What's the longest you ever stayed out?

“How long have you stayed out in the backcountry? How long have you ever stayed out without resupply? Were you pretty ripe when you got back or did you stay fairly clean. Just curious.”

“17 days in the early 70's.Did get resupply the last days by beggging from other hikers on the way out.Did lots of swimming,but still a bit greasy.”

“'Bout 7 days. I was ripe, but, then again, I'm always ripe.”

“The longest I've been out is 7 days. It was supposed to e a canoe trip, but the river was missing most of the time (drought) and it ended up mostly portage. I was ripe by the end of day one. This was a black water river that had a distinctive smell all its own, and only added to your own stench. This was with our scout troop, so you can imagine what the lot of us smelled like pulling in. We tried to bathe, by setting up a shower bag away from the camp and the river. Didn't seem to help much. 'Course, this was also Florida in mid July!”

“I do a 10 day trip every month (longest trip was 16 days), when I get home my wife waves hello until I get a chance to shower.

I swim every chance I get, use the new "adult" wipes and change clothes, but a shower is the only thing that really works.

I have noticed that when we stop at McDonald's at the end of the trip, the homeless never ask us for money..........”

“19 nights in GSMNP - hiked about 100 miles.

I was OK at the finish, but the woods around me were beginning to smell.”

“OK Steve I am completely jealous. 1/3 of your life being spent on trips.”

“10 days at Philmont. We had the showers to ourselves when we got back to the base camp and we each had two turned on us -- ahhhhhhh. Not to mention that the laundry facility had our travel uniforms clean and waiting for us. That's the only time I've had that kind of service post hike. Other long trips have all been 5 or 6 days. The pay shower on Isle Royale was worth the buck.”

“I think the longest was 8 or 9 days in the Grand Canyon. Gee... that was a lot of food to lug around.

NS, you didn't do those 19 nights without a resupply, did you?”

“11 days was my longest without resupply or hot water. Despite swimming and some back-country bathing, I must have left a pound of gray crud on the bath tub on that 11th night.”

“"OK Steve I am completely jealous. 1/3 of your life being spent on trips."

It's not quite what it would seem, everyone tells me.."you don't really work, you backpack"...

Believe me, watching 6 kids, 24/7 for 10 days, not to mention counseling them, is work.

To be honest, it might be work, but it's cool work.”

“.'NS, you didn't do those 19 nights without a resupply, did you?'
Tilt

Yes, I did. In some other strings I've mentioned that I bp on a maximum of 700 calories per day. See my post which starts: I backpack in GSMNP to lose weight. I usually do it for a two or three month period, doing a sequence of overnights to my maximum of 19 days.

Somewhere else I mentioned that when my article is completed, it will contain a list of my food for those 19 days.”

“Yes, I could stand to shed a few m'self...

And I can see how much weight saving there might be by foregoing 19 days' worth of cognac, <VBG>. It does pack a wallop of calories, though empty. I'll be looking forward to seeing that menu.”

“I think a week is the longest hiking--ten days on a river trip.”

“I'm pretty sure Snow Nymph's trips are long...from what I read in her previous trips...I'll let her reply here. As for me...just a puny two and a half days....oh, the shame.”

“It's not about how long it is, it's about how you make it long.....”

“16 days 7 without re-supply”

“I just finished 12 days on Isle Royale without resupply. I think that is about my personal limit. That much food is a lot of mass, even if you can handle the weight.

Oh, baby, that first shower felt good. It was a little cold for cleaning up.”

“I'll be doing 11 days on the llamarama, going to Mel's, resupply, take a shower and then head out for another 6 days with some other friends. It's sorta cheating but it'll be the longest I've ever been out in a row. I suspect there will be plenty of alpine lake baths.”

“Eight days. I'd like to go longer but family and a home and pets, etc make it impossible at this stage in life. Later...”

“53 days”

“and nights”

“I took more food than I used, but it was a great time. My wife thought that a dead skunk was on the porch when I got home, what a stink!!”

“One month!

8)”

“10 nights at Philmont. 6 days without resupply in the Sierras. I usually wash with soap and water every couple of days. But nothin' beats that first shower after you get home.”

“Longest trip was 30 days, no layover days. 270 miles, 211 on the JMT and 59 miles of side trips, which included four 14ers. (Yosemite Valley to Mt Whitney). First shower was after we got out. Took spit baths every night except one when we got back really late (dayhiked a 14er). 10 days food without resupply (My pack was 38 lbs & SnowDude was 43 lbs). If we could've taken another week, we would have. The only thing I would change is adding more food for the last resupply. I was craving fatty food.

Last weekend we decided to do the JMT again in 2003, but with more side trips this time.”

“Snow Nymph - How fast do you guys hike going uphill, on the flat, and downhill? Also, how many miles do you feel comfortable hiking in a day?”

“How fast I go depends on who I'm hiking with, how many photos I take, whether or not altitude is affecting me, etc. I do better on uphills and downhills. On flats, everyone passes me up.

Most of my backpacking is done ~10,000', so for a weekender I'll pick a trip that is 5-8 miles with 2000'-3000' el gain.

Without a pack I can do more mileage. I do a yearly Mt Whitney dayhike: 22 mi/6000' el gain. Every year I try to break my record of 9 hr 55 min ('97). I'm slower with age. Last year altitude got me.

On the JMT we were good with 10 miles per day (avg first 10 days). We weren't sure what we could do, so we planned on 30 days. We adjusted mileage to allow for side trips, and towards the end we shortened mileage to stretch the trip out to 30 days (a lot of take it easy days). I think we could have done this in 21 days without side trips.”

“Some people do the JMT averaging 15-20 miles per day. I don't think I could do that.”

“Only 6 days contiously. I've been on trips where I'd go out for a night or two. Drive to another spot and get out a BP some more. and again, and again, and again for almost two weeks.
As far as being without a bath, Probably a week unless you count jumping in a lake or creek.”

“36 day, canoe trip... my hommes, without resupply, 7 people 550 lbs of food,

22 days, canoe.... my norwester, 220 lbs of food, 5 people,

11 days canoeing

and my nissimaha this year is going to be about 18 days”

“14 days in Isle Royale...water was too cold to clean up in for most of the trip, and we carried everything on our backs from the get go.

Yeah, I stank when I got back.”

“10 days canoeing in the Boundary Waters, but we could carry lots of food.

1 week backpacing in the Bob Marshall wilderness.”

“I was out for sixteen hours after riding a motorcycle from Savanah, Georgia to Emporia, Virginia.

I stayed in a diner near Rocky Mount, North Carolina drinking coffee for several hours to pass some of the cold March night.

Those buck-tooth crackers were mighty suspicious of me and my long hair and five-month un-trimmed beard....."...if yer not havin' nuthin' ya cain't stay..."”

“I can't remember, I was only like 12. I think it was 12 or 14 days. FUN! Stanky!”

“Seven days in the Wind River Mtns, two years ago. Carried all the food, had waaaay too much left when we finished. Took a couple showers with a little shower attachment to the platypus. Ripped the seat seam in my pants a couple days from the trail head coming out. Prime rib at the Stockmans in Pinedale was an awesome first meal out. Planning to do 5-6 days up there again this fall.”

“My mom let me stay out til ten one night.”

“There was this one time though, where we stayed out way past midnight.”

“36 days with resupply. 14 without on several occasions.

Backcountry stay in a cabin, no hot water, electricity, or gas. Wood cookstove. 240 days. But I was younger then and am a wimp now.”