How often and how far

S

sasha

Joined
Feb 28, 2006
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The Recent topic on what every one carries in there packs got me thinking. How often everyone does go hiking and mostly how far and rate of difficulty. What do you consider as the min or the max weight of gear you are willing to carry??? As for me a 7-8 mile hike is quit normal, even in the heat of summer. Done plenty of 12-13mile days. Some of the real killers are the elevation gain and lose with no shade what so ever. When i know im going on a hard hike i take most of the stuff out except the most basic kit.


Sasha

If some of you SOCALI guys want to join on some hikes let me know..
 
Well at home in my woods I usually hike around 2 miles at a time. Sometimes I hike every evening sometimes just on weekends.

Then I backpack maybe once a month spring to early fall. Average trip is probably in the 16 to 20 mile range depending on who is going.

If it is the wife and I and some of our pals we can cover more ground even with stops for swimming and stuff because we can get up and get going. If it is my other group of pals the area covered is less or it takes longer cause they get up and moving very slowly. Like out of camp at noon.

If I get on the trail by 8:30 or 9 have no problems walking 10 plus miles if the terrain is not super wet or rocky, but most places round here for backpacking around 8 miles or so a day gives time to take several long stops for exploring, or swimming, or just meditating and still plenty of time to make camp and stuff.:thumbup:
 
i don't get out for alot of real hiking, mostly bumming around in the woods back of the house.

i do run 5 days a week minimum though, so when i get on the trails something like a 12-15 mile day doesn't bother me. i could probably do more, but i haven't tried yet.

EDITED to add;
forgot to mention the gear. for a dayhike, i mostly carry water along with a poncho and my various gear in my pockets (which amounts to knife, first aid kit, sharpening stuff, spare cord and fire) i also bring along a lunch and snacks.
i always try to carry as little weight as i can get away with, i try to keep it to five percent of my body weight or less (which works out to be around 8 or 9 pounds)
 
most of my hikes are around the 6-10 mile range. I usually carry my psk(which is fairly small) 2 liters of water (in canteens) and maybe a clif bar or something. I try to always carry less than 8 lbs of gear(including pack) Elevation gain and difficulty of hike don't really influence my gear choices much except for maybe the addition of a jacket.
 
Usually trail jog about 5 miles 3x/week after work and maybe a longer one on the weekend. Since I go by myself, my pack is pretty complete w/ firstaid, food, hydration pack, ultralight jacket, wallet, flash and headlight, deet, a thermometer/whistle thingy, knife at my hip and monocular at my other hip. Knew yesterday was gonna be longer at about 11 miles and kinda warm at 90 degrees so I lightened up by switching to my titanium wedding band and a David Farmer 'Buxom.' :D

Sasha where are some places ya like to hike?
 
Hi monkey. Must say there is no way i could run as much as you AND carry a full pack... I mostly hike in santa monica mountain and angeles crest forest.. Many times i go to new places i never been to before when i go Geocaching. But i always try to plan on a hike where i can find as many Caches as i can. I find water for me is more important then how many way i can make fire. There are acouple of hiking groups in the area.. One of them has a hike leader that if you can keep up with him you must be in great shape. He keeps a fast pace and mostly steep terain.
Siguy i have noticed that you always seem to change your kit. Never seen you under prepared same time.
HD there is the reason your kit looks worn out. You are actualy carry it and use it.

Sasha
 
12-15 miles every week. A few days a week I just do 6 miles to keep my legs "strong like bull."

Usually under 5 pounds in the Desert, mountains, and Jungle. I would like to thru-hike sometime even if its just sections.

Almost always have an SAK OHT.
 
I don't get to go into the woods much, but I do walk quite a bit. Usually between three and six miles, round trip. It doesn't sound like much, but with ill-fitting bags and workboots...it can be tiring.
 
What with babysitting for my twin granddaughters and the new house duties that are abundant, I don't get out more than a couple times a week now a days. The area that I've been hiking is an old growth Monterey pine piece of land that's privately owned, but open to the public. There are trails crisscrossing all over the land, as well as fire roads. This time of year I walk the fire roads to avoid the poison oak, which is abundant. To walk the entire land in a loop takes me about 3 hours, half of which is uphill and getting back to the PU is downhill, with some fairly steep grades in a couple of areas. It's probably 8 miles start to finish and I stop for a snack and bottle of water and enjoy the sights for about an hour.

I enjoy this place quite a bit because it borders a famous golf course (Pebble Beach-Spanish Bay) on one side and is within eye shot of the pacific on the other side, so there is usually a nice ocean breeze.
 
