Miles Per Day - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

Anyone out there doing consistent 25+ miles per day on the AT? If so, lets hear about it, and if not…why? Is 30 miles per day unheard of, or doable? This is all for planning purposes, just to see if I can finish the Trail in the span of time between graduating and starting my job. For those who are curious, i have 67 - 69 days to attempt the AT Northbound. Just wondering whether I will see Katadhin before I sign my life away!

Aphex

#2

Aphex,

It is just barely possible that you could pull this off, but you should understand that this is close to the unsupported thru-hiking record of 65 days (which was set by someone most people regard as a bit crazy.) This is an incredibly fast pace and unless you are in the shape of an ultra-marathoner, you certainly won’t make it. People do 30 mile days, but not day after day (i.e., that is not their average mileage), and the average is far lower. Very fast hikers in excellent shape do often finish in the 100-120 day range, but anything less and you’re getting into a pace that most people simply cannot sustain. To finish the trail in 69 days, you’d need to average 31 miles a day, which means in reality you’d have to hike considerably more than that most days unless you can hike every one of those 69 days without taking any days off or slowing down to resupply (and if you did slow down on resupply stops, that just means more mileage on other days to compensate.)

I would never be one to discourage a thru-hike, but you need to take a good, hard, realistic look at your capabilities before you try this. Remember that even if you somehow managed to do it in that time, you’d then be showing up at your new job immediately after this, having walked a marathon+ every day for the past two months with an extra 20 or 30lbs on your back. Even if you do it, there’s no recovery time. Maybe this is a year to take a month-long section hike on the AT and try to arrange a thru-hike for another year when you can get more time.

Strategic

#3

I honestly think I’d rather hit myself in the head with a hammer then try that. Does not sound remotely enjoyable unless you’re into masochism.

Stryker

#4

Strategic is right on. I think the record thru-hike is something like 52 days and that was a runner carrying only water and snacks with a support crew meeting him at road crossings. Not only would you need to be in fantastic shape but you will probably have problems like blisters, shin splints, sore knees and ankles, from the every day pounding that you will need to take some zero days to heal. The last thing I want to do is rain on your parade. Personally I like trying to hike high mile days. Just trying to put things in perspective.

Steady On

Steady On

#5

I think unsupported 25+ is for the elite, even on well-graded pack trails like the PCT, much less the rugged AT. It’s definitely your hike, but since you asked…

I’ll weigh in with everyone else on this, because I started planning something less ambitious but changed my plans with similar input. I haven’t hiked the AT yet. I was thinking of a more modest 100-day pace. I know from other trails that I have a comfortable average long-term pace of 20 mpd. My hiking friends asked me why would I want to increase that and risk hurting myself, and completely miss the whole reason to do the AT in the first place even if I pulled it off? So I eliminated all time goals and hope to have a great hike. And Strategic has a very good point about the recovery time–you’ll need many weeks, if not months, not the best way to start your new career.

But part of me hopes you’ll make it! Have a great hike, best of luck, and please wave as you pass!

Garlic

#6

If I could make a small suggestion…

How about hiking, in 67 days, from Springer Mountain to West Virginia.

That would leave time for oh, seeing The Cliffs, or hanging out with the hiking buddies you meet above God*s Thumb. Or admiring that girl sleeping caged up next to you in The Smokies. Or spending dinner with a group of newfound hiking friends at Sunnybank Inn in Hot Springs, North Carolina. Or seeing that mama bear with two trouble-making cubs in Shenandoah. That deer walking down the Trail toward you, expecting you to step aside off the Trail, deciding to stop and see what you’re all about.

Ahh, seeing the change in your compadres, and maybe yourself.

Hiking to Katahdin and getting there when you get there. Everything else assembling afterword in a glorious and magical order you couldn’t have possibly anticipated at the start.

It could be an experience to savor for a lifetime. To relish every moment along the way. To absorb and delight in every possible experience along the way.

Datto

Datto

#7

Couldn’t agree more Datto. Hiking for even 1 day should not be a rat race. The sites, the sounds, the experiences will be what you remember the most, not that you did X number of miles per day. Slow down and enjoy.

Boquack

#8

it is something to be enjoyed, to relish, to squeeze the marrow from, to savore, to soak in, to remember as something that yoy wish you just spent more time, (i.e. slower pace) doing as one looks back at it…one of my favorite days was a 1.4 mile marathon. peace.

fishngame

#9

Dear Aphex,

Just for the record, what sort of shape are you in and what sort of workouts do you do?

Conan

Conan

#10

Exactly what datto said.

I averaged 22 miles per day because of a tight schedule I had to keep. I often had to leave towns early and tell people no when asked if I wanted to go do something fun. I was glad I made katahdin, but if I could go back, I definitely would have given myself another month.

On a side note, it is not physically possible to do 31 miles per day in southern maine unless you are a robot or something. (White mountains too). I did one 26 mile day in the whites and thought I was going to die. This was obviously well after I was in good shape. Southern maine’s trail is just so rough, that you’d have to hike from 5 am to 10 pm to get close to 30 miles.

I know it sounds cliche’, but there is so much to experience on the AT besides the miles. If you go to fast, you miss it all.

my 2 cents,

-lakewood

lakewood

#11

I find this thread rather amusing… there seems to be a bit too much negativity towards someone who obviously loves a challenge.

I met Squeaky on the PCT when he was hiking the T.C. in one year & he averaged over 30 miles a day thru the PCT, CDT, and AT. He had a BLAST doing it!

Aphex: Have fun on your speed hike & don’t let anyone deter you from doing what you want to do. I think it fairly clear that its an enormous challenge to hike the AT in that time frame - but its definitely possible if you’re in great shape and you don’t mind dealing with some pain. :slight_smile:

Happy Trails!

freebird