We often get asked how hiking with a kid might impact how far you can hike, or trip objectives, compared to hiking before kids.

I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules. There are definitely some guidance you can find online, and I’m sure research on the subject. I won’t repeat that here. I have taken some rough numbers to illustrate our experience.

How do your objectives change

The objectives no longer focus on distance, and more on having the kids enjoy themselves and feel good about the hike.

However, you still need to make it to a camp at night. So there is some level of distance objectives even with kids.

How far do we end up hiking per day?

There are some rules of thumb that I’ve heard around.

I’ve heard “kids can hike as many miles per day as their age” – in other words, a 4 year old kid can hike 4 miles a day. 4 miles is 6.5 kms.

Toothless could hike:

• Was carried every day as an infant. Mom and dad could push and hit typical distances from before kids, but that was sometimes more of an exception and not as easy.
• 1-2 kms per day when he was 1 year old
• 5-7 kms per day when he was 2 years old
• 5 kms per day on day hikes as a 4 year old. Expect 7-10 kms per day from previous experience. This is aligned with the rule of thumb guidance.

So using some of the rough data from trip reports, I made the below graphic.

You might think that as a kid can hike further, you’d end up going further every day. But you have to trade that time in the daytime with adults hiking. So the more a kid hikes, the less time an adult hikes, and the less you end up hiking in a day total.

This year, now that Toothless is four, we’re expecting he can hike more per day than before in the same time (hikes faster, possibly hike more through the day) and we might be able to hike further per day as a group.

How this impacts our planning

When planning for the PCT, I planned for a range of distance per day. We expect to hike anywhere between 10-20 kms per day. I think 20 kms per day is really the top end of the limit.

The above data and graphic is based on our experience in terrain like the Canadian Rockies or hiking in the mountains in the snow this past winter on day hikes, but for some sections of the PCT or other trails we might go faster if the trail is a bit cruise-y.

There is some data out there saying that people hike the PCT going 10-20 miles per day, or an average of 16 miles per day.

The lower end of that limit – 10 miles per day, is 16 kms per day. That’s in the ballpark that we expect to hike with a 4 year old doing a lot of the hiking on his own. So we won’t be the fastest people on the PCT but we might be able to keep up with those who have a slower pace. This gives me a bit more confidence in finding water and campsites. I know there are long stretches that may be without water, and we have capacity to carry extra water as well as know that we can occasionally push ourselves and go above our average as needed.