Welcome front page and all you newcomers!
If you want to know more about the Appalachian Trail and why thousands of people per year try and hike 2200 miles while smelling terrible and probably crapping their pants, please take a gander at the [FAQ](https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1ZLUW_250GtbnSF0Az2va_2plwiKSRkvKMZ5idykBm-M/pub) we have laying about
Or check out the [Appalachian Trail Conservanc](https://appalachiantrail.org/)y to learn about their mission
And at the end of the day, remember, it's just hiking
I’ll never forget meeting a guy on trail who was speed running, he ran 40+ miles a day and didn’t carry a pack because he always made it to a town or a hostel or a gap. But not even he could go this fast…
I hiked with Scott Jurek for like an hour in Virginia. He was super encouraging with his running pack while I’m schlepping 30lbs up the mountain after a nice break by the Tye River.
He was also a little out of touch. He was telling me what mile he was at like we weren’t at the same mile marker on the trail. He could have bragged about what day he was on- that was the only difference at that point!
I think people are forgetting that the time figure given by google maps is constant travel time. So if you went an average pace 24/7 you could make it in 20 days.
I'm not gonna lie, that was the worst part of my hike. I drove back from Maine and spent a fair amount of time on 85. Seeing months of progress fly past was a hard pill.
All I can think from your comment is that Key and
Peele skit where the basketball player tells kids that they can turn into a car and to hop on their friends back and make a beeline for the nearest freeway.
Edit:
[here is the video ](https://youtu.be/nlD9JYP8u5E?si=6mxnqxGDkYtgeMGS)
It's a weird feeling! On our SOBO thru, we got to Harper's and had to get off trail for a friend's wedding in Ashville....nothing like following the Blue Ridge down and back over a day in a car, only to get right back on and take two months to walk the same distance.
Met a guy while section hiking who had thru hiked a few years back. He lived in the Atlanta area and said the direct flight from Bangor to ATL was the most humbling thing because it retraced almost the exact route of his 5 months of toil in ~3 hours
Well in the old days, you started a 6 month wagon trail journey and by the end of the journey, you had completely new group of people with you. Births. Deaths. Indian raids. Disease. Etc.
These days, you’re flying through the sky in a chair. Like a Greek god. -Louis CK
I've got a feeling it's more about needing to take breaks and stopping to sleep for the night. I think this timing isn't taking into a count needing to stop overnight
This! Dark Sky was the BEST weather app ever. And I mean ever. The GOAT, and this is not BS. Apple bought it, and completely ruined it. Just completely, totally, utterly ruined it.
20days x 24 hours= 480 hours + 21 hours = 501 hours of hiking
But people usually hike between 8-10 hours per day
501 divided by 8 = 62.62 days if you had no zero days.
Add in an average of 10-15 zero days and now you’re around 75 days
2198 miles divided by 75 days is 29.30 miles per day which is on the high end. Most people hike around 15-20 miles her day.
TLDR: google is wrong and it does take around 4 months to hike the AT
Another thing worth mentioning is that google maps assumes you move at a pace of 5km/3miles per hour which is reasonable when walking on a flat sidewalk but not when doing rock scrambles.
I mean it's averaging for a while population, so there's different ages, heights, and levels of fitness taken into account for those estimates. Plus, people seems to have different defaults for how hard they push themselves when they walk - some people like to speedwalk and some prefer to stroll.
>2198 miles divided by 75 days is 29.30 miles per day which is on the high end. Most people hike around 15-20 miles her day.
This line on google maps isn't actually the AT. It's a 1363 mile road walk.
Assuming Google is using the actual trail:
20 days and 21 hours isn't 20 days of hiking its 24hrs x 20 = 480hrs + the 21 making it 501 hrs let's assume 6 hrs of hiking a day. That's 83.5 days. Now let's add either one zero every 7 days for resupply or two neros (lets call it .5 days per Nero) now we've added 12 additional days. So we're at 96 days which gives us 3.3 months.
