How many miles per hour can a person travel a day on foot?
this is my first question.
I want to know how many miles can walk a person in different terrains. The terrains are:
- Flat (Prairie)
- Snowy
- Desertic
- Boggy
If a person have a backpack with some weight... How this weight affects his speed? How much it decrease?
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I hike a lot in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and around here our 'book time' is based off of a book called the White Mountain Guide. It assumes that you will take half an hour for each horizontal mile and each 1,000 feet of elevation gain, so a 10 mile, 3,000 foot hike would take 6:30 by book time.
This number can be useful for planning purposes, but it should never be taken literally; I'm far from the fastest hiker around, but on a good day and a decent trail I could beat book time by 30%, and of course there are many who could go much quicker. On the other hand, someone not in great shape or taking things slow could easily take longer than the book predicts. So personal ability is a huge variable in that regard.
Terrain also matters considerably- on a fairly flat trail, 3 mph is a reasonable speed (50% faster than predicted!). On a particularly steep or rocky trail, you slow down considerably. There are instances where taking a longer trail with the same elevation gain will actually be faster because of the ease of navigating. Even with the fairly constrained context of trails in this one region, the variance is huge.
And then we get to weather. Rain can definitely impede progress, but snow is the big kicker- if you end up postholing through thigh-deep snow, your speed could be well below 1 mph. On the other hand, if you have good traction and you're on a solid-packed trail, you can go faster than in the warm season (especially going downhill).
Basically what I'm saying is that there are way too many variables to give you a reasonable estimate. If you set Scott Jurek (recent AT record-setter) down in Kansas on a nice day, he could probably do 60+ miles and feel good about it. Put some average person in that same area in a whiteout snowstorm and they'd probably struggle to make it from their front porch to the mailbox. There's just no way to make an estimate with massively narrowing the scope of your question.
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As a teen I took an Outward Bound winter mountaineering course in the Cascade mountains (lots of elevation change) in which I traveled 7-10 miles per day for 10 days, carrying a 70+ pound backpack (I weighed about 120# at the time) and wearing another 20 pounds in ski gear and clothing.
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It depends on training and the ability to survive the training. It also depends on the load you are carrying.
After disembarking from ships at San Carlos on East Falkland, on 21 May 1982, Royal Marines and members of the Parachute Regiment yomped (and tabbed) with their equipment across the islands, covering 56 miles (90 km) in three days carrying 80-pound (36 kg) loads.
Much more context is needed for a full reply.
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Giancarlo Ventura
The scientific answer is for you to do it and the then apply your observed progress to future events. However for planning purposes most people unloaded on flat terrain walk at about 20 minutes a mile. If you are moving for extended periods make it 25-30 as you will stop to eat and such. Keeping going without stopping is harder than people think and I often hear people say about how far/fast they can go. Its always seems too fast and they are often clearly speaking from zero experience (based on their body fat percentages).
Other factors are: climbing where 30 minutes a mile may be the best you can do, even descending steep slopes can be 20 min/mile because you have to pick your way down. Heat, humidity and fitness for the task are all factors (fitness being not just cardio and muscle conditioning, but also skin hardening on feet and areas that get chaffed). Developing a sense of pace will also allow you to maintain a constant out put hour upon hour, day to day. It does not take practicing mega miles to get there but some training is essential (body, mind, pace and nutrition) .
You asked about walking but I have personally covered 100 miles in a day in mountainous terrain using walking and running, carrying light loads (others have done it in under 15 hours, yikes). The more you practice you will develop a sense for what your pace will be. Also load carrying is a pace killer, so pack only what you really need.
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