What's your average speed through fir waves?

[bristlecone]

What is the average 'on-foot' speed through fir waves? I'm a very vague time/distance keeper of my own travels, but impressionistically, I think I progress at about 3 hours per mile (0.3 mph).

This is an empirical question, thus begs data. What better source of collective wisdom than vftt?

[size=-2]As incentive to respond (and please don't let it bias the data), I seek this information in part to make the argument that tropical jungles are not at all the most impenetrable form of natural vegetation on Earth, even where laced with rattan.[/size]

 

[Tom Rankin]

I don't really keep track, but 1/4 mph to 1/2 mph seems like the ballpark figure. Every bushwhack is different (duh), so it's hard to give a useful average. I always err on the high side of how long a whack will take.

 

[Peakbagr]

If the fir wave is relatively recent, you might be able to squirm your way through more easily than if the babies are growing up through downed branches.
The direction you're travelling relative to the direction the trunks are arrayed can impact time.
Sometimes you can walk on top of the fallen conifers.
Snowfall impacts time.
On some whacks, crawling underneath is the only way for forward progress at some points.

So "Every bushwhack is different (duh)" is a great answer.

 

[iagreewithjamie]

Another factor: how much blood are you willing to lose?
Without the fear of being impaled on a broken branch aimed right at your gut, you can make decent time.

 

[bristlecone]

Thanks. I agree with the great answer. Inquiring further is interesting.

Assume a snow-free condition. Also, please do report wave-transverse vs. wave-parallel speeds, if you feel that you have a sense of the difference. (For oblique travel... please specify further)

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I use 1/4 mph as a ballpark on a thick bushwhack, but could be even slower in a fir wave due to all the obstacles. Also, I can maintain a faster forward speed if I'm using a GPS rather than map and compass.

As a comparison - for speed on trails, I've found that most hike at 1-2 mph, depending upon grade/roughness of trail. Some are able to maintain a faster pace, but they're the exception in my experience.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

I think photos are needed to illustrate/prove your point. The game "pick-up sticks" comes to mind.

Found this photo but I have seen much much worse.

fir wave

I have read about people "tree trunk hopping" but I have always been too sane to attempt that.

 

[Neil]

If your line of travel is perpendicular (or nearly so) to the line of travel of the fir wave you're in luck. If you walk along the leading edge you will find an open corridor between the seemingly healthy, unaffected trees and the ones that are leaning up against them but have yet to fall.

One place that illustrates this principle is near the summit of Street Mtn. in the Dacks (after whacking up from the Lost Pond Peak-Street col).

Fir waves are supposedly only found in Northern Japan and the NE USA. A truly fascinating phenomenon.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I think photos are need to illustrate/prove your point. The game "pick-up sticks" comes to mind.

Found this photo but I have seem much much worse.

fir wave

I have read about people "tree trunk hopping" but I have always been too sane to attempt that.

The fir wave at the jct of the Frost Trail is unusual, at least in my experience, in that a microburst hit that section, so the pattern was a swirl (like a tornado), hence no "wave-transverse vs. wave-parallel".

The age of the fur wave impacts the length of time needed to cross it. And as for navigation - I especially remember a fir wave on the ridge between Whaleback and Flume, when it was so dense in one point the only way we could get Brutus thru it (there were 4 humans) was to lay our packs across the debris so he could use them as a bridge.

 

[iagreewithjamie]

@Kevin - You should publish a book "Hiking lessons from Brutus". Seems like your dog is responsible for more than his fair share of trail ingenuity.

 

[Neil]

In most situations, if a fir wave lies in your way you're better off detouring around it. Even if it takes more time.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

In most situations, if a fir wave lies in your way you're better off detouring around it. Even if it takes more time.

Agreed, if it's practical. Fir waves seem more common in NH and even ME than in NY and VT, probably because there's more biodiversity in the forest above 3.2-3,500' or so, and most of the forests in NH above that altitude are spruce or sub-arctic plants.

Whether that's because of centuries of logging, differences in soils, pH, subtle differences in climate - I dunno. Maybe one of the experts here will comment.

 

[RoySwkr]

I used to figure I could hike 2 mph on trails and 1 mph on typical bushwhacks but have slowed down on both. On tough stuff, even .2 mph may be too fast.

As mentioned it is often a good idea to alter bushwhack routes to avoid swamps, cliffs, areas of fallen trees, as this typically increases travel distance it will reduce your effective rate of progress just as going slower on a more direct route will. I once bushwhacked Galehead from the end of the Gale River Trail and it took longer than going twice the distance around on the trail, and I didn't hit anything nearly as bad as the stuff in the photo.

 

[Neil]

Notice how, in the thick of a fir wave, the new growth can co-mingle with dead and leaning trees.
Locally famous person in the shot.

 

[Peakbagr]

"If the fir wave is relatively recent, you might be able to squirm your way through more easily than if the babies are growing up through downed branches."

 

[nartreb]

I have rather little experience forcing my way through a fir wave (it's usually easier to go around) and don't even like to fight through krummholz (which presents similar problems though without big jagged stumps and half-fallen logs), but I don't think it's the worst terrain possible. Once you commit to losing some blood and taking a few risks of clambering over potentially disembowling pitfalls, forward progress is possible, though slow. In contrast, I've been in some willow thickets where the stems were so thick they all touched each other. You can insert a limb, wedge open a crack, shove in further, and repeat; you are not walking or crawling but climbing an off-width crack problem where you first have to pry open the crack. There have been times where i managed to travel downhill but (thanks to both stem orientation and gravity) simply could not manage *any* forward progress uphill or even sidehill.