BSquared wrote:Hey, Fishmonger, thanks for chiming in. I think we're hijacking JohnCurranLadd's thread a bit here, but it's an estimate of 2 mph plus 1/2 hour for every thousand feet climbed, so for me it would take 9-10 hours of actual walking each day to make the requisite 18-20 mile days for a 10-12 day JMT trip.
-B
without kids, I usually am awake before there is enough light to do much, but that's fine for breakfast. Start walking around 7am is the norm, but I've managed to be on my way earlier (one night in '89 a bear woke me up at 4am, never got back to sleep, so we were moving before 6am).
We probably managed 3+mph in those days, up or downhill doesn't really matter that much on the Muir Trail where most grades are built for horses. I prefer to walk without stopping unless it involves a significant break, either to eat second breakfast, lunch, pm snack. Cooking the main meal comes close to the end of the day. Setting up camp around 8pm is usually the goal. In July that means there are probably 11+ hours of walking time available, allowing for 25-30 miles a day. I've done a 42 mile day once, but that included the full moon, extending hiking hours until 3am
With the kids, it's different. First off, they need a lot of sleep, much more than I do. So I wake up first, get my stuff packed as far as I can before breakfast, start making food. They wake up for a hot breakfast around 6:30am the earliest, and I don't recall them ever being ready to walk before 8am. However, if they have a goal, they can surprise you - below picture is in the Muir Pass Hut, where we arrived at 9:15pm the night before, wearing our headlights, 19.5 miles of hiking and 3300 vertical feet before that, including a 2 hour break fishing at Evolution Lake. That day we averaged about 2.5 miles/hour all the way up to the pass from the bottom of Goddard Canyon.
That was our biggest day last year, but they had the energy to pull through to the pass once they saw the hut in the last sunlight as we arrived at Wanda Lake. I could barely keep up with them after that.
They needed a lot of breaks, too. Last year we were usually sitting around just as much as we were walking. According to the GPS, our moving time was about 6-7 hours each day, with 5-7 hours of resting time (side note - I used GPS data to motivate them - $0.01 for each vertical foot gained per day - they each made a lot of cash...). The goal for this year is to shift one hour from our resting time average to moving time, which will give us an additonal 3 miles/day boost, which over the distance means saving about 4 hiking days, in return that allows us to cut back the food load, allowing for more speed, which makes it easier to walk the extra hour. I think they are starting to understand what I mean by "go slower but don't stop for the next 2 hours and you will get further down the trail."
Another thing with us is that we usually need 2-3 days to get up to our target speed. The first days are always slow, because you don't want to push too hard when the body isn't used to the constant effort it is being asked to endure. At the end of the hike we probably will be doing much longer distances as the finish line has that magic attraction the closer you get to it. I actually anticipate to do the return route on the yo-yo at least one day faster than the southbound route, just beacuse we do usually get "in shape" as we go, but also because you mentally adjust to the "walking thing" after so many miles and it just becomes something you do, rather than something you want to take breaks from.
This year, the kids know what they are up against, and most of all, they own the goal - it was their idea to go and do the yo-yo, so I have a feeling the motivation part should be easier.
To get back to the resupply, and to not totally hijack this thread for a different subject - here's what we are doing this summer regarding food:
- Start in Yosemite Valley, I carry food for 3 days, the kids carry none.
Resupply Tuolumne Meadows Post office (general delivery to self), 4 days of food, I carry all.
Resupply Reds Meadows Store (package self delivered before hike), 4 days of food, I carry all
Resupply Vermillion (mailed to Resort), 3 days of food, I carry all
Resupply MTR (mailed to ranch), 9 days of food, I carry 5 days, they carry 2 days each, we eat their shares first. Also pick up extra bear canisters to that location.
Resupply at Whitney Portal Store (self deliver before hike), 9 days of food, same load arrangements as from MTR to Portal, recharge camera batteries, eat burgers, shower, don't go into the valley.
Resupply MTR (mail to location), 5 days of food, I carry all. Extra bear canisters mailed home from there.
Resupply Reds Meadows Resort (self deliver before hike), I carry all
Resupply Tuolumne Meadow Post office, I carry all of it.
for each section, we have slightly more food than we absolutely need, but not too much that we'd have to dump food - we just pig out the day before the next pickup usually
And don't forget the fun of goin through the "hiker barrel" at the major resupply places. There's some great stuff in there sometimes. We got a week's supply of Cliff bars at the Muir Ranch for example, and even a box of $$ lithium AA batteries
Meanwhile, we will be carrying about 4-5 pounds less in each pack this year, making it easier to complete 437 miles and about 92,000 vertical feet in about walking 30 days (that's 14.8 miles and 3120 feet per day)