How many miles can one travel in a day?

[arbados]

I was trying to get a general idea of how many miles a medium encumbered individual could travel in one day without there being any interruptions or distractions. Simple travel by foot. I was trying to get an idea of the number in miles for areas such as mountains (which understandably could vary), desert, plains, forest, jungle, swamps, etc. Also was wondering what the travel would be on horseback?

Any assistance would be great as I am needing this to format a key for overland moevemnt on a world map.

 

[Crothian]

I'd just use the basics in the PHB or DMG. THey are good enough as it can vary a lot by circumstances and variables.

 

[Sunseeker]

I'd wager the average person can walk a mile in an hour. So, presuming an 8 hour rest, that's 16 hours of walk-time. So, 16 miles.

A party, due to the nature of a group, would probably go slower, so maybe 12 miles(round down to multiples of 5 for easy math).

Depending on the harshness of terrain, even less. The more extreme, the shorter the distance they can travel.

 

[Wik]

Well, the west coast trail is 47 miles long. And the average time to walk it is about six to eight days - and that's assuming at least one or two days of rain. Assuming nine hours a day of hiking, with the rest of the time spent resting, eating, or relaxing at camp for a bit, we've got approximately 8 miles a day - or about a mile an hour.

The West coast trail, by the way, is a pretty brutal hike - it's for experienced hikers only. Basically, you follow the westernmost edge of Canada, on my lovely little rock of Vancouver Island. You climb over stream beds, cross ravines by way of fallen tree trunk, and slog through the mud.

And you can go a mile an hour through that.

I know, from personal experience, that I walk about two miles an hour in normal city/trail conditions - clear, paved ground in decent weather. But then, I'm a pretty quick walker. A mile an hour is a pretty good indicator of speed on a trail or road. I'd cut that in half if trailblazing is involved.

 

[Wik]

I'd wager the average person can walk a mile in an hour. So, presuming an 8 hour rest, that's 16 hours of walk-time. So, 16 miles.

A party, due to the nature of a group, would probably go slower, so maybe 12 miles(round down to multiples of 5 for easy math).

Depending on the harshness of terrain, even less. The more extreme, the shorter the distance they can travel.

Nobody hikes for 16 hours a day, unless they're in the military on a forced march. Unless the PCs absolutely have to be at Mordor by friday, they're going to slow down a bit.

About ten hours a day of travel is probably enough, though it could be maybe pushed to twelve. The other hours consist of stopping for a breath of air, setting up and breaking camp, gathering supplies for a fire, and getting food (you don't carry all your food with you! Even these days, carrying a week's worth of food is difficult when you're walking - imagine having to carry old-school rations!)

 

[howandwhy99]

How many miles can one travel in a day?

594,960 24,790 mph, approx 0.0037 percent the speed of light

15-20 is possible and even further for the very fittest walkers.

But I think you mean D&D levels.
IIRC, AD&D movement speed also equated to miles / day. So 12 for humans and 6 for the small pints. ...but this is all they do that day. Afterward they are Fatigued.

EDIT: On second thought, I think PCs could voluntarily go up to double this rate, but then they would be Fatigued.

 

[Corathon]

I think that the average unburdened person walks about 3 miles an hour on a nice, flat, level surface. Assuming a reasonable travel day of 8 effective hours gives about 24 miles/day. The eight hours of travel are spread over perhaps 10-12 hours of actual time due to rest breaks, stops to eat, etc. The amount of weight carried and the roughness of the terrain could greatly reduce this, of course.

BTW, in AD&D Movement equated to miles per half day, so 24 miles per day at MV 12". Pretty much in line with the above.

 

[Mercurius]

Corathon is right - I don't know where people are getting "one mile an hour," but that's strenuous hiking speed, not walking over relatively even ground.

Fast jog = 8+ mph
Moderate jog = 6-8 mph
Slow jog = 5-6 mph
Fast walk - 4 mph
Moderate walk - 3 mph
Slow walk ("strolling") - 1-2 mph

Ultramarathoners and Incan Chasqui runners can/could supposedly run 100 miles or more in a 24-hour period; a fantasy equivalent would be Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli going after the orcs in The Two Towers (and of course the orcs themselves!). But in terms of a very fit person over a sustained period of time, I think 5-10 miles in strenuous terrain, 10-20 in moderate terrain, and 20-30 miles in easy terrain. My wife and I hiked the 150-mile Annapurna circuit in 14 days of hiking (and two days of rest) and neither of us were very fit, at least at the beginning! And that is overall moderate-to-strenuous.

 

[Umbran]

I'd wager the average person can walk a mile in an hour.

That's very slow. A person in good health can do 3 or 4 miles per hour for extended periods over clear, mostly even ground.

My wife recently did the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, which is sixty miles in three days (20 miles a day, on average), in the 90+ degree summer heat and humidity. This was urban hiking, with some hills, but a largely smooth surface. There were 60+ year old women who did this - it takes a bit of training, but is quite achievable for an average person.

 

[Troll Slayer]

At a brisk pace, lightly encumbered (backpack with art supplies, mp3 player and couple bottles of water) I could do a mile in about 10 minutes on sidewalks. I used to do so pretty much every day at least twice a day for a couple of years. Even as fit as I was back then, I would have taken a break every 3-4 miles unless pressed for time.

I think the 3 miles per hour estimate is fair were I walking at a normal casual pace or carrying more than my usual stuff. It's probably sensible to use that as a baseline and just modify negatively by a mile or two for rough conditions. Of course on a nice day through open flatland, you could raise it by a mile or two.