[pct-l] Hiking Pace

[Eric Lee]

Joe wrote:
>
I am wondering if as a newbie hiker is a steady pace of 2 to 2.5 MPH is a reasonable expectation.
>

"Hiking pace" isn't a metric that people use much because it depends a lot on how you measure it.  Are you talking about just your walking time, or do you include rest breaks as well?  The 30-second stops to take pictures?  How about the 1 hour break for lunch?

Speaking for myself as an experienced (but not terribly athletic) long-distance hiker, here's my typical pace.  My top speed with a pack is about 4 mph, and I can maintain that for up to 2 hours without stopping at all but then I'm pretty fried and need to dial it way back.  My normal all-day cruising speed is more like 3 mph when actually walking.  However, I'm often stopping for a few moments here and there to admire a view, take a picture, get water, dig a snack out of my pack, etc. and if you include all of those moments when I'm not walking I probably average more like 2.5 mph.  Then I usually take a couple of largeish rest breaks during the day and if you include those two my average drops to 2 mph or a little under.  A typical day for me is hiking around 21-25 miles per day and taking around 11-13 hours to do it from start to finish, depending.  I think I'm pretty average among experienced PCT hikers.

It's easier to just talk in terms of total miles per day.  For a newbie hiker who's physically fit (i.e. you regularly run, or bike, or work out in the gym, or whatever, and you're not overweight), you can probably plan to make 15 miles a day without killing yourself at first, and then work up to 20-ish as you get your hiking legs.  If you're not in terribly good shape, plan for less.  Of course you could push yourself harder than that but it won't be fun at first.  My very first long-distance section hike was 75 miles in 5 days as an overweight and mostly out-of-shape newbie, and after doing 14 miles the first day I thought I was going to die.  Seriously, I was so nauseous I couldn't even eat the dinner I cooked; I dug a hole in the ground and buried it.  It got a lot better by the couple of days, though, and when I got to the end I knew I was bitten hard by the long-distance hiking bug. 

The best way to figure out your personal hiking pace is to get out and hike all day and see how far you get.  That's a great sanity check on what you think (hope?  wish?) you might be able to do.  If you don't live near lengthy hiking trails you can still walk loops around a park or around a city block or what have you.  Just walk and see what happens.  Walking on flat concrete obviously isn't the same as hiking the PCT (it's easier in some ways but much harder in others) but it'll at least give you a rough idea of what you're in for.

Also, don't take Craig's planner too literally.  As Eisenhower said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."  Go ahead and use the planner but remember that your mileage will get altered by how you feel on a particular day, or your need to get to the next water source, or your desire to cut your day short and camp at a water source, or the weather, or any number of things.  The planner will help you understand the general shape of things but the details will necessarily remain fluid.

Finally, don't forget to budget for zero days.  Especially for a newbie, they're hugely important to let your body heal up.

Eric