Hikers

[Frosty]

What are you guys using for rucks? Just old issue gear?

 

[Keith_Indy]

cheap Walmart backpack. Homemade weights (see the thread I posted above)

 

[Frosty]

cheap Walmart backpack. Homemade weights (see the thread I posted above)

Sweet, I’m down with cheap The milsurp stuff is expensive!

 

[Keith_Indy]

Sweet, I’m down with cheap The milsurp stuff is expensive!

Make sure you get one with good shoulder straps and waist belt.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

What are you guys using for rucks? Just old issue gear?

Deuter. German company, pricey new but deals exist in used market. Life time warranty for any owner, not just original.

 

[92FSTech]

I usually average about 2-3 miles an hour on the trail. I may pick up the pace if there's weather threatening or I'm trying to hit a specific camp site before dark, but the whole point of hiking is to enjoy the experience...I'm not doing it competitively. My brother and I comfortably do 15mi/day, but have done more on occasion when necessary.

Walking at home we're doing about double that, but it's flat, paved, we're usually unloaded, and it's a known route with different goals.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Deuter. German company, pricey new but deals exist in used market. Life time warranty for any owner, not just original.

Oh... you said Deuter. I thought you said Dieter.

 

[Frosty]

I usually average about 2-3 miles an hour on the trail. I may pick up the pace if there's weather threatening or I'm trying to hit a specific camp site before dark, but the whole point of hiking is to enjoy the experience...I'm not doing it competitively. My brother and I comfortably do 15mi/day, but have done more on occasion when necessary.

Walking at home we're doing about double that, but it's flat, paved, we're usually unloaded, and it's a known route with different goals.

If I was doing a long hike I’d definitely slow it down, right now I’m hitting 8 miles in 2 hours and a few minutes, if I was looking at 15 miles I’d definitely be slowing down, I’m wiped after 8 miles but I’m going as hard as I can for the duration, running the hills, some of them 2-3 times.

 

[cg21]

Some of them must do a little jogging, and others are just some long legged freaks of nature in their early 20's that have physical abilities that I don't understand.

Walking around your hunting grounds would be a better time to be more watchful for sign while scouting than trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible.

It is public ground lol he critters are used to people.

 

[92FSTech]

If I was doing a long hike I’d definitely slow it down, right now I’m hitting 8 miles in 2 hours and a few minutes, if I was looking at 15 miles I’d definitely be slowing down, I’m wiped after 8 miles but I’m going as hard as I can for the duration, running the hills, some of them 2-3 times.

Yeah, it does make a difference. There was this one time in VA, my two younger brothers and I were doing the triple crown loop. My middle brother and I have hiked together a number of times, but since our youngest brother lives in DC and we were gonna be kinda close, we convinced him to join us for that one.

Poor guy had not trained at all, works a desk job, and was not in shape...by the end of day two, he was about dead. His feet were torn up and his heart rate was through the roof. We crossed the road at the top of the loop and he got a ride back to his car and bailed. Bad thing for me and my other brother is we'd been going slow all day to help him along, so it was already getting dark and we had 4 miles to go until camp. We jogged four miles up the side of a mountain at the end of a 17 mile day in about 40 minutes (with a full load-out of water in our packs, too, because there was no more till we got back to the car the following day)...that's one we won't soon forget!

 

[teddy12b]

As far as what pack to use, anything that will carry weight will work. I don't have one of "goruck" types of packs because I think they're really expensive what what they are. I have a large alice, and medium alice both on frames with hip belts that I put a 50# bag of sand in. That way I have one to share when someone else wants to join in the fun. My cousin got to test drive an Alice pack before he left for the Navy and we did some rucking.

Generally though I really like Mystery Ranch backpacks because they hit a nice balance for me because weight and durability. I have a M.R. Scree 32L pack that's 3# and I've used it as a carry on for flights, day pack in the wild, overnight trips here or there. I also have a M.R. Terraframe 50L that I really like because I can carry a large bolt action rifle in it because of how the design of the pack is and then I can put as much gear and stuff in the pack as I feel like carrying.

