So I need to know how long it would take a party of three or four to get 1,000 miles with a fairly heavy wagon and one or two horses. Without stops I know walking will take around 14 days. There are around 5 cities or towns on the way to their destination so there are places to stop. If you need any more specific information please let me know :) thank you!
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3$\begingroup$ This seems highly dependent upon the terrain being traveled through, and will not factor in any distractions or diversions. If you know it takes 14 days to walk, what makes you think one or two horses pulling a heavy wagon will be moving significantly faster or slower than a walking pace? $\endgroup$– sphenningsCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 21:36
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2$\begingroup$ Rule of thumb for an army over land pre-train is 10 to 12 miles a day. So that would be a lower bound. $\endgroup$– Gault DrakkorCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 21:55
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2$\begingroup$ The google maps estimate does not factor in pesky human things like needing to sleep or eat. It's simply dividing the estimated walking pace by the distance. Ask yourself if you can walk over 70 miles in a day. $\endgroup$– sphenningsCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 21:59
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2$\begingroup$ You could take the Oregon Trail as an example. At 2000 miles, it took 4 to 5 months, with a survival rate of around 90%. $\endgroup$– Robert RappleanCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 22:03
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3$\begingroup$ The answer also depends on the urgency of getting to the end sooner than later. Horses can be pushed to their limit, but they are not much use afterwards. The pony express, probably one of the the fastest travel times for horses, took ten days to go from one American coast to the other. Pulling a wagon would take considerably longer. $\endgroup$– Justin Thyme the SecondCommented Jan 11, 2023 at 22:22
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2 Answers
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You could always ask The Proclaimers...
Firstly though - your time to walk is massively optimistic - assuming a solid 10 hour walk at a 5 kph pace, that's 32 days, if we use the Army Ruck Marching pace (4 Mph) - that's still 25 days for a solid 10 hour walk
However - the real question is:
What sort of terrain are we traversing? A Roman-style paved aerterial road between major cities on reasonably flat ground? Then assuming ideal conditions, between 20-30 miles per day is reasonable for a horse, perhaps up to 40 - data taken from here: How long would it take to travel 200 miles by Horse and Carriage
The caveats given is whether or not you use the same horses and whether there is adequate rest at the end of each stretch.
So - perfect conditions, covering 40 miles a day, it's going to be 25 days.
But if it's not a set route, or there's hilly/mountainous terrain - that number could double or even triple.
answered Jan 11, 2023 at 21:47
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$\begingroup$ So there would approximately be a city every 200 miles but towards the end it would be a little hilly and mountainous. Most of it has been travelled through but there aren’t a lot of paths and in my head there are a lot of forests. Atm I’m just looking for a rough estimate so I can figure out a timeframe. Thank you. And they would be switching horses every chance they get/ city or town they make it to. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 11, 2023 at 21:53
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$\begingroup$ @RootBoi66 "there aren’t a lot of paths and in my head there are a lot of forests." That's going to significantly affect your journey time. Forests without paths are difficult (and slow) to even walk through. Add a wagon and it's going to be much, much harder. You can probably expect an average pace of less than 1 kph with a wagon through a forest without paths (also depending a bit on how dense the forest is of course). $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 8:03
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The 2000 mile trip by wagon and foot on the Oregon trail averaged 3 miles an hour and took four and a half months in the 1840s and 1850s. (Source). This is about 15 miles a day traveling for about five hours a day.
Half that distance would take about ten weeks (two and a quarter months).
If your party of three travelled lighter than the Oregon trail journey members and was more able bodied than the families of pioneers typically including children and pregnant women making those trips, it could probably go a bit faster.
But it is also worth recalling that lots of people died on the way.
It is estimated that 6-10% of all emigrants of the trails succumbed to some form of illness. Of the estimated 350,000 who started the journey, disease may have claimed as many as 30,000 victims. Since the trail was 2,000 miles long, this would indicate that there was an average of 10-15 deaths per mile.
(Source).
If there were bandits, hostile forces, or monsters on the route, it would be a lot more dangerous than that.
The weather and nature of the terrain would also impact the length of the journey.
As another example, the Silk Road is about 4,000 miles long and it wouldn't be unusual for caravans of traders making stops to conduct trade along the way to take two years to make the round trip journey, which is an average of about 10 miles a day. This would imply that a 1,000 mile trip at that pace would take about 100 days (three and a third months).
Both routes were typically taken by large groups of people in caravans, in part, as protection from any person or animals that could be hostile on the route, and to allow some slack if some percentages of wagons or horses failed. It would be considerably higher risk for a party of three to make the trip than a party of thirty, for example.
