up with someone in particular, wanted to get away from someone, looked like a good view ahead, another 5 will set me up for an early town stop tomorrow, all reasons I chose to keep going at one time or another (many of those also served as good excuses to stop early on some days).

Big mileage days are not stressful if you let them happen naturally, and the knowledge that you can do them occasionally frees your mind up to not stress over taking a low mileage day when your not feeling it. Your body will tell you the best pace, just always keep a couple of light weight emergency meals in your bag and you are in good shape to let your body tell you how far to go on any given day.

[chris]

If you do not know the answer to this question already, it means you should plan on about 8-10 miles a day at the start, which is about what most people plan on and do.

[Lone Wolf]

If things go as planned, I want to kick off northbound in early to mid march in order to beat the spring rush . I would expect my early milaeage will be shorter do to limited daylight, snow, a heavier pack and not having trail legs. As time goes on I would expect my daily mileage to increase. I don't want to have many 20 mile days and would like to average 12-15 miles a day. My paper plan has about a 6 month time frame. I don't feel like rushing or trying to break any speed records. So what might I "average" each day/month as I walk north. My biggest problem is trying to figure out where to send mail drops (and how many). I will need to have them pretty much set to go for my trail support team (that is, my wife) when I take off.

The only PLAN I would stick to is taking 6 months to do the trail. MOST hike it way too fast. 6 months is comfortable.

[rickb]

Is that for the whole thing, or only as far as Gorham?

BTW, you ever take time out to golf on a long hike, Wolf? Gorham has a course.

I have head a bunch of golfers talk about playing thru, so figured that must be a popular stop.

[rickb]

Warren Doyle suggests these paces at www.warrendoyle.com. They seem reasonable to me:


southern 421 miles of the AT are 50% uphill and 50% downhill.
Springer to Watauga Dam Road
6 months = 8-12 miles per day 5 months = 10-15 miles per day

The next 1,340 miles of the AT are 33% uphill, 33% downhill, and 33% level.
Watauga Dam Road to Glencliff, NH
6 months = 14-18 miles per day 5 months = 15-20 miles per day

The next 215 miles of the AT are 50% uphill and 50% downhill
Glencliff, NH to Flagstaff Lake
6 months = 8-12 miles per day 5 months = 10-15 miles per day

The northern 170 miles of the AT are 33% uphill, 33% downhill, and 33% level.
Flagstaff Lake to Katahdin
6 months = 12 – 15 miles per day 5 months = 15-20 miles per day

[Lone Wolf]

Is that for the whole thing, or only as far as Gorham?

BTW, you ever take time out to golf on a long hike, Wolf? Gorham has a course.

I have head a bunch of golfers talk about playing thru, so figured that must be a popular stop.

No. Never played a full round but found a wedge on Cheoah bald one year and carried it for awhile hitting stones. Another year I carried a driver up Katahdin and sliced a ball towards Millinocket.

[hammock engineer]

Taz1, I was originally thinking as you where. Planning food drops, estimating milage (something about the engineer in me). But after reading a lot of people's experience and advice, both here and on trail journals, I decided not to plan anything out. I am just going to start in Maine and leave myself 6 months to get to Springer. I'll just pick up enough food along the way to get me to the next stop.

The more I think about it, the not planning and carefree part of the hike is part of the overall enjoyment. How often can you forget about what day or time it is and just do and go where ever you want to.

[Mouse]

I gave up any fixed schedule and just let my housemate know a few weeks in advance when and where to send something, guessing on the best PO based on how I was doing at the time.

So many unexpected things happened that destroyed any firm planning. Repeatedly I had an injury of one sort or another slow me down and those simply cannot be anticipated. Other times I sped along unexpectedly quickly. A lot can happen in six months!

[Nean]

You don't state your fitness level, that has a lot to do with it. You've got some great answers so far, as WB is a good place to do some reading and research. I like starting earlier, really. No crowd, great views. March 1 has become a popular start date. Do not do mail drops unless you have to. This takes away from so much flexablity and is such a hassel it should be banned!! Towns have stores! and their hours are MUCH better than the P.O. I'll bounce a box to my next zero, 1o days up the trail- town clothes, guides, grinder,etc. Plan as you go. Its much better IMHO, to plan mostly for the next town, 4-6 days at a time instead of all at once. Some people do the grand plan and it works well for them. I guess it depends on what you enjoy. It cost more to do maildrops, but I'm sure there might be an exception, there always is...
BTW, I hooked one towards Boise off Borah

[Brock]

Warren Doyle suggests these paces at www.warrendoyle.com. They seem reasonable to me:


southern 421 miles of the AT are 50% uphill and 50% downhill.
Springer to Watauga Dam Road
6 months = 8-12 miles per day 5 months = 10-15 miles per day

The next 1,340 miles of the AT are 33% uphill, 33% downhill, and 33% level.
Watauga Dam Road to Glencliff, NH
6 months = 14-18 miles per day 5 months = 15-20 miles per day

The next 215 miles of the AT are 50% uphill and 50% downhill
Glencliff, NH to Flagstaff Lake
6 months = 8-12 miles per day 5 months = 10-15 miles per day

The northern 170 miles of the AT are 33% uphill, 33% downhill, and 33% level.
Flagstaff Lake to Katahdin
6 months = 12 – 15 miles per day 5 months = 15-20 miles per day

I ran into Warren Doyles group heading North in Georgia. Their first planned zero day was in Monson ME! Not my type of hiking.

[Skyline]

Generally it is true that maildrops usually make less sense, and cost more, than buying food and most expendables in town. There are probably three or four AT towns where the opposite is true. Somewhere on here I recall reading what those towns were but can't recall for sure right now--and since I sectioned my logistics were different than a thru-hiker's so they probably didn't apply. Wouldn't be surprised if Delaware Water Gap and Andover might be two. If you search WB I bet you'll find it. Seems to me it was written by Baltimore Jack, Weathercarrot, or someone else who shares freely of their considerable knowledge.

Some hikers including me have done maildrops because they have special medical needs, dietary needs, or they pre-assemble their own home-dehydrated meals. My thought was: If I was going to be relying on a small package anyway, why not just do the whole resupply as a maildrop? But of course I still bought a few fresh items when I could in towns.