Realistic Distance to Hike in a Day

[Just Bill]

Also- 13 year old.
Fit or not... you never quite know.

In scouts when I planned routes we shot for a 3 route plan... high, low, medium.
Sometimes teens are best kept busy from dawn til dusk and put to bed worn and tired.
Sometimes teens are best left to find that creek to take an impromptu swim, practice building a fire, or exploring something found along the way.

A good route should have a few layers and fall back plans. Ways to cut it short or stretch it out.

Give it a 5 or 10 on day 1... there's always some fuddling around getting to the trail, playing with last minute crap at the car, or stopping for a bite that leaves you not quite rolling early as planned.
I know Ohio isn't California... but you may be a bit burned out from driving too on day 1. On Day 3... you may want a bit of time to get cleaned up, grab a meal, and get on the road at a decent time too.
Look ahead... if you do feel great and want to stretch... what could make sense on day 2.

The AT has lots of 5-7 mile increments that can be mixed and matched on the fly.
Go ahead and plan a 5/10/15 MPD set of routes. That will get you familiar with your options.
If'n you and junior are sitting there twiddling your thumbs and he's bored out of his mind- then feel free to run each other into the ground.

[MtDoraDave]

Even if I've been training here in Florida prior to a section, it does not get me ready to do long miles on day one of an AT section hike.
I usually get shutled on day one, starting a bit late, and try for 8-10 miles on day one, adding a couple miles each day on the trail. By the fifth day, I can do a 20 miler.
Doing long miles on day one is a sure way to be miserable for the next two days.

[Dennis Schaub]

Yup, that is why I posted the question. I think we have a good mid-distance plan, if we are feeling good, we can always tack on a bit more or call it quits early. Thanks for the tips!

Also- 13 year old.
Fit or not... you never quite know.

In scouts when I planned routes we shot for a 3 route plan... high, low, medium.
Sometimes teens are best kept busy from dawn til dusk and put to bed worn and tired.
Sometimes teens are best left to find that creek to take an impromptu swim, practice building a fire, or exploring something found along the way.

A good route should have a few layers and fall back plans. Ways to cut it short or stretch it out.

Give it a 5 or 10 on day 1... there's always some fuddling around getting to the trail, playing with last minute crap at the car, or stopping for a bite that leaves you not quite rolling early as planned.
I know Ohio isn't California... but you may be a bit burned out from driving too on day 1. On Day 3... you may want a bit of time to get cleaned up, grab a meal, and get on the road at a decent time too.
Look ahead... if you do feel great and want to stretch... what could make sense on day 2.

The AT has lots of 5-7 mile increments that can be mixed and matched on the fly.
Go ahead and plan a 5/10/15 MPD set of routes. That will get you familiar with your options.
If'n you and junior are sitting there twiddling your thumbs and he's bored out of his mind- then feel free to run each other into the ground.

[Mugthumper]

Also- 13 year old.
Fit or not... you never quite know.

In scouts when I planned routes we shot for a 3 route plan... high, low, medium.
Sometimes teens are best kept busy from dawn til dusk and put to bed worn and tired.
Sometimes teens are best left to find that creek to take an impromptu swim, practice building a fire, or exploring something found along the way.

A good route should have a few layers and fall back plans. Ways to cut it short or stretch it out.

Give it a 5 or 10 on day 1... there's always some fuddling around getting to the trail, playing with last minute crap at the car, or stopping for a bite that leaves you not quite rolling early as planned.
I know Ohio isn't California... but you may be a bit burned out from driving too on day 1. On Day 3... you may want a bit of time to get cleaned up, grab a meal, and get on the road at a decent time too.
Look ahead... if you do feel great and want to stretch... what could make sense on day 2.

The AT has lots of 5-7 mile increments that can be mixed and matched on the fly.
Go ahead and plan a 5/10/15 MPD set of routes. That will get you familiar with your options.
If'n you and junior are sitting there twiddling your thumbs and he's bored out of his mind- then feel free to run each other into the ground.

That there is some great advice.

