How many miles can you hike in a day? The average hiker on mild terrain can hike around 22.5 miles (36 km) in an 8 hours hiking day. For a more correct answer there are a lot of factors to be taken into account.
How many miles can you walk in a hiking day?
As I already said, the “average hiker” on “mild terrain” can hike around 22.5 miles per day (=8 hours). However, there are a lot of factors that can alter this number. In this article, I will explain all of these factors and how they can influence the amount of miles you can hike in a day. We will also take a look at some more extreme examples and compare the “extreme hiker” with the “average hiker”.
For reference, the record of the Appalachian trail is hiked at a pace of 53 miles per day – and this is the average pace on 41 days! Note that the 53 miles per day is not limited to 8 the hour day in this case.
If you want to know how many miles you can hike in an hour, simply divide 22.5 by 8… The average hiker on mild terrain will hike around 2.8 miles (4.5 km) per hour.
Factors that influence hiking speed
As I already mentioned multiple times, there are a lot of factors that come into play when answering the question “how many miles can you hike in a day”. In this section, I will take a look at the most important factors
Terrain and elevation
The first factor would be the difficulty of the terrain and the changes in elevation. On one of my most intensive hiking days I only covered around 5 miles (8 km). The fact that I had to climb almost an entire mile and then descent the same amount -in combination with very rough terrain- resulted in very little distance covered.
If I would be hiking on mild terrain without elevation I might have covered more than 30 miles in the same time. Elevation gain/loss and difficulty in terrain are one of the factors that have the most influence on hiking speed.
If you don’t know exactly how tough the trail will be. It’s very hard to get a good estimation on how many miles you can hike in a day.
Backpack weight
There is a big weight difference between a lightweight day hiking backpack and the backpack of a long distance hiker. Carrying a heavy backpack has a big impact on your hiking speed. Especially when there is a lot of elevation gain/loss.
There is a reason why ultralight backpacking has become so popular over the last couple of years.
Hiker’s physique
Obviously, physique is very important when estimating how many miles you can cover in a day hiking. If you are a beginner who doesn’t do a lot of sport, you will have a hard time keeping up with experienced hikers.
If you are walking on mild terrain, physique might be a less important factor than when you are hiking on very difficult terrain. Do not be fooled that hiking can’t be intensive, this all depends on the conditions.
Trail conditions and markings
Not too long ago, I made a hiking trip in the Romanian Carpathians. Beautiful area! On one day, me and my hiking buddy decided to try a difficult trail outside the main hiking season. We quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. The entire trail was covered in snow and ice. Looking back at it, it was a great experience.
That said, the conditions made it very hard to make good hiking time. Not only does the snow and ice slow you down, they also sometimes cover the trail markings. This means we often had to stop and backtrack in order to make sure that we were still following our trail.
This can even be an issue during summer on poorly marked trails.
Weather conditions
Bad weather conditions in combination with difficult terrain will slow you down a lot! A little bit of rain on an easy hiking path won’t be an issue at all. However, dealing with very bad weather on a difficult trail high in the mountains is a whole other story.
Always try to check weather forecasts and keep in mind that bad weather can potentially slow you down quite a bit.
Estimate how many miles you can hike in a day
Now that you know the most important factors that will influence the amount of miles you can walk in a hiking day, you will realize that hiking speed can vary a lot.
You know that the average hiker on mild terrain will hike around 22.5 miles per 8 hours hiking day. However, you might have a different physique than the average hiker, you might be hiking under different conditions, you might have to deal with a lot of elevation, etc. This means that the number of the average hiker on a mild trail, might not apply to your situation at all.
In order to get some kind of an idea of your hiking speed, you could take a look at the hiking speed calculator. Before you do, you must know that this is also a very rough estimation. It will be far from accurate. However, it can at least give you some kind of indication.
Track how many miles you have hiked
The best way to know how many miles you actually hiked in a day would be to use some kind of tracking device. Sure, you can simply use common sense and divide the amount of miles walked with the amount of time it took you. That said, a more accurate and easier approach would be to use a tracking device. It will also be easier to check how many miles you are hiking per hour, etc.
Garmin Instinct, Rugged Outdoor Watch
My favourite hiking watch that includes a gps for tracking is by far the Garming Instinct Rugged Outdoor watch. I also mentioned this watch in my other article, best hiking watches.
Not only is it rugged and comfortable, it also comes with all the features you might need on a hiking trip. A gps, an altimeter, a barometer, a compass, multiple navigation satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo), a heart rate monitor, etc. This watch is king when it comes to hiking watches.
Only one downside… It’s pretty expensive. I love this watch so much that I would still say it’s worth the money. By the time you are reading this, the price might have been dropped or it might be on discount, if this is the case I wouldn’t hesitate…
The latest price can be found on amazon: Garmin Instinct, Rugged outdoor Watch
Fitbit charge 2
I like the Fitbit charge 2 a lot when it comes to tracking your activity. It’s a great device for tracking the amount of miles you walked. Additionally, you can check the amount of elevation you have gained/lost. The sad thing is that this device does not show the exact altitude at a given moment, which is a shame. Still, if you don’t care too much about that, the Fitbit charge 2 is a great watch to bring on your next hiking trip! Also, it’s a lot more budget-friendly than the Garmin Instinct.
Additionally, it’s great for any type of activity that requires any type of tracking.
Note that there is a newer version of the Fitbit charge, the Fitbit charge 3. However, I would recommend the charge 2 because there are a lot of reported issues with the Fitbit charge 3. Also, it’s a bit more expensive as well.
If you are interested in the latest price, you can take a look at amazon: Fitbit Charge 2
Smartphone app
The most budget-friendly way to track your hiking speed would be to use a smartphone app. I would recommend MapMyWalk. It has plenty of features and it is one of -if not the- best hiking tracking application available today. Oh and above all, this app is completely free!
So why even care about a Fitbit or a gps watch? Well, a smartphone application drains the battery. If you will be using a smartphone for tracking on a long distance trail, you should definitely think about power on the go.
Conclusion
The average hiker will have a hiking speed of around 22.5 miles per day. However, there are so many factors to consider, this might not apply to you at all. Just think about changes in elevation, difficulty of the trail, physique of the hiker, weather conditions, backpack weight, etc.
It’s pretty hard to find out exactly how many miles you can hike in day. The best way to get a vague indication would probably be to use a hiking speed calculator.
You can use any type of tracking device to get a precise result when it comes to hiking speed. If you track your distance cover and your hiking speed, it will also become easier to estimate hiking speed on your next hiking trip!