Depends on which house I'm in. Either way about three miles every day with about 5lbs. Dog approves of that. That would be moderate country ramble or beach. In snail mode I try not to hump more than about 50lbs. Average distances would be meaningless as the variation can be considerable in terms of inclinations, distances, and time taken.
 
I hike a few times a week, 6-10 miles with my pack, which is about 15lbs with some basics, Im a glutton for punishment so I usually add alot more weight, sometimes rocks, to get it up to around the 45 lb range. I bike at least 20 miles 1-2x weekly with my camelback weighin around 10lbs loaded.

Im gonna do some super long hikes, w/ just a small kit a few times this summer, as soon as my schedule lets up. I lift weights 3-5x weekly too.
 
These days I hike with my son most of the time (I also take my cub scouts a couple of times in the spring). We usually hike once or twice a week, 2-7 miles, and our hikes usually have a specific, interesting destination like a waterfall, fire tower, view, etc. Somebody gave me a book called Trails with Tales which has historical and interesting hikes in my AO, we do a lot of those. My packs usually hover around 10 pounds, depending on what we are doing. Our whole family also runs (to differing degrees), by age 6 or 7 we've got them on the local 5K circuit, I believe that discipline that you get from running long distance is good for kids, we really encourage it...
 
Thats is a great idea bro. Running will not only sharpen their bodies, but their minds too. Kudos to you for gettin them involved in running. Its a hard sport to sell, especially to kids!
 
Really depends on the activities. Most of our family hikes are 4-5 miles with day packs (snacks, water, climbing shoes, swim shorts, etc.). I've carried most the weight on our longer backpacking trips, but but my kids are now carrying more of their own gear which helps me out. We do "ruck-marches" 2 to 3 times a month at work...roughly 60 pounds and usually 6-8 miles. Big difference in a force march instead of a "hike". Most of our terrain is relatively flat here in Texas...some hill country and few places where we do bouldering, but for the most part it's on the trail so the hiking is pretty easy. I usually carry the larger FAK, extra water, water filter and food, so my day pack (Osprey Kestrel 38) is around 30-40 pounds; as the kids get bigger, my load will get lighter:D

ROCK6
 
sasha, my kit is always changing but i always make sure i have the essentials. its all towards the same goal, just different thigns to get there.
 
My time out varies between 5-20 miles per week. I try and get out at least twice a week, sometimes more. I carry the same stuff all the time, the only thing that really varies is the amount of food and water I take. My pack weight averages around 20lbs including water.
 
I don't get out nearly enough. Usually it is every other weekend. I'd guess that most of the hikes are in the 4-5 mile range, sometimes 8 or 10. Vertical Gain usually runs 1500 or so. I try to bring a minimum of gear. Most of the weight is water, for which I figure about a liter per 3 miles.

My main exercise is soccer games 1 or 2 nights per week. 90 minutes of running keeps me in pretty decent shape.
 
Up to this year I think I was averaging two weekends each month: one was back country camping the other was backpacking. The amount of hiking the back country camping group did varied considerably; I think our backpacking group averaged 10 miles each day and usually went out for a three day weekend. When I went back country camping, I carried whatever I wanted. When I went backpacking, I carried a Mora, pocket knife, folding saw, a compass, a whistle, small shovel, a tent, sleeping gear (sleeping bag and mat), repair kit (duct tape & garden twistees), a small first aid kit, a change of clothes, rain gear, camp shoes, water pump, two water bottles, a water bladder, a backpacking stove, a lighter, a pot, some parachute cord, and a bear bag.
 
Most of you do walk often. It is amazing the weight of some of your packs that you carry. Out here its up a hill or down a hilll and the down hill is harder on the legs then going up.. Bear on many of my hikes i carry just in water more then 5lb. On one of my hikes i carried 3liters and by the time i got home, I lost 9lb. It took me 3 days to get back to where i felt normal again. I hiked about 17miles but the killer was 103deg outside.. Lesson one carry more water then you think you might need.

Sasha
 
I try to make it out as much as possible, but lately it's only been maybe 2-3 times a month, usually about 4-6 miles per outing. I usually stay local. I'm in SoCal too, but I seldom make it out to Santa Monica Mt. or the Angeles National Forest, even though I'm only in Ventura County.

On the plus side, I'm not really complaining about what's been keeping me busy...the new wife and I recently bought a house, so we're in the middle of fixing it up. But, I still do manage to lift weights, run, and use a stairmaster enough to keep me in shape.
 
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