HIKANATION FACT SHEET
(facts, estimates, and guesstimates)

• Purpose:  To raise public awareness of hiking trails, galvanize the hiking community, and provide awareness of the new American Hiking Association (per AHS website). Additional purposes for the hike included highlighting the need for more hiking trails across America and promoting hiking as a low energy consumption form of recreation. It provided the impetus for the the American Discovery Trail (ADT).
  
  
• The Organizers:
  1.  Jim Kern, American Hiking Society founding president
  2.  Paul Pritchard, Appalachian Trail Conference Exec. Director
  3.  William Kemsley, Jr., Founding publisher Backpacker magazine
  4.  Glenn Seaborg, Nobel Laureate, Atomic Energy Commission
  5.  Mike McReynolds, San Francisco Bay Area Chairman
  7.  Reese Lukei, Jr., "Cumberland Gap, Kentucky to the Atlantic"
  8.  Also see The Organizers for state coordinators and pathfinders.
  
  
• Hike Support Director/Coordinator:
  Lt. Col. Monty Montgomery, retired, USAF
  Monty's Airstream trailer and van were the primary HikaNation support vehicles.
  
  
• Sponsors:  American Hiking Society, US Dept. of the Interior (HCRS),
  Backpacker magazine, Postum, Dunspaugh Dalton Foundation.
  See Sponsors, Supporters, and Suppliers for a more complete list.
  
  
• Dates:
  April 12, 1980 from San Francisco, California to
  May  27, 1981 in Cape Henlopen, Delaware
  
  
• # of states crossed  -  14 states and Washington, D.C. :
  California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado
  Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri,
  Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia,
  Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware
  
  
• # of miles and days:  4,236 miles and 411 days
  From "Bruce Ohlson's HikaNation Stats".
  
  
• # of miles hiked per day:  12 - 20 miles
  From Postum Fact Sheet  below
  and "Bruce Ohlson's HikaNation Stats".
  
  
• Average pack weight:  55.6 pounds (with 7-days food)
  (men - 57 pounds; women - 52.7 pounds)
  From the Postum Fact Sheet below.
  
  
• HikaNation Participation Fee:  $1.00 per day for the first 30 days;
  no charge after the 30th day ( One year of Service @ $30.00 per year ).
  
  
• Opening Weekend Registration Fee:  $3.00 for the Weekend Registration Packet containing Sunday's Oakland Bay Bridge crossing ticket, 6-color shoulder patch, participation certificate, route information, & more.
  A  $2.00 separate fee was available for just the Oakland Bay Bridge crossing ticket.
  
  
• # of people participating on April 12, 1980 at the
  Golden Gate Polo Grounds Opening Ceremonies:  +/-  600
  From S.F. Sunday Examiner & Chronicle - "Hikers on first leg"
  From AHS newsletter - "HikaNation Kick Off: A Resounding Success"
  
  
• Kickoff:  7000+  hiked across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, California,
  on April 13th.  From Backpacker magazine and other newspaper articles.
  
  
• Cost per mile:  "8 cents a mile in shoes and socks"
  From Bruce Ohlson - "At 8 Cents a Mile, Hike's Worth Trip"
  
  
• Cost per day:  $5 - $7 per day
  
  
• Cost for the trip:  +/-   $3000.00 - $5000.00
  
  
• # of hikers officially signed up in California for the entire hike:  67 - 87
  (67) - Rex Halfpenny - "Experience Is The Key Word"
  (73) - Bruce Ohlson - "Walk a mile in this man's shoes"
  (87) - William Kemsley - "Three decades of Protecting..."
  
  
• # of hikers finishing up in Washington, D.C.,
  from those who originally signed up in California:  40 - 42
  (40) - Baltimore Evening Sun - "40 hearty souls' coast-to-coast feat"
  (40) - American Hiker - "HikaNation Comes to Washington"
  (42) - The Hikers (& Organizers) incomplete text-list chart
  
  2 - 4  "original California hikers" left after D.C., opting not to go to the Atlantic.
  Toni Martinazzi and Rich Warnick definitely left after D.C.;
  there are others whose final destinations are not definite at this time...
  see "Questions" on The Hikers (& Organizers) incomplete text-list chart.
  
