Note: I've finished going through data from this survey. Results can be found here: How Much Time Does it Take to Hike the Colorado Trail?

Having recently finished bikepacking the Colorado Trail I became interested in the amount of time that people take to finish the trail. Of course there are two different kinds of “times” - there’s the amount of time necessary to physically finish the trail, and then there’s the amount of time needed to get what you were seeking from the experience.

I’m most interested in trying to figure out the average amount of time that users take on the trail since that can be used as a reference tool by people planning their own trips in the future. Of course this metric is going to include both the faster thru-hikers and those sauntering along, but my hope is there will be a happy medium in between. The CTF publishes some r ough time ranges, but as gear changes and the trail becomes more popular it’s very possible to see some deviation. If nothing else, I think it will be interesting!

First off, a few ground rules:

Please don’t post any speed racing times! Biking through in 4 days is entirely possible for a few superhumans, but certainly not the type of experience most people are seeking.
If you’ve done multiple trips on the CT, pick an average of those for this survey.
Let’s keep responses to people who have done the full trail in more or less one go. Section hikers may have a different view on time since the cumulative exhaustion factor isn’t the same.

Awesome, now there are a ton of different questions that I could ask, but I really want to keep this simple and focused. Below is a quick survey. Please note that there is no identifying information in this survey and individual responses will be kept confidential. I'll summarize the findings in graphical data once enough responses are collected!

Gender

Age

Select your age when you did the trail. For those that have done the trail multiple times, take your average age from those trips.

When did you do the trail?

What year did you complete the trail? If you've done the trail multiple times, select the most recent year.

When did you start?

Please enter your start date in this format: MM/DD Ex. July 4th is 07/04

Type of Trail User

Did you hike the trail or mountain bike it?

Length of Trip

How many days did you spend on the trail? Note: if you've done multiple trips please take an average of those. Include rest days.

Would you have wanted more days?

In a perfect world, how many extra days would you have wanted for the trip (to decrease daily mileage, take more pictures, etc.)

Comments

Use this area to post any other relevant information to trip length or planning.

Any questions or opinions? I'd love to hear from you, just leave a comment below.

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