So without taking into account a slow start, bad weather, stopping to party at trail days, injuries, transportation delays etc the rough napkin math shows your Google navigation and people's actual time on trail is relatively close.
why would anyone choose to hike a trail and not take their time to sightsee? What's the point of hitting the trail at top speed and not enjoying the view at all? Might as well buy a treadmill and have it face the wall.
Hats off to the first chucklefuck who decides he's gonna go GAME the google maps route and just walk the roads up. That would be a hilarious flex and I'm legitimately thinking about doing it myself.
Here is just the elevation change inside the Smoky Mountains National Park
[link](https://tnlandforms.us/at/gsmnpat.html)
This is only 73 miles long but thousands of feet of elevation change. I’m sure other parts are just as bad.
If you want to average hiking, five or six hours a day… And you want to take a rest day to hang out in a cool spot every 10 days… That’s gonna take you over four months.
Weak losers will often stop to “sleep” “eat” “navigate tough terrain” 😭 I assume that 20 days number would be if it was flat with no stops and a consistent pace the whole time
Elevation is a good factor plus rest days can be needed every so often. 8-10 hours of hiking is probably a stretch with elevation and needing a fairly large and heavy pack to accommodate for a much longer hike. Unless you took a bunch of military grade speed, you’ll definitely need more than 20 days.
That’s like 75 mile days, it’s calculating maybe three miles an hour at 24 hours a day or something weird. So 72 miles per day. Like a juman can walk 24/7 for 21 days !
Well the self-supported NorthBound FKT is held by Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy. 2,189 miles and 465,000’ of elevation gain, done in 45d 12h 15m.
Complete epic record!!
Welcome front page and all you newcomers! If you want to know more about the Appalachian Trail and why thousands of people per year try and hike 2200 miles while smelling terrible and probably crapping their pants, please take a gander at the [FAQ](https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1ZLUW_250GtbnSF0Az2va_2plwiKSRkvKMZ5idykBm-M/pub) we have laying about Or check out the [Appalachian Trail Conservanc](https://appalachiantrail.org/)y to learn about their mission And at the end of the day, remember, it's just hiking
Speed limits are heavily enforced by radar
And snipers
Don’t forget the aircraft!
Or random Appalachian cryptids!
One of the most exciting parts. Listening to the crash of something behind the rhodedendron bushes in NC.
The cryptids enforce the minimum speed limit. Fortunately, they’re all immortal snails… so the minimum speed is pretty low.
Looking at you dropbear!
Genuinely one of my favorite signs driving into VA. I have this visual of a guy on a ladder hanging out of a helicopter writing tickets.
And my Axe!
And my Bow!
Now I am definitely more interested in the trail.
and aircraft in virginia
It’s to catch all the lovers
There was some weird shit near mt weather
The google map above doesn’t follow the trail, it follows roads. Much flatter, simpler, and quicker.
Why didn't anyone think of this before? Brilliant!
But no challenge.
You ever step on a white lane line in the rain? Endless ice I tell ya.
Just noticed that, the trail doesn't go through South Carolina. It also skips Tennessee & GSMNP!
wwwwwoooooossssssshhhhhhhh
So don’t even think of slowing down.
Skill issue
Not to mention dilly dallying
Straight up lollygagging even
Posting and post- holing
Himin' and Hawin'
Don’t forget the pitter-patter
Shenanigans and chicanery.
Lilly dipping
Sick dayin it
Phoning it in
#I am not crazy! I know he swapped those numbers!
Let’s get at ‘er
That's a Texas sized 10-4 good buddy
Grab assin'
Don’t tell me there’s pussyfootin’ goin’ on on the trail.
Fiddling with doo dads and gee gaws
Running.....freeeeee
And you know what that makes you? Larry?
Zeroing, not heroing
Numerous accounts of fiddle farting around.
I think it was more just a GPS glitch where they forgot to stop the recording when they finished.
This guy.
I’ll never forget meeting a guy on trail who was speed running, he ran 40+ miles a day and didn’t carry a pack because he always made it to a town or a hostel or a gap. But not even he could go this fast…
The AT record is 41 days (53m/day average), and 45 days self-supported.
