My daily mileage depends on where I want to camp and how much I am willing to suffer. I am not interested in simply walking the miles. I want to end each day in a fabulous spot, with enough time to catch a fish for dinner and photograph in the late afternoon, early evening hours. When I plan my trips, I first list where I want to camp, then do the math to see if I can do it. I pay more attention to duration of hiking than miles. I aim for 5-7 hours of hiking, try not to plan more than 8-10 hours. I use 2 mph on trail, add 1 hour for each 1000-1500 feet of gain. This rate includes a 10 minute break every hour.

Like OM, as I get older, downhill is becoming more slow travel (old knees). If I have to go down steep terrain, I plan about 1 mph. Off trail I usually average 1 mph. I also find that as I age, I do better off-trail than on the trail. Off-trail travel is slower because you have to micro-route find. This forced slowness actually means less stress on my body. Some days that means I go 12 miles, others only 3 miles. In general, not counting on stopping at a particular campsite, I usually do about 7 miles a day off-trail and 10 miles on trail. The off-trail rate depends on difficulty - one trip I actually only did 1 mile in 8 hours! Four hours were spent getting around a cliff. Ended up building a raft from driftwood and putting the pack on the raft, and swimming around the cliff. Then I was chilled to the bone so had to spend an hour in the sleeping bag warming up!

And the weight of the pack makes a HUGE difference. When I do a 14-day trip, I am so loaded that it is a major chore just to get 7-8 miles on a trail. By the end of the trip, I can easily go 12-15 miles. Particularly at high altitudes, plan shorter days so you can acclimate.

Every now and then I am willing to suffer big time. The approaches on the east side of the Sierra can be rigorous. Two years ago, I wanted to get to a lake on Day 1 of a 12-day trip. Great fishing in this lake is what made me do this. I went up Taboose Pass - about 9 miles and 7,000 feet of elevation gain to get to that lake. I probably was going 0.5 mph the last mile! Nearly crawled into camp, but I did catch a big fish for dinner.