Hiker Math
In Bill Bryson’s iconic hiking book, “A Walk in the Woods”, there is a point where he and his partner, Katz, see a map of the entire Appalachian Trail with a “you are here” marker. After having struggled along the trail for several weeks they are faced with a visual picture of how far they have come and how much more they have to go to reach the terminus. It is at that moment they realize completion of their hike is not in the cards. By some measure it is a moment of freedom. They are unburdened by the unrealistic goal of summiting Mount Katahdin in Maine.
For most people in the US, distances are measured in terms of travel by automobile. That does not translate well to travel on foot. A brisk pace is considered to be around four miles per hour. Steep grades, mud, rocks, roots and heavy backpacks will slow the average rate for most hikers to a couple of miles per hour, which is 35 times slower than traffic on the interstate. Of course, progress is made only when walking. Spending days in town (in hiker language known as a “taking a zero”, stopping early to camp, or taking a lot of breaks will cut down the number of hours spent hiking. Tracking your progress is simple math, but it is often neglected.
For hikers under a deadline, knowing the maximum number of days they have for their journey and the the distance they must travel will allow them to come up with an accurate figure for how many miles per day they will have to crank out. However, each person embarking on a thru hike should determine their goals. There are no “rules”. Your target might be simply enjoying time in nature, it might be to take every blue blaze (side trails to waterfalls, scenic views, historical sites) you come across, or it might be forever having the bragging rights of saying you hiked the entire trail from end to end. Goals can change, too. There is no shame in that. In my mind, the only failure is complaining incessantly about the misery of the trail (yes, it exists) and yearning only to be done with the hike.
Planning how much food or water to carry is another math related aspect of thru hiking. Resupply points are well documented on maps and apps. Carrying too much food adds to the burden you must haul. But if you fail to come up with a good ballpark estimate of how much food you will need to get from town to town and your food supply is exhausted, it is not just a matter of being hungry. Food is the fuel that powers your body forward. It is hard to emphasize just how necessary food is for carrying a backpack up and down mountains and for maintaining your body temperature on cold days. Inadequate caloric intake results in your body breaking down fat reserves and once those are gone it will break down muscle. Your energy flags precipitously.
Some hikers, especially those traveling in groups, will resort to a practice called “yogiing”. To “yogi” is to beg for food from other hikers. It usually works. What hiker is going to turn down a fellow traveler and deny them a Snickers bar or a pouch of instant oatmeal? It is not a good look, though, when it happens repeatedly.
Math comes into play in many aspects of a thru hike. How much water do you need to carry, phone and electronics charging, scheduling for picking up hiker boxes, making sure businesses are open when you arrive in a town for resupply and more.
I’ve done the calculations for my hike and I know how many miles per day I need to average to reach my goal. I don’t know my limits but I know I will be pushing them to the max. If I can’t meet my target mileage, my goals will change. Life on the trail is fluid. It ebbs and flows. There are ups and downs. There is a duality on the trail in that life is reduced to the element of simply walking, but that is juxtaposed with the vagaries of nature and the necessity of supporting a physical body, both of which can be quite complex. Without math, a thru hike can lead to unwelcome and even dangerous surprises.
Bill Bryson’s failure to monitor his progress led to a stark reckoning with the impossibility of meeting his initial expectations. His goals changed in that moment. After publishing his best selling book covering his experiences on the trail his life changed and in a way that exceeded his wildest dreams.
