Yes. Zpacks duplex on this trip. I usually hammock in the warmer weather though.

1069 to 1243 on awol guide.

@Charl5 Today the link is working. I'll need a different hiking buddy before taking that on. Current one thinks I ought to carry everything.

It looks better than most of the trails I've been on. I've seen and experienced the trail that vanishes into the weeds only to pick up after using the sighting compass. Your section the trail looks wide enough to drive an ATV on. Your trail comes with an outhouse and a garbage can. Ooooh. Fancy Dan!

@WonderWartHog99 haha, carrying all the gear is not fun. The trail in PA was well taken care of. The only time I lost the trail was in the town of Duncannon.

@Charl5 carrying all the gear is not fun.

I declared my load limit at 120 pounds. One woman wanted me to bring: two tents, a rug, a whisk broom, a propane stove, a teakettle, a skillet, a saucepan, bug spray, sun screen, soap, a washcloth, two air mattresses, a pair of sleeping bags, pillows, something to flip flap jacks with, insulated egg carrier, milk, flour, salt pepper, steaks, a whole chicken, a big spoon, a knife, a cast iron barbeque charcoal burner, a jacket, toiletries, an ice cooler, a machete, a new swim suit, a saw, a table cloth, a citronella candle, matches, firewood, garbage bag, hammock, dishpan detergent, clothesline, folding stools, steel wool, a dish towel, a lantern with extra propane and mantles, aluminum foil, paper towels a pair of flashlights with extra batteries, paper plates, a radio, binoculars, cups, glasses, silverware, a camera, a bird identification book, playing cards, coffee, a coffee maker, two gallons of vodka . . . .

“Whoa,” I said interrupting Jean, “weight limit here. The truck is good for a quarter ton. I’m just good for 120 pounds. Anything above that, you carry."

@WonderWartHog99 yea. 120lbs on a mule only. I might go 40-50lbs if she was special

@Charl5 In my family we were used as mules during oat shortages.

@Charl5 35 lbs is my cutoff.

@Charl5 So, how many days did you hike?

@AstralSmoke I used to carry a 20 pound pup tent but now I've got the four pound version of the same thing designed for high winds on mountain tops. That tent cost nearly $400. Lucky me, I won it in an L. L. Bean contest along with other light weight backpacking gear.

@AstralSmoke winter base weight for me is between 10-20lbs, depending on if I’m in mountains.

@AstralSmoke hiked 12 days on this trip.

@Charl5 For most people 10 to 12 miles a day is a decent clip.

@Charl5 An extreme! I met several guys on the trail that basically carried nothing.

@AstralSmoke There's guys who roll themselves in a plastic tarp instead of using a bedroll or a tent.

@WonderWartHog99 most of the Appalachian trail I’ll do 15-20 mile days. Northern Pennsylvania, white mountains in New Hampshire and most of Maine slow me to10-15 mile days unless I hike from dawn until dusk. But I’m out for smiles ? not miles.

@WonderWartHog99, @AstralSmoke I’ve got to have a comfortable bug free shelter to sleep well. I’m not that hardcore. ?

@Charl5 Most of the shelters I saw were anything but bug-free. Some had protected rats, Carpenter bees, or mystery bugs. I usually slept in my tent, rarely in a shelter.

Maryland I did close to 40 miles a day, flat and wonderful!

@AstralSmoke Maryland I did close to 40 miles a day, flat and wonderful!

In the military a forced march is considered 20 miles a day. That is as hard as the military is willing to push it.

In contrast Charl5 when I asked what mile marker he started at for his 12 day hike (1069) and where it ended (1243) that works out to 10.66 miles per day. In a documentary where they gave AT hikers video cameras (most didn't survive the entire AT), they over assumed how fast they'd be doing it. What they did was about what Charl5 was doing.

Most dropped out because of either depression or leg and foot injuries.

Because I'm a fat old asthmatic mountain backpacker, I average seven miles a day with a fat younger woman. We never pass anyone on the trail.

Anywhere close to 40 miles a day, ought to kill you.

@WonderWartHog99 I did 40+ miles for two days. I was fit, younger and by myself. The hiking was extremely easy. It was also ice-cream country. Normally, I averaged about 15 miles a day. I did not enjoy PA! I also didn't carry near as much weight as they do in military training.

@AstralSmoke Even Mr. Ed without Wilbur can't do 40 miles a day.

"The horses could go about four miles an hour for about eight hours. That makes 32 miles but the infantry could only go about 25 miles. An all mounted force could go futher of course. This is all based on decent roads and an army small enough to use one road, well equiped for travelling, well supplied."

Source: [quora.com]

In our army the forced march, their ruck sack (aka backpack) weighs 35 pounds and everybody hates it. Be sure to read my next source.

Source:[wearethemighty.com]

You've exaggerated a shade. The in shape backpacker who isn't trying to kill themselves does 10 to 12 miles a day. One day on the Pacific Crest Trail, I did five miles because the trail wasn't clearly marked and I got lost.

@AstralSmoke yea the Maryland section is only 40 miles. I don’t stay in the shelters very often.

@WonderWartHog99 I'm not going to argue with you. I know what I did. It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I hiked in 2001 under the trail name of Washbear.

@AstralSmoke I hiked part of the PCT during the last century under the trail name of "Hello stranger." I should have handed out business cards.

What's with trail names anyway?

@Charl5 There are two or maybe three states that are very easy. There's an ice-cream challenge in one of them (don't remember which one). It's been close to 20 years since I did them.