I am also from Ohio and did a 3 week section last summer starting at Harper's Ferry. I'm not sure what mode of transportation you have planned, but if driving, I would consider using Amtrak. I was able to travel for less than $50 last year and it arrives before noon leaving plenty of time to hike day 1. You could start the trip better rested and it beats the stress of driving in my opinion. I'd imagine that it would not be difficult to arrange a shuttle back to Harper's Ferry at the end of your trip but it would depend on where you finish.
I would also add that I would plan to make day 1 your shortest mileage day. Between travel to the trail head, Harper's Ferry and Gathland State Park (if you do plan on staying on Crampton Gap Shelter), there is a lot of history to see, read and explore in the first 10 miles. Also, there is 3 water spigots that I can remember in this section which can help save you time and weight on your back. Gathland State Park, Dahlgren Campground and Pen Mar Park all had spigots running when I passed through last July.

[Christoph]

Don't get too hung up on doing "miles per day". Some days you'll feel great, the trail is flat and kind, and you knock out a 25-30 mile day (my longest was 33.7). Other days, you'll feel like crap, things are sore/chaffing, sick, trail is tough going, and you "might" get 5-10. I'd look into the overall average (including days off) instead of day by day. I averaged just over 16 miles per day, only took a handful of zero days , nero's were anywhere from 5 to 10 miles, and on good days knocked 'em out of the park. Saw everything I wanted to see and made it the whole way in 132 days.

[Durwood]

+1 and +1. Just Bill and DW leave the longest threads ever...but they have it right.

[swisscross]

The OP is only going out for three days. I say crush it.
Will you be sore, sure, but you are use to the pain game.

Things to consider are start and completion times as well as daylight hours and pack weight. adjust distance according.

I myself can knock off 16 mile days during the shortest days of the year.

Reference point is that I am 50, a good 40 lbs over weight, smoker and drinker. I like to walk not camp and try to get to camp at sunset.

I see no reason why you and your son cannot push the miles.

[swisscross]

The OP is only going out for three days. I say crush it.
Will you be sore, sure, but you are use to the pain game.

Things to consider are start and completion times as well as daylight hours and pack weight. adjust distance according.

I myself can knock off 16 mile days during the shortest days of the year.

Reference point is that I am 50, a good 40 lbs over weight, smoker and drinker. I like to walk not camp and try to get to camp at sunset.

I see no reason why you and your son cannot push the miles.

[tdoczi]

ive told part of this story in some detail before, but i'll say again and go more into it.

my first multinight backpacking trip was hiking north from harper's ferry. i had done plenty of dayhiking and several overnighters, including back to back 20 mile days maybe on two occasions.

i got a late start and didn't get to HF until 11am. it was june and nearly 100 degrees out.

my plan for day 1 was to make it dahlgren, 18 miles away. i finished the day at pine knob shelter, 23 miles away, at around 8pm at night.

is this because i'm some super human hiker? no, its because that trail is ridiculously easy. there is no other stretch on the AT i have ever seen that even comes close.

sure, there seems to be wisdom in the plan for short and go further if you can suggestion. but if theres car spotting and shuttles involved thats maybe not that easy if your estimates are that far off.

on that section of trail, planning 8-10 miles a day figuring you can go further if youre feeling up to it is how you end up turning a 4 day hike into a 2.5 day hike and/or just sitting around so that you don't finish crazy early.

on day 1, if you dont stop and see the historical sites or something you're probably going to be done with 10 miles by 1pm if you get anything like an early start.

[Durunner]

I came from a running background to backpacking. I actually did ultras, a bunch of 50ks, a 40 miler and one 50 miler. First trip was the local PA AT. Only hard and slow thing was the rocks. Started at noon on a Friday. Did 10 miles that day. The only full day of the trip, day 2, I did 19 miles. That was hard though. I actually got to the shelter and couldn't even get myself to move for at least half an hour. I was so beat. I'm not sure I could have even hiked a full day again that third day. Luckily, I only had 7 miles to go.

I've done numerous trips and still had not gone over 19 until this past early spring. I usually still go about 12-15 miles. Doing 8 or 9 hours on the trail is enough for me. Sometimes 10 hours, but that's rare. The spring trip, I planned on 16, 16 and 8. The terrain had be easier than expected and I didn't like the camping sites at 16. So I went up the ridge. I knew the shelter was at 22.6 miles. The last 1.5-2 miles were very slow and ugly. I did 17.5 miles the following day, which was again hard. I only did that much because I knew I'd be done if I put that long of a day in.