  
• # of hikers finishing up in the Atlantic,
  from those who originally signed up in California:  35 - (38 - 40)
  (35) - The Inquirer - "Coast to coast, 35 strong - ..."
  (36) - Bruce Ohlson - "Walk a mile in this man's shoes"
  (37) - The Washington Post - "37 have hiked a nation"
  (38 - 40) - The Hikers (& Organizers) incomplete text-list chart
  
  
• # of hikers finishing up in the Atlantic,
  regardless of where they started:  +/-  54
  
  
• # of core group hikers throughout the hike:  35 - 45
  (40) - from the World Staff newspaper
  
  
• # of hikers listed in the Washington, D.C.
  Congressional Record of The House of Representatives:  54
  
  
• # of hikers walking down Pennsylvania Avenue
  in the Washington, D.C., arrival parade, May 13, 1981:  71
  From The Tribune - "Hikers cross nation to Capitol"
  
  
• # in the crowd at the Washington, D.C., Capitol steps, May 13, 1981:  106
  "I walked U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond over from his office and we were there when the crowd was there. As an official of the Department of Interior, I declare there were 106 people standing before us."
  Signed, Paul Pritchard (signed - 08/16/2022)
  Deputy Director (retired) - Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service
  U.S. Department of Interior
  
  
• # of hikers joining HikaNation along the way:  +/-  500
  From Las Vegas Review-Journal - "Hikers end walk to champion cause across U.S."
  
  
• # of hikers who hiked long distances:  280
  including the "original California hikers" plus those who joined along the way,
  from Backpacker Magazine
  
  
• Oldest long-term female hiker:
  Marcie Guerrein, 58 years old
  Lorraine Radomski, ?? years old
  Jeannie Harmon, 53 years old
  
  
• Oldest long-term male hiker:
  John Stout, 69 years old
  Roxy Radomski, ?? years old
  
  
• Youngest long-term female hikers:
  Jerri Hudson, 18 years old
  Janet Parsons, 18 years old
  
  
• Youngest long-term male hikers:
  Rob Burns , 14 years old
  Howard Gilby, 16 years old
  Kurt Burke, 17 or 18 years old
  Chad Harris, 12 years old (hiked off and on,
  California through Utah)
  Chris Evans, age unknown
  
  
• Youngest long-term participant:
  Jiamie Pyles, 6-months old
  
  
• Age / Sex of HikaNation hikers surveyed on April 16, 1980 -
  5th day of the hike - Mt. Diablo summit campsite.
  17 females (27% ) with an average age of 33;
  46 males ( 73% ) with an average age of 32.
  From Bruce Ohlson's HikaNation Surveys.
  
  
• Sex of HikaNation hikers on May 27, 1981 -
  411th and last day of the hike - Atlantic Ocean.
  17 females ( 32% ) and 36 males ( 68% ).
  From The Hikers (& Organizers) incomplete text list.

HIKANATION POSTUM FACT SHEET
From Postum and Carl Byoir & Associates, Inc.

Listed below are some interesting facts about Postum HikaNation --
how the hikers survive on the trail and how the group governs itself.

• The hikers traveled from  12 to 20 miles per day,  depending on their schedule,
  the terrain and the weather. They camped more or less as a group each night, but traveled by day in ones or twos. In a typical week, the hikers traveled for six days, allowing one day of rest.
  
  
• On the average, each hiker spent $354 on new equipment in preparation for the journey. In a survey, they said they expected to spend $287 more on the trail for additional equipment.
  
  
• It cost each hiker about $7 a day to remain on the trail. The total cost of the year-long hike per hiker was estimated to be slightly more than $3,000. Medical costs were estimated about seven cents per hiker per mile.
  
  
• The average weight of the hikers' backpack was 55.6 pounds, with seven days food and water to last through a 15-mile day (two to three quarts). The men carried an average pack weight of 57 pounds, or 34.7 percent of their total body weight. The women's packs averaged 52.7 pounds, or 35.7 percent of body weight.
  
  
• The hikers carried everything necessary for survival on the trail in aluminum frame backpacks, including food, water, clothing, extra shoes, cooking utensils, portable stove, tent, bed-roll and sleeping bag.
  
  
• The hikers usually ate freeze-dried foods along the trail because they tried to keep their packs as light as possible. Restaurants, however -- when nearby -- provided the occasional luxury of hot, better-balanced meals. (Editor's Note: Many, many hikers did not use freeze-dried foods at all.)
  
  
• The hikers governed themselves through a steering committee which considered suggestions and complaints on topics ranging from how many miles to hike in a day to methods for celebrating holidays. The committee also ruled on behavior, setting up a sequence that involved a warning, probation and expulsion. The committee's membership changed regularly, rotating among all members of the HikaNation group.
  
  Much of the statistical information listed above was gathered by one of the hikers, Bruce Ohlson, a 32-year-old bus driver from Pittsburg, Calif., who plans to it a book about his experiences.