How long would it take to walk across the US?
About four to six months for most people, and the fastest walkers have done it in under two. New York to Los Angeles is 3,936 km (2,446 miles) as the crow flies, and the roads walkers actually take are longer. Here is the arithmetic, and the people who have done it.
The numbers
3,936 km · 2,445.7 miles, in steps
| A child, 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) | about 7,922,700 steps |
| 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) | about 5,942,000 steps |
| 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in), the average adult | about 5,592,500 steps |
| 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) | about 5,281,800 steps |
| 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) | about 5,003,800 steps |
| A giraffe, 5.5 m (18 ft) | no idea, sorry |
Step length is about 41% of height. Give or take 10% for how you walk.
How long it takes to walk
| A stroll, 4 km/h | 41 days |
| A normal walk, 5 km/h | 33 days |
| A brisk walk, 6 km/h | 27 days |
Walking without stops, on level ground.
Calories, by body weight
| 55 kg (121 lb) | about 137,996 kcal (183,457 incl. resting) |
| 70 kg (154 lb) | about 175,631 kcal (233,491 incl. resting) |
| 85 kg (187 lb) | about 213,267 kcal (283,524 incl. resting) |
| 100 kg (220 lb) | about 250,902 kcal (333,558 incl. resting) |
The walk's own cost at 5 km/h. The second number adds what you would have burned sitting still, which is what some fitness trackers show.
On a reTrek route
3,936 km is about 5 times the Camino de Santiago.
About the Camino de Santiago routeTry your own distance
Steps
about 5,592,500
5,033,300 to 6,151,800 depending on your stride, about 0.70 m a step at this height.
Distance
3,936.0 km · 2,445.7 miles
Time on foot
33 days
at 5 km/h, no stops
Calories
Depends on your weight more than anything else. Enter it to see an estimate.
That is about 5 times the Camino de Santiago.
How long would it take to walk across the US?
New York City to Los Angeles is 3,936 km (2,446 miles) in a straight line, and San Francisco about 4,130 km (2,566 miles). Nobody walks a straight line: roads bend around mountains, deserts and cities, so real coast-to-coast walks run to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) and more. At a long-distance walker’s day of 25 to 35 km (16 to 22 miles), a 4,800 km crossing takes about 140 to 190 days, roughly five to six months, before rest days.
The straight-line distance alone, walked non-stop at 5 km/h without sleeping, would take about 33 days. That shows the scale, not a plan.
Who has walked across the US?
Wikipedia keeps a list of people who have walked across the United States from coast to coast. Among them:
- Edward Payson Weston set out from New York City in 1909, one of the first well-known walks across the country.
- Barbara Moore walked 3,387 miles (5,451 km) from San Francisco to New York City in 1960, in 85 days.
- John Lees walked from Los Angeles City Hall to New York City Hall in 1972 in 53 days, 12 hours and 15 minutes, listed on the page as the world record for walking across the US.
- Granny D, Doris Haddock, walked more than 3,200 miles from Pasadena, California, starting on 1 January 1999, and finished more than 400 days later, in 2000.
- Peace Pilgrim crossed the country on foot again and again for 28 years, from 1953 until her death in 1981.
The fastest walks on the list took under two months, and some, like Granny D’s, more than a year.
How many steps is it?
About 5.6 million steps for the 3,936 km straight line, for an adult of average height, and nearer 7 million for a 4,800 km route. At 10,000 steps a day, the straight line alone is about a year and a half of ordinary walking.
Walking with a finish line
The hard part of walking more is not the walking. It is having a reason to go out today. reTrek gives your walks a finish line: pick a famous route, like the Camino de Santiago or the Inca Trail, and every walk moves you further along it, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. Instead of fitting in a walk for its own sake, you walk to reach the next milestone.
Walk it with a friend and pool your steps, or race them there. Everest Base Camp is free. Get reTrek.
Other distances
Sources: List of people who have walked across the United States, Wikipedia · Energy expenditure during level human walking, Ludlow and Weyand, Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016