Walking wrap up, 2024

For reasons explained elsewhere, my goal in 2024 was to walk a sphenic number of recorded miles in the vicinity of my 2023 mileage. 

I closed last year with 2,814 miles. This year, I aimed for 2,821 ( = 7 * 13 * 31). I figured if I overshot by a mile, I'd still end with a sphenic number (2,822 = 2 * 17 * 83). And if I overshot that by a mile, I'd land on a semiprime (2,823 = 3 * 941)--not ideal, but whatevs.¹

I was behind schedule in November, but a hiking-focused Thanksgiving trip to Tucson helped put 2,821 back in the realm of obtainable, so I stepped up my miles in December. 

I hit 2,821 on the Atlantic coast of Shackleford Banks, NC, on December 27.

Likewise 2,822...

...and 2,823.

So much for that.

I considered giving myself a new sphenic goal, or a semiprime, or a prime, and then Wikipedia told me that 2,850 is a triangular number. It isn't sphenic (although some triangular numbers are), but I figure a triangular number is in the spirit of the word sphenic--a sphenic number's etymological equilateral cousin, so to speak--so 2,850 became my new goal.²

T_n = n*(n+1)/2
T₇₅ = 2850 = 75*(75+1)/2
(Image courtesy of Melchoir on Wikipedia)

By the time I decided T₇₅ should be my goal, I had three days and 11 miles left, so of course I overshot that too.

Final recorded mileage for 2024 = 2865 miles. 2865 = 3 * 5 * 191, a sphenic number.

My last walk of 2024 was 0.2 miles longer than necessary

This is way more miles than I intended, and getting there brought me precipitously close to violating my 2023 goal to not be quite so obsessive about walking. But walking keeps me sane when SAD kicks in, so it's all good.

Next year's goal: in honor of 2025 = 45², I'll initially aim for 2,809 = 53². Overshooting options include the triangular³ number 2,850 or a semiprime.

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Some 2024 walking highlights:

Longest single walk: 28.09 miles. This was my annual American Tobacco Trail long walk on February 4, with a little extra distance to ensure it was longer than last year's ATT marathon. (I did the ATT again in mid-April, but didn't walk quite as far.) 

Number of weeks topping 100 miles: just 1 (in early June). I had 4 in 2023. I felt like I took more rest days this year than last, but apparently I did better keeping up with my weekly mileage goal (50 miles) and more forcefully made up for the lapses (18 weeks under 50 miles this year, vs. 20 last year).

Most miles in a single week: 100.3, which I only reached because I felt obligated to go for a 1.75 mile walk at 10pm on June 9. 

Number of months topping 300 miles: 2 (June and July), same as last year.

Most miles in a single month: 337.3 (June)

Favorite multi-day walk: Sterzing to Feltre in 13 days. S and I started in Sterzing, where we left off in 2023, and declared the Alps crossed when we arrived in Feltre. Feltre is described on various websites as being in the foothills of the Alps (although those hills still looked pretty mountainous to us), and is where the Alta Via 2 delle Dolomiti terminates.

Favorite photo: Mein geliebter Wanderer ueber dem Nebel(isch)meer, taken on Day 9 on the descent from Rifugio delle Selle:

There were some fine runners up:

Day 5, on Seceda

Day 4, en route to Rifugio Resciesa

Day 12, atop Mt. Pavione. The photo does justice neither to the expanse of globeflowers nor to the double cirque.

Day 8, heroic S literally moving mountains to help me cross a river of snow-melt

Nothing else new to report. All of the walking philosophy from the preceding walking-intense years still stands.

What does 2025 hold in store? Another American Tobacco Trail marathon. Another car-free February. And hopefully the Malerweg--a loop hike in the footsteps of Caspar David Friedrich (and other Romantic-era artists), to see the geology that inspired paintings like Der Wanderer ueber dem Nebelmeer--and a 2-week point-to-point trek in German-speaking Switzerland.

Here's to great walking in 2025!

My serifs weren't as good this year as last...

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¹I walked a 4-almost-prime number last year, so walking a sphenic number this year was supposed to make it obvious to aim for a semiprime in 2025 and a prime in 2026. I'm all about long-term goals.

²In case you missed it, the word "sphenic" comes from the Greek word σφήνα, meaning "wedge." 

³Of course, there are also square numbers (like 2025 and 2809), and pentagonal numbers, and hexagonal and etc. polygonal numbers, all of which are fun to think about as mileage goals, as well as polyhedral numbers that my brain has a harder time wrapping itself around.