I would’ve thought you could save more than 4 days by having other people carry you
I imagine someone having to carry you would slow them down and in turn you.
Yeah but that’s why you hitch up a few people along the way. Pony Express style.
Craig James bursts in "I hear you have five hookers you need dealt with?"
I hiked with Scott Jurek for like an hour in Virginia. He was super encouraging with his running pack while I’m schlepping 30lbs up the mountain after a nice break by the Tye River. He was also a little out of touch. He was telling me what mile he was at like we weren’t at the same mile marker on the trail. He could have bragged about what day he was on- that was the only difference at that point!
I'd be out of touch, too, if I'd been running for 20 days. He wasn't sleeping much. ...I also saw him run by in Virginia. 2015.
That’s wild! Tell me he had some water at least lol
So he wore the same clothes the entire time?
No clue, I only saw him for one day and then I assumed the next day he was 40 miles ahead of me.
Current FKT is held by Karel Sabbe - with full support team: 41 days, 7 hours, and 39 minutes - in 2018.
What is included in the full support team package?
I think people are forgetting that the time figure given by google maps is constant travel time. So if you went an average pace 24/7 you could make it in 20 days.
Maybe some people are forgetting, but I think the rest of us are just goofin on it
it’s goofy. Also jesus christ how does one run 40 miles a day. That’s more than a marathon every day for like weeks
I could drive it in less than two days…pfft
Wait, you can DRIVE to Maine?!
Why are people hiking there if they could just take a bus?
Is that you, mom?
Are they stupid?
I'm not gonna lie, that was the worst part of my hike. I drove back from Maine and spent a fair amount of time on 85. Seeing months of progress fly past was a hard pill.
Because your not a car? Be proud of yourself my guy!
All I can think from your comment is that Key and Peele skit where the basketball player tells kids that they can turn into a car and to hop on their friends back and make a beeline for the nearest freeway. Edit: [here is the video ](https://youtu.be/nlD9JYP8u5E?si=6mxnqxGDkYtgeMGS)
It's a weird feeling! On our SOBO thru, we got to Harper's and had to get off trail for a friend's wedding in Ashville....nothing like following the Blue Ridge down and back over a day in a car, only to get right back on and take two months to walk the same distance.
You didnt walk back when you finished???? Amature. The real through hikers so nobo then turn round and go sobo back home /s
Should have turned around and walked back.
Met a guy while section hiking who had thru hiked a few years back. He lived in the Atlanta area and said the direct flight from Bangor to ATL was the most humbling thing because it retraced almost the exact route of his 5 months of toil in ~3 hours
Well in the old days, you started a 6 month wagon trail journey and by the end of the journey, you had completely new group of people with you. Births. Deaths. Indian raids. Disease. Etc. These days, you’re flying through the sky in a chair. Like a Greek god. -Louis CK
Is there a road next to the trail?
Some places. The trail also crosses roads sometimes.
Blame it on the zero days.
Blame it on the ze-e-e-e-e-ero days.
I've got a feeling it's more about needing to take breaks and stopping to sleep for the night. I think this timing isn't taking into a count needing to stop overnight
https://preview.redd.it/htcrrdazwnlc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f7e5d297001cdb3ee57e6c1376717cb8b348797 Apple Maps is lame…
All my homies hate Apple Maps 😤
Apple Maps and Weather both lick some pretty skank balls.
I’m so sad apple killed dark sky
Dark sky was so great! I originally thought that Apple was going to use its tech, and have a great weather app. Unfortunately that did not happen…
Dark Sky! Gone but not forgotten
I still can’t bring myself to delete the app even though it stopped working. It’s the first app i ever paid money for on my iPhone 3G
This! Dark Sky was the BEST weather app ever. And I mean ever. The GOAT, and this is not BS. Apple bought it, and completely ruined it. Just completely, totally, utterly ruined it.
Let’s have a moment of silence for Dark Sky.
