What's the furthest you've hiked?

[herr_oberst]

Like a lot of people in these quarantine-ee times, getting out of the damn house means just walking. I've done quite a few trail hikes of up to like 12 miles in my day, and lately, in order to "get my steps" I'll go out about every day and do urban hikes, mostly one or two miles but I've gone as far as 8.

Got me to thinking about what it means to take long, long LONG hikes. The BSA hiking merit badge required 5, 10, 15 and 20 mile hikes; but I'd be willing to wager some of you military folks (thanks for your service!) and super outdoorsy types have been on some real adventures, and I'd love to hear your stories!

[red-beard]

In a day, probably 15 miles. We did a 50 mile, multi-day hike in the BSA. Most of the hikes were shorter, since they involved elevation gain in the Adirondaks. (Note, I'm spelling this the way it was intended, so screw you web-browser...see Adirondak Loj).

I've also done 50 miles afloat (canoes) with lots of portages many times.

[wildthing]

30,000 steps with three kids (13, 9 and 5) in Yosemite. I think that's about 10-11 miles.

[TimT]

Long Trail and Part of Appalachian trail though Vermont, and New Hampshire

[Rot 911]

I can only speak for my time in the 82nd Airborne. We did plenty of 10 to 12 mile road marches with full battle rattle. Out in the field you would do the occasional 20 mile hike. And many was the time you would make a jump into one of the drop zones, and depending on which one, road march 15-20 miles back to garrison.

[strupgolf]

I hiked to the fridge last night.

[Norm K]

As a Marine infantryman, far.

Taking elevation changes into account, considerably farther,

_

[ckelly78z]

My wife, and I (daughter usually comes with us) have been trying to hit up a metropark, or a wildlife conservation area at least once a week so far this Winter for a 1-3 mile hike...I think it brightens the spirits on a dreary, overcast 30* day.

My longest would probably be some of the day hikes we did near Gatlinburg Tenn in the 10-15 mile range. It felt good to relax with a cold beverage afterwards !

[recycled sixtie]

Back when I was 64 I did the Wainwrights coast to coast in the UK. Some days I hiked nine miles and the occasional day was twenty two. Ten years later my daily walks are about an hour long or three miles. Walking is probably one of the best forms of exercise there is.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by Norm K

As a Marine infantryman, far.

Taking elevation changes into account, considerably farther,

_

S/F.

15 miles in 5 hours with 100lbs of gear. Felt bad for the dude with the SAW.

[Baz]

Great thread, Herr Oberst!

And to our military folks, yes.....thanks so much for your service!

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

S/F.

15 miles in 5 hours with 100lbs of gear. Felt bad for the dude with the SAW.

SAW? Try an M60.

_

[unclebilly]

Chilcoot Trail - 33 miles
Athabasca Pass - 63 miles (30 in one day with a pack)
West Coat Trail - 47 miles

Lots of others but those are notable.

And today I find myself unable to get out of bed to piss without help... surgeon says I won’t have issues hiking again once I’m healed up.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Back when I was 64 I did the Wainwrights coast to coast in the UK. Some days I hiked nine miles and the occasional day was twenty two. Ten years later my daily walks are about an hour long or three miles. Walking is probably one of the best forms of exercise there is.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

S/F.

15 miles in 5 hours with 100lbs of gear. Felt bad for the dude with the SAW.

Hats are off to both of you!

[fred cook]

When I was in SeaBee boot camp in Gulfport we took one 20 miler while carrying our M14 rifles at port arms! By the time we got back our arms were a lot more tired than our legs!

[RWebb]

80 or 120 in Yosemite, depending on if a stopover counts

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Hats are off to both of you!

Not to me, but thank you.

We had a girl in our TBS company who weighed 105lbs and did it.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by RWebb

80 or 120 in Yosemite, depending on if a stopover counts

Hell yeah, stopovers count! I mean if you've ever hiked the Continental Divide or the Appalachian Trail, even in segments over a period of time that absolutely counts, and it's absolutely noteworthy. I know I'd be proud to accomplish a 120 mile hike with stopovers.

[Cooper911SC]

In one day back packing on mixed terrain with elevation gain 12-13 miles. Exhausting!
Many many back packing trips with my Scout Troop.

I’ve enjoyed a couple of longer back packing trips from Tuolumne Meadows down to Yosemite Valley.
Once via Vogelsang Pass ~33 miles and once via the Sunrise trail with a stop to “hike”
the cables up the backside of Half dome. ~35 miles.
These trips were both over 5 days.

The Sunrise trail trip got exciting when we peaked on top of Half dome and saw what looked like A LOT of smoke coming from Yosemite valley! My Dad turned on his ham radio and discovered there had been a significant rockslide in the valley that morning. The “smoke” was massive granite dust!

We descended Half dome back to Little Yosemite and were told by park rangers we would have to hike around to Glaicer Point and then down to the Valley floor! This would have added a solid day and a half to our trip!
In the end they started letting small groups hike down the Mist trail. It looked like a moon scape as all of the granite dust covered everything. Very quiet on the trail without all of the normal summer tourist traffic too. In the impact zone the trees were laid down like match sticks. Couple of minor out buildings were crushed. Maybe some cars.

My favorite long distance hike was the Grand Canyon rim to rim. ~24 miles
I had started dating a girl and things were going well, maybe 3 months into relationship. I knew she was the one.

I got an offer to join a group of hikers who had gotten a permit/reservation for 2 years out for a rim to rim hike with a stay at Phantom Ranch (bottom) overnight.
I asked Nicole if she wanted to do a Grand Canyon hike in 2 years... she said yes and was kind of surprised I wanted to plan something so far out...

It was a great hike. Our group did the trip opposite of how many do it. We started on the North rim and hiked to the South. The day 1 downhill was a killer for me!!
Day 2 is all up hill. That trip humbled me when I was in my 20’s. Never been so sore!!
Could definitely relate to seeing the “80 YO guy” hobbling out of a grocery store with a cane. LOL

Oh ya, Nicole and I will celebrate 16 years together this May.

The most humbling part of the rim to rim trip was about an hour after we started down we encountered a runner coming up. This was at 7am. He was wearing a tank top, jogging shorts and carrying 2 liters of water. Had started running from the South rim in the early AM! He passed our group again around noon. He was a marathoner and training by running rim to rim to rim!

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Hats are off to both of you!

Herr oberst I will give you some brief details of Wainwrights coast to coast. It is 191 miles from St Bees on the west coast to Robin Hoods Bay on the east coast of UK. I travelled to the UK four times to do it. I visited my mother while I was over in the UK. On two of the four legs I carried a backpack and one leg camped in a tent. The rest of the time I did bed and breakfast and had my backpack sent ahead to my destination by Packhorse which was a van. So I had to arrive at my destination in order to meet up with my backpack each day.

I highly recommend this trail once the covid is over. I still have the software chip that I used in my Garmin for navigation. Occasionally got lost before I got the Garmin and software. I stuck mainly to the roads though. Wainwrights coast to coast can also be cycled which of course would be a lot quicker.

Meeting people along the trail is no problem and you can walk as far as you want with them. I likely will not do it again as the wife is not willing to do long distance walks.
If you google wainwrights coast to coast there is loads of info on hikers experiences doing it. If anybody wants to do it I can give tips on b and b's. You are welcome to use my software chip for the hike. It fits a Garmin Oregon 450t hand held nav computer. I have to say it was one of the best experiences of my life. Blisters were common though. Some rain but had good rainwear.

Cheers, Guy.