Miles per day?

[fredmugs]

Oh and I plan on hiking sun up to sun down with a few reasonable breaks in between

I usually do the same. My moving pace is usually 2.5 MPH and at the end of the day, after adding in breaks, I usually average 2.25 MPH. What I usually do when I plan a hike it take the number of daylight hours - 1 and multiply it by 2 MPH. That gives me plenty of wiggle room for longer breaks, etc.

[backtrack213]

I section hiked PA/NJ border to the MA/VT border 15 days with a total of 305 miles I think. I averaged 20 miles a day basically. I'm pretty fit I go to the gym I trail run sometimes so if your joints can handle the terrain you should be able to do pretty decent miles.

[rafe]

Jealous of all you fast hikers. Best I could ever do was 15 miles/day sustained, and that was in the mid-Atlantic region, between eastern PA and southern VA, and in the Hundred Mile Wilderness. Springer to Pearisburg (ages ago) I averaged only 11 miles/day but that did include zeros -- too many of them, alas. Even on the easy stuff, I figured about 1.7 or 1.8 miles/hour, including breaks. So that would give me 17, 18 miles for a 10-hour hiking day. North of Glencliff, I'd never plan for more than 10, 12 miles a day (except for the HMW.)

Thing is, even at 11 miles/day, I was mostly holding my own with the starting horde at Springer. Most folks were moving slowly those first few days and first couple of weeks.

Zeros and nearos play havoc with your overall progress. Best strategy for me was to keep them to a minimum.

[AlyontheAT2016]

I'm a fast hiker (avg 3 mph -- maybe because of my long skinny legs) but I also live in Florida. I'm planning on keeping my first 5 days on the trail under 9 miles just so I don't hurt myself thinking I've got this. Will probably end up even less than that due to mountains

It's important to know what you're capable of though. I spent a week last August up in WNC and after hiking the Black Mountain Crest and other numerous day hikes in the area (Linville Gorge and Shortoff Mt were my favorite and I highly recommend them), it took about 3 days for me to get my hiking legs--which for me means I was able to climb a few mountains and still want to keep hiking even though we had an hour of daylight left.

The main thing is (I think) to start slow and easy. It's not a race. Maine is 2190 miles away and you have 6 months to get there if you start before May.

Just an avid dayhiker's 2 cents.

[QiWiz]

In 2011 at age 56 I averaged 13.5 mi/day from Amicalola to Hot Springs, including 3 half-days with less mileage (no zeroes). I am not in great shape but carry a fairly light pack. I would think you would do better than that based on your description of fitness.

[colorado_rob]

Mapman's stats are very cool, but keep in mind those stats include what I call "shelter rats", a good percentage of AT hikers down south. They get up kinda early and race to the next shelter quitting very early, noon-1pm even, and hang out there all afternoon and hence wind up doing short days, every day, but they get their shelter space.

Which leads to one question: Are you planning on tenting a lot or will you tend towards shelters? If shelters, your milage gets more restricted. I was a tenter, almost exclusively, thus had much more "freedom" as to my daily mileage.

[Drybones]

You don't have to walk fast, you just have to walk, I find that 9 hours of moderate walking will give me 20 miles with a reasonable morning, afternoon, and lunch time stop, regardless of the terrain (which I don't understand) this seems to work for me.

[Traveler]

You don't have to walk fast, you just have to walk, I find that 9 hours of moderate walking will give me 20 miles with a reasonable morning, afternoon, and lunch time stop, regardless of the terrain (which I don't understand) this seems to work for me.

This. If I really push it, I can maintain a 3.5 mph pace on variable terrain these days, which delivers fast miles but I cannot maintain a pace like that for more than a day or two. Conversely, I can easily maintain a 1.8 mph pace (which includes breaks/photos) that seems slow, but at 10 hours delivers nearly 20 miles and is a sustainable pace for many days.

[dreamweaver21]

This is my trip from Springer to Newfound Gap 2 years ago having never long distance hiked before. I am in my 30s with a desk job but I work out 4-6 days a week and always have since high school. Anything under 10 miles involved a town trip or getting a ride or something besides hiking that day.

Day	Start Location	Stop Location	Start Time	Stop Time	Miles from Springer	Miles Hiked	Hours hiked
1	Springer Mtn	Gooch Shelter	10:30	17:30	15.8	15.8	7:00
2	Gooch Shelter	Baggs Creek Gap	8:15	19:00	35.9	20.1	10:45
3	Baggs Creek Gap	Cheese Factory Site	8:15	18:00	56.6	20.7	9:45
4	Cheese Factory Site	Dicks Creek Gap	7:45	14:30	69.6	13	6:45
5	Dicks Creek Gap	Standing Indian Shelter	9:00	18:00	86.3	16.7	9:00
6	Standing Indian Shelter	Rock Gap Shelter	8:00	17:00	106	19.7	9:00
7	Rock Gap Shelter	Winding Stair Gap	8:00	11:00	109.8	3.8	3:00
8	Winding Stair Gap	Wayah Shelter	11:00	16:00	120.8	11	5:00
9	Wayah Shelter	NOC	8:00	16:00	137.1	16.3	8:00
10	NOC	Cody Gap	9:00	18:00	155.9	18.8	9:00
11	Cody Gap	Fontana Dam	8:15	12:30	164.7	8.8	4:15
12	Fontana Dam	Spence Field Shelter	9:30	19:00	182.5	17.8	9:30
13	Spence Field Shelter	Mt. Collins Shelter	7:30	18:00	205.1	22.6	10:30
14	Mt. Collins Shelter	Newfound Gap	7:30	13:00	206.8	1.7	5:30

[Another Kevin]

If you're a long distance hiker, you already know your pace and wouldn't be asking the question.

