Hey all!
First post here. Some background on my hiking experience and fitness which may help answer my question: Many, many, day hikes but nothing very intensive. I hiked from Springer Mt. to Woody Gap (20.5 miles) a few years ago, took around 8 hours but obviously I was not carrying much gear. I've done some big ascent/descent hikes, recently about 1200m ascent/descent over about 10 km. I'm in good shape, running around 3 hours for the marathon and just generally running all the time.
I'm interviewing for grad school and then (hopefully!) starting next fall, and I'm hoping to spend 2-3 weeks hiking in the early summer (May or June). I know this is really un-ideal, and maybe even impossible, so please let me know if that is the case and I may look into flying up North...
I am wondering what a reasonable goal distance for this timeframe would be. If I plan for approx. 200 miles, 14 mile days would put me at 2 weeks and I would have some wiggle room if I needed to slow down. I really have no frame of reference for what an aggressive or easy goal would be. In my head hiking 14 miles a day sounds very easy, but I have a feeling that once I'm out there it may seem daunting.
First post here. Some background on my hiking experience and fitness which may help answer my question: Many, many, day hikes but nothing very intensive. I hiked from Springer Mt. to Woody Gap (20.5 miles) a few years ago, took around 8 hours but obviously I was not carrying much gear. I've done some big ascent/descent hikes, recently about 1200m ascent/descent over about 10 km. I'm in good shape, running around 3 hours for the marathon and just generally running all the time.
I'm interviewing for grad school and then (hopefully!) starting next fall, and I'm hoping to spend 2-3 weeks hiking in the early summer (May or June). I know this is really un-ideal, and maybe even impossible, so please let me know if that is the case and I may look into flying up North...
I am wondering what a reasonable goal distance for this timeframe would be. If I plan for approx. 200 miles, 14 mile days would put me at 2 weeks and I would have some wiggle room if I needed to slow down. I really have no frame of reference for what an aggressive or easy goal would be. In my head hiking 14 miles a day sounds very easy, but I have a feeling that once I'm out there it may seem daunting.