After guns and ammo, backpacks are my next biggest vice and there's plenty more I could mention that work just fine for carrying weight. Biggest thing I'll say is to make sure the pack fits your body.

 

[cg21]

Well this morning I put the “trotting” method to work for the first time with 45# I finished in 58.10 4 miles. Really happy with that for my first time doing anything more than a walk.

 

[Keith_Indy]

Just got back from walking, 3 miles @ 54 minutes, no weight.

I’ll be rucking one day this weekend. Same route.

 

[Frosty]

I’m going to turkey run to hike this weekend with my sister, I think I’m going to throw a bunch of water bottles in a backpack. If the worst happens I can always drink my way out

 

[KittySlayer]

If the worst happens I can always drink my way out

Eiger Sanction movie Beer Scene.

On a climb up an incredibly difficult pillar of rock in Monument Valley, Hemlock and Bowman reach the top. They are sitting on top of a narrow pillar of rock, miles from anywhere.

Bowman: Wanna beer?

Hemlock: You gonna call room service?

Bowman: We got beer.

Hemlock: You haul beer up this rock, you’re insane.

Bowman: I may be insane but I’m not stupid (he reaches into Hemlocks backpack and pulls out some beers) I didn’t carry it you did, in your pack!

Hemlock: (Takes a beer) Christ I oughta throw you off this pillar – besides, its warm.

Bowman: I’m sorry, I thought you’d draw the line at haulin’ ice

 

[Creedmoor]

I never looked at hiking this way.

Germans are, at least in my experience, some of the fastest hikers. I can't keep up with them. The English are also pretty quick. Spaniards seem to walk slower.

Took me 8 days to hike across England with a backpack on. Started at the North Sea, stopped when I got to the Irish Sea.

About 4 or 5 years ago my wife and I started hiking in Southwest France and hiked almost 600 to the Atlantic Ocean across Spain, again carrying a backpack. Took roughly 28 days. 3 mountain ranges. The Spanish 'desert'. Included several tourist days in places like Pamplona and Astorga.

Did some hiking in the Smokey Mountains about 7-8 years ago, even took time to climb Pilot Mountain on day.

My take on it is that you need to "walk your own walk" and not really worry about what others do.

I've had other hikers pass me on trails more times than I can count. I've passed hundreds of other hikers. I just do me. My way. If your goal is to pump up your heart rate to get more fit then just increase your pace, for as long as you can, and slow down when you need to.

You and my sfather have walked the same paths a few times, he was big on doing 10's and above out west especially around Colorado.
In his middle 70's he took a month and walked The Cameo. He said it was the pinnacle of all of his hikes.

 

[melensdad]

You and my sfather have walked the same paths a few times, he was big on doing 10's and above out west especially around Colorado.
In his middle 70's he took a month and walked The Cameo. He said it was the pinnacle of all of his hikes.

The Camino is amazing, not a wilderness hike but an astonishing hike that joins people to cultures to the spiritual. I'd love to do it again.

 

[cg21]

I’m going to turkey run to hike this weekend with my sister, I think I’m going to throw a bunch of water bottles in a backpack. If the worst happens I can always drink my way out

I did the 5 mile challenge with my family. More like 8 miles kids and wife were not thrilled. But we did get stickers.

 

[Frosty]

I did the 5 mile challenge with my family…………. It’s more like 8 miles kids and wife were less than thrilled lol

My wife won’t hike with me anymore, her short little legs just can’t keep up I don’t try to leave her behind but it’s hard to go that slow!

 

[dlandersson]

This is actually an interesting question. Wife and I hike quite a bit, but we've never really timed ourselves. We're usually either too busy looking around at nature or swatting skeeters and deer flies to pay attention, I think.

I agree that this is a good question. When I run I pay attention to my time per mile, when I walk, I'm usually walking a dog(s), so my focus is on what they are doing, what traffic there may be, being a good neighbor and picking up an stool, etc.