What is the average geocachers walking pace?

[bobo frett]

After a fair old discussion on the GAGB facebook page yesterday 22/12/12 about where to upload your gpx route to in order to view it, I got to thinking what the avg. cachers walking pace is. Are we faster or slower than a regular walker? Does the promise of plastic spur us on? Or are we that chilled we mosey along the fp's?

So I'm interested. What is your average walking speed? I can collate these and figure out the avg. cacher (I think, words I'm good at, numbers I'm not ;)).

I walked 7.7 miles yesterday over a 43 cache series and this was mine.

Avg Speed: 1.5 mph Avg Moving Speed: 2.7 mph Max Speed: 4.1 mph
I have no idea if this is good or bad in comparison to others. It is for me as I had no juniors or picture taking girlfriends (I only have the one) with me.

There are various websites to upload your gpx track to. Many gps' offer the track route feature which is then stored as a gpx file (I think, check yer manual).

Some of the websites are:

connect.garmin.com
gpsvisualizer.com
mapmytracks.com
everytrail.com

[eusty]

I've wondered that as we often check the stats on the GPS after a walk. But for the life of me can't remember what the moving average is usually :(

[frosty68]

I'm not sure about moving average, but we cache at about 1mph, there's no hurry :)
Might have a look on connect later

[northking]

According to Stevo185 he reckons on 1.8 mph. Depending on height of stiles, propensity to slip and looking for dropped logs or cache containers in the long grass mine is half that.

[martybartfast]

From todays outing:

Average speed 1.98 mph
Average Moving speed 2.42 mph
Distance 4.6miles
Time 2:20

However this was done in wellies, with a dog on a lead (which I don't usually have), and involved several attempts to cross what can only be described as a swamp! I'd expect to be doing over 3mph on the flat between caches on a normal outing.

[mollyjak]

Actually I have 3 speeds there is slow, very slow and stop LOL:lol::lol::lol:

[border caz]

My average walking speed is 2.3 mph. Going uphill it drops drastically and sometimes stops completely.

No idea what the average overall counting the stops and searches would be.

But I know I get round a lot quicker on a bike or in a car. :D

[Gushoneybun]

I tend to cover around 2.5 to 3 mph with cache finding, but it does vary. I did the Round Lyme series near Stockport, which was 11 miles and 53 caches in 4hrs 41mins total, that was all up and down hill plus some pretty boggy sections as well. Then I did a short walk on flat ground in Suffolk, found 10 caches in 3.5 miles and was back to the car in 1hr and 12 mins.

[Happy Humphrey]

I depends hugely on how many caches you're attempting along the way.

If it's a typical cache series with caches 0.25-0.75 miles apart then I reckon on 6 caches per hour at best and an average speed of about 2.2 mph. If only 1 cache per hour it increases to about 2.8 mph (assuming moderate undulating terrain with lots of fields, stiles and gates to negotiate). With easier walking it might be over 3 mph.
Obviously, I'm also assuming that you're on your own and finding caches fairly easily.

With some cache series (where the design is to make each cache a big challenge), 2 or 3 caches per hour can be a good rate as they can take 20-30 minutes each (and often result in a DNF). If you're with a couple of other cachers you may be finding them all within a couple of minutes.

Whe I did the Chiltern 100 series I was keeping up just over 6 caches per hour by walking fast/running between caches and finding most of them instantly; averaging about 3 mph. But this was only half the pace of some people, who were averaging 6 mph and about 12 caches per hour.

[border caz]

That's why I don't enjoy caching in large groups - by the time I get to the cache the front runners have signed it and are putting it back, I never get a chance to stop for a breather or look for the cache. :(

[Tre-da]

I don't think you can have a meaningful "average speed" unless you include the terrain at least. On a decent track or short firm grass I can do 3 mph or more, on rough ground it may only be 2 mph, on thick tussock grass, boulders or marsh it might be 1 mph. Unless experienced in navigating people often need to pause to check their route so this has an effect. Many geocaches are deliberately hidden in obscure places which requires more navigation than simply following the arrow or following a path. Today I got within 40 feet of a cache following the path and then had to double back 200 yards as I was the wrong side of a culvert. This sort of thing is typical and takes time but it's what it's all about.