Just go out and enjoy yourself. At least it sounds like your terrain is easy. Sometimes, you go faster than you expected, other times slow. I was down in NC last year. One day, I planned 15 miles or so, but only made it 12. I was so frustrated to only make it that far and be behind schedule. Then, the next day was flat and very easy. By 3 PM, I already had my 12 miles in and I got to like 16 that day and finished back on schedule.

Have a plan, but also always have a fall back idea or a spring forward idea too. You just never quite know if it is a new trail, even if you are an experienced hiker. Some times, that big climb on the elevation profile isn't too bad. Other times, you didn't even notice the little bump on the profile and it seems like a massive climb.

[franky]

In scouts when I planned routes we shot for a 3 route plan... high, low, medium.

Our troop would have let the older boys set off on Friday after school and then the younger scouts would leave for the trail early Saturday morning. I guess we'd meet up wit the older scouts that evening. Depending on which section we were hiking, the AT was within an hour or so. This was New Jersey, and every year we'd hit a different section. I think I remember doing 12 miles on Saturday and then finishing it off wth 8 miles on Sunday. It was like a shock to the system! I remember using my uncle's external frame back which was a tad too big for me. Damn it was probably 1982...

[Dennis Schaub]

Hey everyone, we made it! Totally changed up the plan last minute because of rain. We did 15 miles out of Harpers Fairy, I can’t remember the shelter name, then it rained all night, didn’t get much sleep, was raining in the morning, so we hiked out 4-5 miles to the Washington Monument State Park, then went back to the hotel, cleaned up, ate and regrouped. Went to a spot further down the trail in PA the next morning and did another 11-12 miles. Overall went okay, I am definitely a hiker not a camper! Lesson learned.

[Berserker]

Hey everyone, we made it! Totally changed up the plan last minute because of rain. We did 15 miles out of Harpers Fairy, I can’t remember the shelter name, then it rained all night, didn’t get much sleep, was raining in the morning, so we hiked out 4-5 miles to the Washington Monument State Park, then went back to the hotel, cleaned up, ate and regrouped. Went to a spot further down the trail in PA the next morning and did another 11-12 miles. Overall went okay, I am definitely a hiker not a camper! Lesson learned.

Thanks for reporting back. Sounds like you had fun...I think.

[tdoczi]

Hey everyone, we made it! Totally changed up the plan last minute because of rain. We did 15 miles out of Harpers Fairy, I can’t remember the shelter name, then it rained all night, didn’t get much sleep, was raining in the morning, so we hiked out 4-5 miles to the Washington Monument State Park, then went back to the hotel, cleaned up, ate and regrouped. Went to a spot further down the trail in PA the next morning and did another 11-12 miles. Overall went okay, I am definitely a hiker not a camper! Lesson learned.

"harper's fairy" man, is that a funny typo.

i'm not a camper either. a good number of people find it weird that i would go backpacking but hate sitting around in the woods not doing much of anything.

how long did the 15 out of the fairy take you? i'm going to guess no more than 6 hours.

[Dennis Schaub]

"harper's fairy" man, is that a funny typo.

i'm not a camper either. a good number of people find it weird that i would go backpacking but hate sitting around in the woods not doing much of anything.

how long did the 15 out of the fairy take you? i'm going to guess no more than 6 hours.

Ha, whoops, spelling is optional right?! We left at 9 AM and we finished around 7 PM, so 10 hours-ish. We didn't rush, stopped to check out the sites, etc. I should have tracked our speed the third day, it was some pretty boring hiking, so we didn't spend a lot of time stopped. I imagine we average 1.5-2 miles per hour. Looking back on it all, I think I would much rather travel to the "highlights" hike a day or two at each, then travel to the next. I can't imagine spending a week in "the green tunnel" just logging miles for the sake of saying I did it. I'm sure that will upset many people, but it's the way I feel, especially with two young sons, two businesses, etc. I think I would rather experience the AT and other trails and other national parks in the 6 monthes it would take to hike the entirety of the AT. Just thinking out loud..