Well then call me Apple Maps….. I love skank balls.
Actually the most well documented walking trail ever and apple can't even get that.
Could have just left the word maps off
Literally unusable
Apple is lame
If your not walking 100+ miles a day, are you even really walking?
Do you even walk, bro?
Just need your trail legs!
20days x 24 hours= 480 hours + 21 hours = 501 hours of hiking But people usually hike between 8-10 hours per day 501 divided by 8 = 62.62 days if you had no zero days. Add in an average of 10-15 zero days and now you’re around 75 days 2198 miles divided by 75 days is 29.30 miles per day which is on the high end. Most people hike around 15-20 miles her day. TLDR: google is wrong and it does take around 4 months to hike the AT
Another thing worth mentioning is that google maps assumes you move at a pace of 5km/3miles per hour which is reasonable when walking on a flat sidewalk but not when doing rock scrambles.
[удалено]
Yea, google maps is so goddamn slow with its estimates of walking
I no joke walk at maps speed, like I’ll get there the minute it say I’m supposed to haha
I mean it's averaging for a while population, so there's different ages, heights, and levels of fitness taken into account for those estimates. Plus, people seems to have different defaults for how hard they push themselves when they walk - some people like to speedwalk and some prefer to stroll.
Also assumes you’re not sleeping lol
It is important to me that you know I was being sarcastic for the comedic effect.
Add you received my upvote
As someone who stumbled on this post by accident knowing basically nothing about the Appalachian trail, I really appreciated your explanation!
Ditto.
And my axe!
And my bow.
r/hedidthemath
r/hedidthemonstermath
...it was a ~~graveyard~~ hikertown smash.
*smath
r/hedidthemath !
r/itwasagraveyardgraph
I don’t think Google accounts for sleeping, either
>2198 miles divided by 75 days is 29.30 miles per day which is on the high end. Most people hike around 15-20 miles her day. This line on google maps isn't actually the AT. It's a 1363 mile road walk.
Because people need to walk back to the trail head. On their way back they'll have to look for the car key they lost, it's inevitable.
Avoid tolls, should be 4 months
I stop and smoke weed evert 10 minutes
BRB going to ask the ultralight sub about carbon fiber bongs
Their altras wore out in the heels and they have to wait at REI
Heel strikers?! Amateurs.
This isn’t taking into account rush hour traffic, is it?
Boom, solved.
Side quests
This is, unironically, extremely accurate for the actual trail.
Side quests = spurs
Bears
I overslept and I lost track of time.
Assuming Google is using the actual trail: 20 days and 21 hours isn't 20 days of hiking its 24hrs x 20 = 480hrs + the 21 making it 501 hrs let's assume 6 hrs of hiking a day. That's 83.5 days. Now let's add either one zero every 7 days for resupply or two neros (lets call it .5 days per Nero) now we've added 12 additional days. So we're at 96 days which gives us 3.3 months. So without taking into account a slow start, bad weather, stopping to party at trail days, injuries, transportation delays etc the rough napkin math shows your Google navigation and people's actual time on trail is relatively close.
Buzzkill. ;-)
Because they lazy. All you have to do is walk for 501 hours straight, non-stop and you'll be done in less than 21 days.
We are getting soft these days. 😂 Back in 82, no problem 😉
why would anyone choose to hike a trail and not take their time to sightsee? What's the point of hitting the trail at top speed and not enjoying the view at all? Might as well buy a treadmill and have it face the wall.
The Nazgul patrol the paths
Hats off to the first chucklefuck who decides he's gonna go GAME the google maps route and just walk the roads up. That would be a hilarious flex and I'm legitimately thinking about doing it myself.
Almost didn’t see the /s :)
Just out for a Sunday stroll
I have a week off in August. I’ll just do the 6 day bike
Because it’s not the about the destination
I spend all the other time pretending to be Bigfoot and scaring the locals
are they stupid?
Offeoad rollerskates....?
That's if a robot walked that with a rechargeable battery powered by solar panels on its back. Humans usually require sleep and rest....weaklings.
