How Fast Are We?
Post date: Jul 12, 2016 11:10:31 PM
A few folks were surprised by the fact that we hiked fourteen miles on the last day of that trip to Huckleberry lake and back. So we thought we'd explain.
We are not what you might call speed hikers. On a good day, we'll put in ten miles over the course of the day, which might be six or more hours of hiking. Of course, that includes stops for snacks, water, fording rivers, photos, rest, lunch, etc.
We often hike less than that: from five to eight miles. We start around 8 or 8:30, even 9 a.m., and usually wrap up with an hour's hiking after lunch. That means we get into camp about 2 p.m., in time for a nap, rinsing off the dust, and a little fishing, etc.
But still, how fast do we really walk?
On a good day, on a good trail on flat terrain, we might hike two miles an hour. Make us hike up a steep, rough trail at high altitude, and that could easily drop to barely more than one mph.
It's all right. We still get there.
And yes, on our last trip we hiked out 14 miles in a little over 8 hours, including stops for lunch and fording a river. That worked out to about 1.8 mph over the course of the day.
Not bad for old folks.
