I’m trying to figure out how far a person could reasonably walk in a day-- it’s for some archaeology work on ancient migrations.
Stipulations:
– The person is in reasonably good shape, but not an athlete
– The person is carrying a pack
– Terrain is flat
– The person needs to be able to repeat this day after day after day-- no pushing themselves to the point where they can’t do it again the next day
I’m sure some group or other has put a lot of work into figuring this one out before, but I’m blanking on who or what exactly it would be.
You are basically describing the same thing as long distance backpacking. There is a lot of information and data on that. The answer varies a lot of course based on terrain and fitness level but there is a rough formula for it. It is called Naismith’s Rule which says “Allow 1 hour for every 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) forward, plus 1 hour for every 600 metres (2,000 ft) of ascent.”
What that translates to in practice is that a fit person can consistently hike about 16 miles per day carrying a load as long as the terrain isn’t very extreme. A reasonable range would be about 10 - 18 miles for consistent hiking. That is assuming that walking towards a goal is their major activity and food and water are readily available and not too time-consuming to collect.
Here’s a guy who walked across America. He said he made 15-30 miles a day. Of course, I’m sure he stayed on roads, paths or trails, which you ancient migrants wouldn’t have.
According to this timeline, the Lewis & Clark expedition covered roughly 640 miles in the first seven weeks.Ten miles a day. Of course, they were supposed to be taking notes along the way.
In good weather, with terrain like short grasses or maybe a dry riverbed, I’d say 10-15 miles a day would be reasonable.
When I was in Boy Scouts, one of the requirements for the hiking merit badge was a 20-mile hike. I did this together with my mom, and while we were tired at the end, it wasn’t epic or anything, and I’m sure we could have repeated the next day. To be fair, this was on urban sidewalks and pedestrian paths, and we weren’t carrying packs.
On trails, hiking 30 miles per day with a 30lb pack is not difficult for a fit & experienced hiker. Cross-country makes things much slower, even on easy terrain like tundra, but I think the estimates above are a little low for fit adults on easy terrain who are essentially doing nothing but walking for ~12 hours per day: I’d say 15-20 miles per day.
But if you’re talking about ancient migrations, presumably you have to factor in children, foraging for food, finding shelter etc., these could halve those numbers even on easy terrain. And bear in mind that “flat” is not the only criterion for easy walking terrain.
On the other hand, fit adults are capable of incredible efforts in extremis - research, for example, what SAS soldiers have done.
But backpacking (with a stove, quick-cooking food, and modern tent) gives a lot more time for walking than stone-age movement, where making a shelter, cooking food, and most importantly finding food, all take up a lot more time and energy.
I suppose an established twice-a-year seasonal migration could be pretty efficient; particularly if non-perishable food could be accumulated ahead of time (as preserved food or as on-the-hoof). But still not as easy as modern backpacking.
And some hunter-gatherer group just wandering around without a clear goal or endpoint? I wouldn’t think they’d go very far at all per day on average.
But I think the OP is right that someone has thought about this in a historical context. Why not start asking paleo-anthropologists?
Fast hikers have done the AT at an average of around 40 miles a day. The AT is over 2000 miles long. That is with a pack, supported runners can do it a bit faster.
I think that when you get into the realm of “fast hiking”, you’re talking athletes, or at least, extraordinarily fit people. Then again, the AT is almost exactly the opposite of the route you’d choose if you were migrating – in many places, it goes out of its way to climb every eminence possible, by the steepest route possible.
A bit of browsing on the internet says that ancient armies might do 5-10 miles/day, with the limitation being the need to forage. If supplies were available, then 20 miles per day was not unreasonable.
What is the data for wagon trains going across the country? I think this would be of some relevance to the OP. (My understanding is that many of the people walked).
But certainly single backpackers would provide excessive numbers for the OP-children and the elderly would be going along and wouldn’t be traveling very fast and you have to stop to forage…
When my son was in OUtward Bound they did 37 miles in one day, with backpacks. This was one of the last days of a 21-day excursion, so they were in pretty good shape. But it was also at an altitude of 11,000+ feet. And then again, they were 17-21 years old.
Yeah, I was thinking of my own experience with that 20-mile hike in Boy Scouts. Our entire troop did it together, so it was a dozen boys from 11-16 years old, along with our Scoutmaster. I think we left at 7 a.m., took a few breaks along the way, and we were back home by 3 p.m. or thereabouts. We were all carrying (fairly light) backpacks – snacks, water, lunch – and we were on roads or sidewalks the entire way.
I took a nap upon getting home from the hike, and I imagine I had a blister or two, but there probably wasn’t any reason I couldn’t have done that again the next day, if need be.
There are many very long hikes in the US that people do regularly. The Appalachian Trail is probably the most common one. You can probably find many references to how long it will take a seasoned or novice hiker to complete.
I am thinking ancient migrations went a lot slower than a backpacker these days would be able to do.
[ul]
[li]Ancient migrations did not have canned reliable food to open up when ever wanted, they had to pause to hunt game and gather whatever. Then it would have to be cooked.[/li]
[li]Ancient groups had small children and the elders to bring along. This would slow them considerable.[/li]
[li]Ancient groups had to be aware of predators hunting them, that would bring about some caution.[/li][/ul]
Plus other reasons. I’ll bet they went slower than we think.
My personal best, when I was in very fit condition and 40 years younger than I am at present, I walked 20 miles in one day with a 70 pound pack on my back. The group I was with elected to stay put the next day and rest up. I did experience some soreness and strained feeling in my feet and legs the next day, but it was gone by the day following. The terrain had been mostly flat on trails in good to excellent condition, moderate temperatures.
I don’t think I could have maintained that pace/weight “day after day” without suffering some sort of physical stress injury. 10-15 seems more reasonable to me. Less than that if they’re traveling with the old, the very young, have to forage for food…
The hardest hiking I ever did required a bit more than 2 hours to cover a mere 1/3 of a mile, specifically, the “Potholes” trail at Devil’s Lake, Wisconsin. Carried very little with me, mostly just two bottles of water and a hat.
I don’t know the substantive answer (how far), but my guess for who put a lot of work into figuring it out would be a European army general staff in the late 19th or early 20th Century. Probably the Germans.
They had concrete reasons for wanting to know how far an average solider, and thus an army, could march in a day under pretty much exactly your stipulations. Their war plans (especially those planning to invade, hence my German guess) were dependent on how fast an army could advance beyond the railhead.
From all I’ve read in various places, 20 miles a day is reasonable, 30 is doable, 40 is a forced march which can’t be repeated indefinitely or not followed up with rest except in a dire emergency…
I know running is different from walking but I was curious what the record is for distance covered in a day. Turns out there is something called a 24-hour marathon where instead of a set distance runners see how far they can get in 24 hours.
The record is something like 188 miles.