Since you're not a long distance hiker, plan on 8-12 miles a day out of the gate and let your body tell you when you're ready for more. Even really good athletes sometimes find that long distance hiking simply works the body differently from the training that they've been doing, so have to start slow anyway. Remember that if you take weekly zeroes, you can finish the trail in six months averaging 14 miles/day on the days that you do hike. Having a week or two of short days isn't going to put you insurmountably far behind your time.

Beware: I'm NOT a long-distance hiker. The longest hike I've attempted was 138 miles. I planned 8-10 mile days on that hike, but found that the going was easier than I expected. 12-15 was a comfortable rhythm. Nevertheless, the first couple of days, I consciously held back, because I know that a pace that's comfortable for a day or two will not be comfortable for a week or more. I would take a longer lunch break, do more photography, stop someplace nice and just read, and so on.

I'm kind of old (60) and I'm surely no athlete. Georgia is harder than where I was hiking, so if I were to do that section, I'd still plan the 8-12. Since I've done hikes of the same length over terrain that's just as difficult, I'm confident that I would find my rhythm down South too.

[booney_1]

When planning section hikes with older boy scouts (upper teens), who are generally in shape...a good number is 1 to 1.5 miles per hour on the AT.

To do better you have to be in hiking shape and carrying a light load. Hiking sunrise to sunset is a lot of hiking. Most groups I've hiked with are ready to call it a day at 4:30 or so.

[Hikingjim]

Lots of good info here. I would say your most important thing is to not make your schedule too rigid. Give yourself some flexibility
A hike where you're always on the clock or trying to "get in big miles" can be terrible.
Just hit the trail and enjoy.

If you're in good shape and don't overload your pack, then you'll do a minimum of 10 miles (that would take about 5-6 hours at most in that area.....). And then just carry on as you like. So no one can really say if you'll do 10 or 20 miles.

On another note, going to springer in mid-april is an interesting choice. Very busy still.

[Stitches]

I'm section hiking GA from Springer to Blue Ridge and plan to finish in 8 days, with one nero day to meet up with my resupply guy at Lake Winfield Scott and do a night of "car camping"( one mile off AT on Jarrard Gap Trail. Showers and bathrooms and water... bacon, eggs, pancakes, and perked coffee.... Ah....) I live in N. GA and have been training weekends on the AT with a full pack, mostly between Springer and Hogpen Gap. !0-14 miles a day is comfortable for me. I don't lift weights, except for my pack, but I walk briskly 5-6 miles per day.

[RockDoc]

You should know this sort of thing before you go hiking.

[rafe]

You should know this sort of thing before you go hiking.

Got to agree. I supposed it's a fair question but seriously, ask a ten strangers this question and you'll get twelve answers. Statistics don't dictate outcomes, they simply reflect prior outcomes. So who are you gonna believe? I suppose the intelligent conclusion is: there's no way to know 'till you've done it. We don't know you, we don't know your level of fitness, experience, preparedness, or your familiarity or comfort level with terrain such as you'll find on the AT.

[MuddyWaters]

You should know this sort of thing before you go hiking.

The good thing is that mountain crossings is 3 days / 30 mi from springer for most newbs, and by the time they get there, theve got it figured out for the next leg to usually hiawassee. So in reality....just start walking with 3 days food works for most.

[lonehiker]

The good thing is that mountain crossings is 3 days / 30 mi from springer for most newbs, and by the time they get there, theve got it figured out for the next leg to usually hiawassee. So in reality....just start walking with 3 days food works for most.

We could muddy up the waters a bit here by stating that you only need 2 days of food for a 3 day trip...

[MuddyWaters]

We could muddy up the waters a bit here by stating that you only need 2 days of food for a 3 day trip...

I call it 2 .5. But even if it takes a snails snail 4 days, they arent going to starve with 3. Days food.

[Datto]

[QUOTE=garminator;2051720]I'll be doing a section hike from Springer starting mid April and was wondering what the average mile per day works out to./QUOTE]

My on-line northbound AT thru-hike journal has daily mileage for my thru-hike and I started on April 10th. I was in pretty good physical shape starting my thru-hike and my backpack weighed 37 lbs with food and water when I weighed it at the Amicalola Visitors Center. I got my tral legs in Virginia (trail legs to me meaning I could sustain uphills at a decent pace without regularly stopping to catch my breath).

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=162040

Note the treadway smoothness was also be a factor in my hiking speed as well as the weather and if I had blisters (feet/hips/shoulders) or not. Also, the Georgia/North Carolina section was the 2nd toughest part of my AT thru-hike -- New Hampshire/Maine being the toughest.


Datto

[greentick]

1. Dude is from south florida, no elevation. Going to very nearly constant elevation change up or down.

2. Running has minimal comparison to rucking. IE good running fitness does not translate into being able to hike with a pack.

OP, plan in extra time and if you find you are knocking it out easily then either come home early, sleep in/stop hiking earlier and chill out in camp with some bourbon and enjoy being outdoors.