# How far can a person walk in a day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247 "2016-08-09T15:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/41 "2016-08-10T17:50:13Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > A net 3 mph pace is absolutely no problem. It really depends on what you mean by off trail. Here in the US Northeast there’s no way you can go 3 MPH bushwacking in the mountains. On average you’ll do about 1 MPH, at worst you might be going .25 MPH. I think you guys are talking past each other because you the experience is vastly different depending on the terrain. There is no blanket statement about how far an average hiker can go in a day off trail. As to the AT @ 40 miles per day, those folks are way on the extreme edge. Average time to hike the AT is 5 to 7 months, so much closer to 10-12 miles per day on average. And that includes several rest days and short mileage days due to weather, injury, or recovery. It can be done, but not by someone _in reasonably good shape, but not an athlete_ as mentioned in the OP. Not to mention that 80% of those who start the AT each year drop out. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/42 "2016-08-10T18:55:14Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If you think the PCT and AT are not trails (the clue is in the name) then you don’t understand the difference between on-trail and cross country hiking. Some parts are trails. But many parts are cross country, marked by blazes. Just because the whole system is called a "trail’ it doesnt mean that most of it is a well trodden easy to hike trail. And of course, you can follow game trails in areas with no introduced trails. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/43 "2016-08-10T20:39:53Z")
I’ll agree, it depends on the terrain. In some cases, one might find game trails that are the equivalent of a footpath; in other cases dense bush is almost impassable. There’s a reason canoes were the preferred travel method in the wilds of northern Canada. And I’ll second those who say camping and hunting will slow you down. The natives of North America could for example, pack a few days supplies (and forgo eating if necessary) and move very fast when they knew the terrain and had a destination in mind, particularly a war party, all men. (Read something like Last of the Mohicans). However, as a tribal migration, they would move a lot slower. So the real question is, what did they eat and how much did they need to accumulate and carry? Pemmican is dried smoked meat mixed with dried berries. It was a native food specifically designed to be taken on longer trips (or stored for winter). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/44 "2016-08-10T20:48:52Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Pemmican is dried smoked meat mixed with dried berries. It was a native food specifically designed to be taken on longer trips (or stored for winter). The berries are optional, but the fat isnt. > **[Pemmican](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemmican)** > > Pemmican (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigenous cuisine in certain parts of North America and it is still prepared today. > The name comes from the Cree word ᐱᒦᐦᑳᓐ (pimîhkân), which is derived from the word ᐱᒥᕀ (pimî), 'fat, grease'. The Lakota (or Sioux) word is wasná, originally meaning 'grease derive... Oddly I know of no-one who sells real pemmican commercially, unlike the hundreds of jerky sales. I saw it once at a gunshow. My Dad sez it was best for cold weather trekking. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/45 "2016-08-10T22:28:22Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I’ll agree, it depends on the terrain. In some cases, one might find game trails that are the equivalent of a footpath; in other cases dense bush is almost impassable. There’s a reason canoes were the preferred travel method in the wilds of northern Canada. In many cases, wilderness would be surprisingly open, because the ground vegetation was choked out by trees. Some places would be pretty thick - but you wouldn’t travel through them casually. Certainly on flat terrain, 3 mph isn’t unrealistic. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/46 "2016-08-10T22:30:57Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > In many cases, wilderness would be surprisingly open, because the ground vegetation was choked out by trees. Some places would be pretty thick - but you wouldn’t travel through them casually. Certainly on flat terrain, 3 mph isn’t unrealistic. I’ll give you that terrain is critical. I have seen willows so thick that progress was impossible. And Oak Climax forests where it was a breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/47 "2016-08-10T22:34:59Z")
Cue music… I’m happy when I’m hiking, pack upon my back. I’m happy when I’m hiking, off the beaten track. Out in the open country, that’s the place for me With a true Scouting friend to the journeys end, Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty miles a day. Proof again I guess that the Girl/Boy Scouts lie in their music. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/48 "2016-08-11T09:22:43Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Cue music… > > I’m happy when I’m hiking, pack upon my back. > I’m happy when I’m hiking, off the beaten track. > Out in the open country, that’s the place for me > With a true Scouting friend to the journeys end, > Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty miles a day. > > Proof again I guess that the Girl/Boy Scouts lie in their music. I’ve done 50 in a day, but I sure as shit wasn’t rolling onto my feet to do it again the next day. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/49 "2016-08-11T15:07:49Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > 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). Wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail traveled about 20 miles per day. There is a landmark called [“The Tooth of Time”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_of_Time) which meant you were seven days from the end of the journey (Santa Fe). It’s about 130 miles. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/50 "2016-08-11T15:15:09Z")
In [Walden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden), Thoreau wrote: > [@](#): > > One says to me, “I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see the country.” But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend, Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a day’s wages. I remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time tomorrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you. So Thoreau’s somewhat optimistic answer is 30 miles. He claims that he has walked 30 miles a day for an entire week, and he wasn’t an athlete. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/51 "2016-08-11T15:21:20Z")
I’m not in great shape, over 25 lbs overweight, over 55 and have never jogged or did strenuous exercise or labor my entire life. I walked about 12 miles one day in 90 degree heat in Washington DC three summers ago. The day lasted about 14 hours and I stopped to eat ice cream, junk food from street vendors and did the tourist thing. Walking is pretty easy. My feet did hurt and couldn’t do it the next day, so I guess this disqualifies my answer. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/52 "2016-08-14T20:49:29Z")
> **[Here's What Happens To Your Body When You Hike The Appalachian Trail](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/robertmoor/heres-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-hike-the-appalachia)** > > After trekking 2,000 miles of mountainous terrain on foot, I transformed physically and spiritually, but that didn't mean I wanted to totally erase my old self. This article about walking the Appalachian Trail makes long-distance hiking sound about as healthy as being a galley slave. > [@](#): > > In some sense, I have never been healthier than when I was hiking the AT. But it was a strange sort of fitness, because I was fit for only a single task: walking. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247/53 "2016-08-14T23:09:13Z")
This site may be of interest: [http://orbis.stanford.edu/](http://orbis.stanford.edu/) (They use 30km ~ 18 miles for foot traffic) Brian [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-can-a-person-walk-in-a-day/762247.md?page=2)