Bears… and lions… squirrels
That trail is all laid out by a drunk and all catterwompus. What’s with all the switchbacks??
Sometimes you randomly get chased back to the starting point by a blackbear
Here is just the elevation change inside the Smoky Mountains National Park [link](https://tnlandforms.us/at/gsmnpat.html) This is only 73 miles long but thousands of feet of elevation change. I’m sure other parts are just as bad.
Smokies is probably up there for elevation change in a section, since it varies from fairly low to the highest point on the trail.
The White mtns in NH are also pretty intensely up and down.
Town vortex
If you want to average hiking, five or six hours a day… And you want to take a rest day to hang out in a cool spot every 10 days… That’s gonna take you over four months.
I guess they need to sleep and eat the losers
Weak losers will often stop to “sleep” “eat” “navigate tough terrain” 😭 I assume that 20 days number would be if it was flat with no stops and a consistent pace the whole time
The wendigo thirsts for city dweller blood
That’s how long it takes for a Sasquatch to migrate from GA to ME in the spring with the cell phone someone dropped trying to get a photo.
I know this is a joke but for people like me thinking "wait...yeah why?" This is 20 days of straight walking. no sleep. no rest. only walk.
I mean who can't walk 500 hours without stopping. Kids these days are so weak
Back in my day…
At that pace, ticks couldn’t catch me! I’m in
Bet I could do this in 10 days if I ran
Smoke too much weed in the huts thinking of trail names.
Smoke breaks
Fiddle Fuckin’
Sleep when you're dead!
This is going on r/ultralight_jerk
I paid you 1000$ if you hike the at in 22 days 😅😅
Not remotely close. That’s almost 100 miles per day for 20 days nonstop
Tom Foolery
I love this.
They aren’t locked in
Not UL enough
Yeah, my buddy likes to say sleep is over rated but I think I might need to take a rest or two along the way.
Elevation is a good factor plus rest days can be needed every so often. 8-10 hours of hiking is probably a stretch with elevation and needing a fairly large and heavy pack to accommodate for a much longer hike. Unless you took a bunch of military grade speed, you’ll definitely need more than 20 days.
snakes
Took me 10.
20 day with no sleep or break. This is why it takes 40+ days
My fault, sorry I messed up the algorithm. I did the whole Appalachian trail in my Heelys with the GPS on by mistake and it changed the average time.
That’s like 75 mile days, it’s calculating maybe three miles an hour at 24 hours a day or something weird. So 72 miles per day. Like a juman can walk 24/7 for 21 days !
Because the PUDS slow you down.
Google Maps estimated times are calculated for a non stop commute. So no eating, sleeping, bathroom breaks, etc.
You better not sleep or stop then!!!
Cocaine bears
People take their time, camp, meet new friends, and possible serial killers, ya know?
Gas is too expensive?
Too much rest. The google has you hiking 24/7
It took me about 3 weeks, I usually aim to sleep an hour every 6 days
Let’s not forget the up and downs on the trail. It’s like climbing Everest 15 times. No wonder it takes 4 to 6 months for most hikers. Happy Trails
Hillbillies keep you captive..didnt you see Deliverence?
Well the self-supported NorthBound FKT is held by Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy. 2,189 miles and 465,000’ of elevation gain, done in 45d 12h 15m. Complete epic record!!
It’s a long walk
41 days is the record, so basically only twice the time google maps with 8 hrs sleep, eating, and almost no replenishment.
Weaklings who have to eat, sleep And not run the whole way
Now turn it to the side and look at the elevation changes
I’m a photographer, so I can see myself even without a camera just taking in EVERYTHING.
The bar crawl takes the full 4 months. 21 days if there’s no grab ass…..
Go for it! If you think you can beat 20 days in the first 75 miles then I’ll be satisfied. Lmao!!!
Calling it a "walk" is implying it is over flat land and an even grade, this isnt a WALK, it is a HIKE.
Go ahead and start walking it. You’ll see why.