Longest one day hike?

JimBob · 12-23-2011, 08:41 PM

What is the farthest you've ever hiked in one day but still made it back to your vehicle without setting up camp that night? Did you stop to look around a lot or you just kept moving to get to a certain point. I've always dreamed of going up some mountain somewhere, but to this day I haven't been to one like I've seen on television programs.

Grandpa · 12-23-2011, 08:50 PM

I told this on another post but here we go again. I could drive to a pass on the Montana side and decided to go down a drainage on the Idaho side of the Bitterroots into the Selway river area. I knew it dropped a lot but figured if I just hiked 4 hours I could get back in 8 more. Wow, I was wrong, it took 13 hours to get back up. 15 miles down in 4 hours but 15 miles back up took 13 hours.

JimBob · 12-23-2011, 08:55 PM

Sorry Grandpa, I didn't see it. Sometimes it's good to repeat yourself anyways. We learn better through repetition.

I'm just kidding around with you. A five mile hike is a heck of a lot for me and you did 30! Man, I have to get in better shape. I heard Montana is beautiful. I know some folks that went hunting out there one year. I'd love to see it someday too.

Lamebeaver · 12-23-2011, 09:40 PM

Approx 18.5 miles, with several thousand feet elevation gain.

Made for a long day, and I was pretty tired by the end of it.

ponderosa · 12-23-2011, 11:44 PM

16 miles in the Tetons, several thousand feet of elevation gain/loss. I could have done a few more miles if necessary, but was really glad to be done. The sad thing was I was hiking with my dad, who was 57 at the time. I was 32, and he handled those miles significantly better than I did. He said he was tired, but he sure didn't seem tired.

oldsarge · 12-24-2011, 12:52 AM

Only 13.5 miles for me. Not to many places in the Chicago-land area to allow a much further hike. Hiked some trails out here and stopped mid way for a break, then backtracked backed.

Lorax · 12-24-2011, 08:37 AM

It depends on a lot of factors. I've done 20 at Pictured Rocks easily because it's relatively flat (as well as beautiful!) along the bluffs that overlook pristine Lake Superior, but have worked a lot harder to bang out 12 in the White Mtns of NH. And felt it much more three days later.

ppine · 12-24-2011, 11:01 AM

The days you describe are usually the result of bad planning. I have probably not gone more than about 14-15 miles on day hike. It is risky to go farther.

When backpacking twenty six miles on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal when I was a kid slightly uphill. I was carrying a wooden Trapper Nelson packboard at the time with a cast iron frying pan and a kapok filled sleeping bag.

Thirty-six miles in a canoe, and about the same horseback chasing cows.

Gunny Webb · 12-24-2011, 11:16 AM

Did a 8 mile bushwacking trip one day. But I took about 250 pictures of waterfalls and was on my feet for 14 hours. We're not talking point and shoot either. Climbing up slopes, standing in creeks, waiting for light to get better, and dragging a tripod and heavy camera through brush. That felt like a 20 mile hike.

Pathfinder1 · 12-24-2011, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ppine

Twenty six miles on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal when I was a kid slightly uphill. I was carrying a wooden Trapper Nelso packboard at the time with a cast iron frying pan and a kapok filled sleeping bag.

Hi...

Kapok...!! I haven't heard that word in quite a while. Does everyone know what that is? I can remember picking it for the war effort.