[pct-l] Hiking Speed

[Brandon McGinnity]

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 4:47 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

>
> On Jan 27, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> > My question is: what are your average miles per day for the major
> > sections,
> > namely socal, the sierra, norcal, Oregon and Washington?
> >
>
> I'm a 40+ woman. I went pretty light. I took a lot of zeros and often
> I would exceed my daily goals so that I could bank miles for my last
> day coming into town. If I got that last day down to only a few
> miles, I could get BREAKFAST!!!! These are my miles not averaging in
> zeros.
>
> - So Cal to Wrightwood - Daily goal 15 miles. Easily met and
> sometimes exceeded.
> - So Cal between Wrightwood and Kennedy Meadows - Daily goal 20+
> (22-23 miles). Usually met.
> - High Sierras to Sonora Pass - Goal 15 miles (one big pass per day.)
> When the passes got smaller my daily miles went back up to close to 20.
> - Sonora Pass to Oregon - Daily goal 20+ miles. Usually exceeded it
> by 5-15 miles.
> - Oregon - Daily goal 25. Usually exceeded it, sometimes by up to 10
> miles.
> - Washington - Daily goal 25+. (Here's where I fully committed to a
> 25 mpd pace, carrying no more than enough food for that pace.) Always
> met, sometimes exceeded by no more than 5 or 6 miles.
>
> Here's how I thought about planning and miles.
>
> - Your daily goal is X miles. Let's say 20.
> - To meet that goal, you must hike no LESS than 20 miles per day.
> - If you hike less than 20 miles, you must add those miles to the
> following day or else you will end up with an extra day. So you hike
> 19 miles today, tomorrow you have to do 21. Hike only 15 and tomorrow
> you have to do 25. It can get daunting really fast, so dipping below
> your goal is extremely undesirable.
> - Adding miles is better. You don't have to add a whole 20 miles to
> subtract a day. Here's why: Hike 25 miles and your last day is only
> 15 miles long. Hike another 25 miles and now your last day is only 10
> miles long. Hike another 25 mile day and now your last day is only 5
> miles long. You can do 5 miles before breakfast, so this day has
> pretty much evaporated!
>
> What this means for planning purposes is that X miles a day is not
> the maximum you can do it's the minimum you will settle for.
>
> It also means that if you haven't put in exactly the right amount of
> food, you'll be fine! Short a day of food? (sometimes that would
> happen to me--moldy tortillas, miscalculated the mileage, whatever)
> No problem. Start tacking on the extra miles and that last day of
> starvation will vanish. You'll roll into town in time for a big
> pancake sandwich breakfast and all will be right in the universe.
>
> When I finally realized how easy it was to control my miles, the need
> for detailed planning completely evaporated.
>
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-- 
~ Moccasin