[tdoczi]

Ha, whoops, spelling is optional right?! We left at 9 AM and we finished around 7 PM, so 10 hours-ish. We didn't rush, stopped to check out the sites, etc. I should have tracked our speed the third day, it was some pretty boring hiking, so we didn't spend a lot of time stopped. I imagine we average 1.5-2 miles per hour. Looking back on it all, I think I would much rather travel to the "highlights" hike a day or two at each, then travel to the next. I can't imagine spending a week in "the green tunnel" just logging miles for the sake of saying I did it. I'm sure that will upset many people, but it's the way I feel, especially with two young sons, two businesses, etc. I think I would rather experience the AT and other trails and other national parks in the 6 months it would take to hike the entirety of the AT. Just thinking out loud..

i have thoughts like that regularly, but at this point i'm so close to done stopping would be weird.

what makes the "green tunnel" areas for me more interesting is hiking them in big chunks. theres some sort of satisfaction i find from truly traveling by foot, covering over a hundred miles, really getting from point A to some far away point B just on your two legs. its an experience of it's own kind, even if the literal hike is on the boring side.

some of my least favorite hikes have been spending 2 or 3 days hiking somewhere nondescript and not being at it long enough to feel like i actually left the place i started in. at some point i mostly stopped doing hikes like that. it meant skipping to somewhere more interesting if was only looking to hike for 3 or 4 days but it makes it seem more worthwhile somehow.

[FreeGoldRush]

Ha, whoops, spelling is optional right?! We left at 9 AM and we finished around 7 PM, so 10 hours-ish. We didn't rush, stopped to check out the sites, etc. I should have tracked our speed the third day, it was some pretty boring hiking, so we didn't spend a lot of time stopped. I imagine we average 1.5-2 miles per hour. Looking back on it all, I think I would much rather travel to the "highlights" hike a day or two at each, then travel to the next. I can't imagine spending a week in "the green tunnel" just logging miles for the sake of saying I did it. I'm sure that will upset many people, but it's the way I feel, especially with two young sons, two businesses, etc. I think I would rather experience the AT and other trails and other national parks in the 6 monthes it would take to hike the entirety of the AT. Just thinking out loud..

I also hike with my 13 year old son. Goal setting and involving him in the plan is important, otherwise boredom sets in fast. I enjoy the big miles and physical challenge. Keeping the mind occupied takes discipline. Seeing only the highlights is one way to keep the goals simple and avoid the boredom factor, but you never really feel like you are in the wild in those areas. They are frequented by day hikers that parked their car not far away. There's something about that kind of hiking that feels more like being a spectator than a participant.

[Dennis Schaub]

I also hike with my 13 year old son. Goal setting and involving him in the plan is important, otherwise boredom sets in fast. I enjoy the big miles and physical challenge. Keeping the mind occupied takes discipline. Seeing only the highlights is one way to keep the goals simple and avoid the boredom factor, but you never really feel like you are in the wild in those areas. They are frequented by day hikers that parked their car not far away. There's something about that kind of hiking that feels more like being a spectator than a participant.

I agree. Nothing against day hikers, but it kinda steals your thunder when you are on a multi-day hike seeing them. It's all good though, I don't want to come off as too negative.

[DavidNH]

this question really can't be answered without knowing what part of the AT you plan to hike and thus what the terrain will be like. In Shenandoha National Park 15-20 mpd is realistic. In the white mountains that would be a death march. It also depends on what kind of shape you are in, your hiking experience, age of child etc. do NOT use thru hiker's mileage as a guide. They are in way better shape cause they are hiking so long.

[shelb]

this question really can't be answered without knowing what part of the AT you plan to hike and thus what the terrain will be like. In Shenandoha National Park 15-20 mpd is realistic. In the white mountains that would be a death march. It also depends on what kind of shape you are in, your hiking experience, age of child etc. do NOT use thru hiker's mileage as a guide. They are in way better shape cause they are hiking so long.

So True! And, the OP followed that! Dennis Schaub, Harpers Ferry to PenMar was my first AT hike - and had my 10 and 12 year olds sons with me! Our next hike was to complete SNP - from Rockfish Gap to Front Royal. I highly recommend that one with kids - got to give them a "treat" every couple of days (burger at Big Meadows, breakfast at Skyland, shake at Elkwallow Gap...) lol