Tales of 20 miles days… or how to do 20 miles and make it effortless.

Kevin,
Your calories were not high enough. Try doing 250 calories, high carbs per hour. I bet you won't Bonk.

Ive had more issue with my toes feeling like they were "pressurized" and going to explode with every step at the end of a high mileage day, than consistent bonking problems.

rest, snacks, water seems to take care of bonking

I showed up late to this thread as a result of being out in the wilderness. The peanut butter and honey burrito, or more like a wrap or enchirito or what-have-you, is the food other backpacking foods dream of being when they dream of being real backpacking foods. The carb rush kicks in in 20 minutes, and transitions smoothly out into hours of energy. It will rejuvenate a tired packer in the afternoon like nothing else. It could probably revive a dead person, cure hypothermia, or any other affliction, all while tasting like the food of the gods. I'm sure you could substitute almond butter, etc. for a similar effect.

Distance = Time x Pace

That is pretty simple.

Frequent hiking makes 20 mile days easy. Body is in walking shape.

I think the food concerns for a 3 day hike is exaggerated. My food for decades has been

Breakfast: 2 packets instant oatmeal and cup of coffee.

No formal lunch: snack during the day on beef jerky, trail mix, and snickers.

Dinner: 2 person Mountain house and a cup of instant hot chocolate.

Great discussions on doing 20 miles a day. My question for the group is this : if your maximum weekly hike is 10 miles a day how do you build up to 20 miles. Do you increase your long backpack/ hike  by about 1-2 miles each week until you can do twenty or is there another ways. Thanks for any suggestions.

Regarding the original post: I once drove from my home at sea level to the trailhead at Red’s Peak pass. Granted, I was carrying far more weight than the OP: probably 27 lbs.  The OP was carrying 9 lbs.(??). The thing is, the trailhead is at just below 9,000 feet. I made it to Parker Pass, below and on the way to Red’s Peak pass and was finished. Altitude!!! I wonder how much acclimation the OP did, if any, before hiking over Red’s Peak pass on his first day, and if that was a factor in his bonking the next day.

But maybe even more importantly to me: The Op’s description of  crossing Red’s peak pass consisted of bragging about how he caught up to the couple before him and passed them. Hmmm. This pass is the most unique that I’ve encountered. From the lake below it switchbacks up steeply to the top. The grade is even and safe. However, it climbs a very steep wall. If you were to drop a hiking pole, it would tumble down a long ways,  hundreds of feet. So would you. So, even though the trail is perfectly safe, for the hour or so it took me to ascend (and then another year, descend) I had a bit of near vertigo happening. And then: near the top, the wall opens and one has a view all the way down to Mono lake, past the eastern slope of the Sierra and into the Nevada desert, many, many thousands of feet below. So, to one side, a drop of a thousand feet, and to the other, a drop of many thousands of feet.

I was glad to reach the top. The descent is also over an even, graded  trail down a precipitous down a huge, precipitous wall.. at this altitude all is barren.

But apparently all the Op cared about was overtaking and passing the couple ahead of him. that’s his entire description of this remarkable pass. And then he was near sick the next day.

For me, the whole point of backpacking has never been testing myself and my endurance and testing how many miles I can cover in a day. In any case the OP sacrificed having enough food and had to beg on the trail in order to eat. All for the sake of a stupid light pack. I think those days are gone from the current discussion on this site.

I don’t know if it is ever effortless, but some things do help.  Fitness is the price of admission, after that, for me it is fuel, hydration, and pace.

I expect to cover 1.75 to 2 miles per hour, on average over the entire day, 10-12 hours.

Start with ~800 calorie base, primarily complex carbs. Some protein.  And at least one liter of water in the tank.  Then…

1/2 liter of water every 1/2 hour AND ~200 calories of snack every 1 hour.  Snacks are primarily complex carbs though I’ll toss in a meat stick or nut butter pack at points throughout the day.  I tolerate probars well (or maybe they tolerate me, good mix of complex carbs and fat).  Key for me is the steady “drip” of food. On days where I extend this to >30 miles I’ll add a gel, or some candy every 2nd-3rd hour.

Then pace.  I inhale exclusively through my nose.  Exhale will vary; pushing uphill I’ll exhale through my mouth.  Nose breathing forces me to pace regulate which allows me to hike longer with less fatigue.

Dinners generally exceed 1000 calories.  I’ll each a dehydrated dinner, plus 1-2 tortillas, plus a milkshake of 2 scoops protein powder + 1 scoop Nido.

If I run out of grazing food, I’ll go after my dinner tortillas for maybe dinner itself and save the shake for once I get into camp.

As long as I keep with the plan, I can go consecutive 20+ mile days.

What works for me was learned mostly trial and error.  I seriously bonked at mile 38 of my 1st Grand Canyon R2R2R dayhike.  Spent some time researching how ultra runners fuel and hydrate, adapted that to me, dialed it in over a couple more R2R2R hikes, and then adapted lengthening my backpacking trail days.  YMMV, but a buddy of mine wanting to join an R2R hike copied my plan exactly his first time out (which worked well enough) then dialed it in for him from there.

Hey Piper,

I’m 56 and 5’1 – I couldn’t eat that much either. I’ve been trying to find research on endurance nutrition for menopausal recreational athletes- not being very successful 🙂.

Has anyone here watched the Gear Skeptics videos (a moments silence in awe and respect)  on hiking nutrition and adjusted your hiking food accordingly? How did that work for you?

Gear Skeptic’s series on nutrition is a great resource with all the science you could ever want.

>Has anyone here watched the Gear Skeptics videos (a moments silence in awe and respect)  on hiking nutrition and adjusted your hiking food accordingly? How did that work for you?

I made my own food list and dozens of recipes based on it, adding ingredients I can buy locally to Gear Skeptic’s list.

I think GearSkeptic goes overboard on the % fat.  If your body isn’t acclimated to it, its a tough swallow.  So I use his macros as one extreme and Thruhikers as the others.  If I’m in between them, it works great for me.  I go with these targets:

• Gear Skeptic Targets= 65% calories fat, 14% carb, 14% sugar, 7% protein to Thruhiker Targets= 35% calories fat, 50% carbs, 15% protein
  • The greater the exertion for you, the higher the % of carbs vs fat
  • Over 10,000ft, avoid high fat foods (harder to digest) and get at least 15% protein
• Protein/day/lb body weight: 0.5g-0.75g (Skurka) to 1g (Dr. Attia)
• Fiber: 10-15g/1000 calories

What’s worked for me:

• Calculate effective distance walked (km) per day = walked distance (km) + meters elevation gain/95 (energy mile theory)
• From that estimate my “PAL” physical activity level for the day from this study.  I calculated the PAL formula for a mid-weight individual as PAL = 0.0297*km + 1.3959
  • After trying this a few times, adjust the slope higher if you need more calories, lower if less (use a weigh in before/after a long trip)
• Calculate base calorie target BMR here (BMR=13.397W + 4.799H – 5.677A + 88.362)
• Actual calories needed = BMR*PAL
• Plan the meals in minutes from the ingredients list and dozens of pre-defined recipes to hit this calorie target and land in the marco ranges above using bumps as needed (olive oil, coconut powder, protein bars, salt tabs, chia seeds…).
• Weight gain or loss (lbs) = calorie excess or deficit divided by 3500

My estimated weight change is often (maybe usually) within a couple tenths of a pound from actual.

Just got back from a start of season 3 day shake down trip with my sons, and this worked as well as always