@Charl5, @WonderWartHog99 Good question. I remember a lady who I hiked with for a week or so. Her name was Mother Goose. I believe it was her second or third through-hike and she had started in FL and was going up into Canada. She was a bit slower than I preferred to hike, so we ended up parting ways. I met another through-hiker in VA, who had done the trail in both directions. Everyone had trail names. I guess it's sort of like this site. Never use your real name.

Just so you know, if you average 3 mi/hr you can do 40 mi in about 13 hours. I was probably doing between 3 1/2 to 4 mi/hr. I started at sunrise and walked until it was too dark to see. I did that two days straight simply because the terrain was so easy compared to what I had been through. I started in GA in mid-February. I had a 50+ pound pack and heavy leather boots. The first day I hiked between 8 and 9 miles. The terrain is not what I'd consider easy. I was averaging about 12 mi/day by the time I reached the Smokies.

There was practically no one on the trail, but I did meet an extreme hiker who was about to leave the trail due to frostbite on his toes. That made it clear to me that extreme hiking was not the way to go, at least not in the winter. By the time I reached VA, I had gotten a lighter, smaller pack and ditched the leather boots for a much lighter pair of hiking boots. My pace quickened a lot after that.

How did you like the PCT?

@AstralSmoke Everyone had trail names. I guess it's sort of like this site.

On this site the reason is people discriminate both socially and for employment reasons. (They need not say truthfully why you were fired).

People out in the middle of nowhere aren't likely to follow through for those reasons. There isn't any reason to grab 'em, shake 'em by the shoulders and announce "I'm an atheist from Ocala, Florida, you cretin!" I figure it must be for a completely different set of reasons.

I was hoping for creditable reasons.

. . . she had started in FL and was going up into Canada.

The AT starts in the mountains of north Georgia, specifically Springer Mountain. Her directions were a little off. It would be logical for her to start in the winter in Florida to keep from being hit by heat stroke and a year later in Canada wearing snow shoes and getting done in by hypothermia and frost bite.

Where was she heading? Moose Jaw?

@WonderWartHog99 I don't remember. There is a trail (sort of) that goes from FL to Canada. It had just recently been opened when she was doing it. Not sure of any more specifics than that. It uses the AT.

@AstralSmoke The longest hiking trail in Florida is the unfinished Florida Trail. It doesn't cross any state lines. It runs (sort of) from Orlando in South Florida to the western panhandle of Florida.

Walking along the road with a pack is sometimes referred to as rubber tramping. According to a best selling book A Walk Across America motorists are prone to take pity on the hiker and offer them a lift. In retrospect, the author says "the majority of the experience teeters on the edge of terror during lonely nights beside the road."

On the first half of his hike, a car hit his dog.

On the second half of his hike, a car hit his wife. The wife survived. The dog did not survive.

@AstralSmoke I started at sunrise and walked until it was too dark to see.

Reasonable people wait until it's light enough to prepare a meal and pack up their gear. Same story for pitching a tent and fixing dinner before the sun goes down. It makes it simpler than trying to find tent poles in the dark. Once it starts getting dark, people start tripping and falling on things. It is possible to hike in the dark, but you'll be burning up your batteries.

In real life they don't ride off in the sun set. The horse will trip and fall if it can't see where it is walking. The cowboys don't want to shoot a horse with a broken leg.

>How did you like the PCT?

You're reminding of a studio owner who asked people "How did you love the movie?"

@WonderWartHog99 your math is off a little. 1243-1069=174 divided by 12 makes 14.5 mile average per day. I thought those days hurt a little to much to be 10 mile days. Ha ha ?

@AstralSmoke, @WonderWartHog99 the Florida trail is on my list of retirement hikes. Starts in the Everglades 50mi west of Miami and the northern terminus is in Pensacola. Over 1000 miles and finished as far as I know.

@Charl5 I don't know that she went as far west as Pensacola. There must be a trail(s) through the middle of GA that hooks up to the AT? On the other hand, your retirement hike would set you up nicely to hike the Appalachian Mountains that extend into AL. Sounds like it might be a good cycling route as well.

@Charl5 14.5 mile average per day. I thought those days hurt a little to much to be 10 mile days. Ha ha ?

I blame a fit of sobriety. It's no where near 20-40 miles a day.

@Charl5, @AstralSmoke Attached is a video of people hiking the Florida Trail. A good bit of it is on road beds.

@AstralSmoke There must be a trail(s) through the middle of GA that hooks up to the AT?

There must be 20 year old women with a high bust to waist ratio that want me just for my handsome dashingly good look that own an alpaca.

@WonderWartHog99 no. Longest day I did in PA was 22 and that was through Duncannon. A 40 mile day on the Appalachian trail is quite an accomplishment. But a young thruhiker with trail legs wouldn’t have trouble doing 40 though Maryland into southern PA in summer, hiking dawn till dusk.

@Charl5 . . . if you average 3 mi/hr you . . .

. . . would be an Olympic athlete. Currently, the fastest anyone has wind sprinted a mile is under four minutes. After the first mile, they sit down bug eyed and say "I ought to die soon."

The average marathon runner does a mile in a little under ten minutes.

Doing the three minute mile all day isn't going to happen.

@WonderWartHog99 your math is off again. I’ll blame it on the liquor quite a difference between 3 miles an hour and a 3 minute mile. To do a 3 minute mile you would have to average 20 mph.

Sorry. Think it’s working now.

Sorry, think it’s working now.