Is 4 miles per hour

[lobster]

the average pace of your average AT hiker?

[Lobo]

My guess is that the average person after several weeks on the Trail moves along at 2-3 mph.

[Brock]

I found my "average" speed I calculated for an entire day (including rests) was about 2 mph.
When actually timing myself, I would normally move about 3 mph and if I was going really fast, it was 4 mph.
I don't think I ever moved faster than 4 mph.

So, at the beginning of the day, when thinking that I had 20 miles to do that day, I would estimate it to take me 10 hours, with breaks and everything.

Also to note is that I consider myself a fast walker. But I usually take more/longer breaks than the slow walkers I was travelling with and we would normally end up at the same place at the same time at the end of the day.

[Lobo]

The only time that I walked 4 mph on my hike was if I was down-wind from town and could smell pizza and beer!

[wilderness bob]

Terrain dictates but on an average I was at about 2.5 mph.

WB

p.s. That was when I was in my comfort zone, a hiker's sweet spot. The trick is to know what your speed is at a given time so you can figure on how long it will take to get somewhere. That only develops completely while you are out there, doing the miles.

[James Fetter]

Have you ever put yourself on a treadmill and tried walking 4 mph? Add a little elevation. I do it 3 nights a week when not hiking that weekend and 4 mph is my max without a pack and hiking shoes on. 2 mph is my goal when I'm on the trail. jnf

[txulrich]

For all the trips I've planned with Scouts, the standard we use is 2 mph + 1 hour for every 1000 feet of elevation climbed (total climbed, not total gained).

So, to hike 15 mile in a day, you would start at 7.5 hours then get out the topo maps and look at the terrain. If you climbed 3500 feet, you would add 3.5 hours for a total of 11 hours. It works out to be pretty close in actual application. Of course I need to add the standard disclaimer, YMMV.

[soad]

My record on a 15+ mile hike is 2.6mph (with about 3500' elevation gain).

One time we did 6.2 miles in 1.5 hours (4.1mph) that was ALL down hill (down Mt. Le Conte in the rain...pizza was a motivating factor) we were moving the whole time (never running, just speed walking) there is no way we could do that with any kind of uphill.

[orangebug]

Back in November, Almost There and I did 11.5 miles in about 4 hours, SOBO into Damascus. Weather was crappy. Burgers were calling. And we blue blazed along the Virginia Creeper to avoid the last climb. We had still visited a shelter and privy, gotten water and other chores. I think we were hitting 4mph at times, inspite of light snow on the ground.

Ordinarily, I count 2.5 mph as a nice pace.

[Almost There]

Where do you come up with these amazing questions, Lobster???

[icemanat95]

My average walking pace after about 1.5 months in or so was about 3 mph. By the time I hit the halfway mark I could maintain that over any terrain including the White Mountains. The only spot that defeated me in this was Mahoosuc Notch and Mahoosuc Arm. Bad conditions over Baldpate also slowed me down. However, I enjoyed my rest breaks and reading shelter registers (even at the shelters I didn't stay at. So that knocked my average daily speed down to 2 MPH. So if I hiked a 12 hour day, I could figure 24 miles.

The one day I was able to sustain 4 MPH was coming into Pearisburg. I was slackpacking and pulled a 28 mile day in a little over 7 hours. Only stopped for about 30 minutes in the whole day. Very unusual and very difficult to do with a pack on.

[The Solemates]

we typically walk on average about 3mph when we are hiking together. this equates to 2.75mph on the uphills and 3.25mph on the downhills.

however, when i hike alone, i find that i typically hike about 3.25mph regardless of terrain (barring any rock scrambling, etc.)

[digger51]

Leaving Springer I usually like to keep to about 1.5 miles per hour. After a couple of days I like to get to 2-2.5 miles per hour. After a couple of weeks if I'm not doing 3-3.5 mph I think I am asleep.

[SGTdirtman]

i think the fastest I've hiked is 3.5mph including stops... I like to average 2mph

[Peaks]

Book time for most hiking books is based on 2 miles per hour, plus 1/2 hour for each 1000 feet of climb. If you have to ask the question, then this is a good place to start. After a while, you will figure out what your actual pace is.

4 miles per hour is way too fast for most people.

[Creaky]

There are some mighty fast walkers here!

Generally speaking 4 mph is about as fast as a fit person can sustain a normal walk. Any faster, and you inevitably introduce a little jog or shuffle that often takes both feet off the ground at the same time.

[hopefulhiker]

I usually made about 3 miles in two hours without trying to hard... This includes sitting around, snacking, shooting the bull, side trails ect.. I hated the forced march concept.. If I really tried to hustle I could make about 2 miles per hour.

[SGTdirtman]

4mph is the standard for a military ruck march, but this is over flat terrain... Anyone doing 4mph up and down a rocky moutain trail is going way to fast in my opinion. it can be done... but why?

ive seen plenty of hikers do 30 miles a day but I never understood why. Last year I started a I-80 at the PA/NJ border at about 7:30am and met a bunch thru hikers who started from the kirkridge shelter in PA earlier that day which is about 7 miles away. I did a good 15 miles that day and he had passed me and all the thru hikers. my trip through jersey I did the same mileage as the other thru hikers except that one guy who was doing 30 miles a day at least... even the other thru hikers thought he was freaking nuts.

Take it easy, enjoy the trail, its not a race.

[Kerosene]

You won't find any but the most athletic, long-striding, in-hiking-shape guys nearing 4 mph. I've encountered a number of thru-hikers in the Mid-Atlantic states who can sustain 3 mph.

I can exercise walk on a level surface without a pack at up to 4.5 mph for an hour. With a pack on a smooth trail I'll spurt up to 3 or 3.25 mph for a bit, but inevitably I average in between 2.3 to 2.7 mph for the day, and a bit slower if the trail surface is rough. Frankly, unless the elevation changes are extremely steep (more than 800'/mile for more than a mile) then I find that the trail surface impacts my speed more than the elevation change.

[vipahman]

If I'm not mistaken, 4 mph is considered the average walking speed on a road. So if you can maintain 4 mph on the trail, that's definitely well above average. And if you could maintain it for 14 hours/day for about 40 days, then you would be targeting Squeaky2. But you already knew that.