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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MoutonRustique" data-source="post: 6690677" data-attributes="member: 22362">If you're in virgin terrain like the Appalachians you... well, on average, you're not doing more than a mile a day...There are no roads, and, in most instances, the trees will not allow you to pass at anything more than a very, very slow walking speed as you'll be shouldering your way through undergrowth, closely-set trees, very rocky terrain and etc.If you don't know the path to take, you will be making many back-tracks as you are confronted with an impassible climb, rivers/gullies with very steep banks, etc, etc.If you ever feel the need to be impressed by the original settlers (or really understand why water travel was the way to go), grab yourself a gps with extra-batteries and just set out cross country from a trail in a parc (don't get caught - you're not supposed to walk outside the trails, and they don't like it... not one bit.) Set yourself a simple goal like "2 km beyond this ridge" - it's impressive how hard it is to do...In my personal experience, the furthest I've been able to walk in this kind of terrain is 5 km in about 6 hours of walking - and I was alone, on foot, with excellent trekking gear, no baggage/weight slowing me down, a excellent knowledge of the lay of the land, a map and a compass.Take away my knowledge of the layout and the passes and I probably wouldn't have been able to get to my goal in less than 2 or 3 days - and I was walking through what would be termed "gentle hills".Granted, I'm not an outdoors expert by any stretch, but I do have impressive resources when compared to your average "explorer" : pin-point accurate satellite maps with detailed topographical information. No need to carry any kind of weight beyond a few pounds of water. Very light clothing and shoes. A certainty of safety - I know where I am, where I'm going, no dangerous animals or orcs. The fact that I can yell and someone will probably hear me (always less than a few km away from someone). Very favorable weather - I'm not going hiking a day w/o sun, w/ too much sun, etc.I'm guessing that all that counts for a fair bit... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Note : I'm talking about useful distance traveled - not the distance you actually traveled. Backtracking and detours are a very real thing and they will account for a very significant amount of your travel time - unless your blessed by the travel gods and always find the right path on the first try!Also, if the object of the game is exploration and travel - don't use real-world conditions, it won't make for an exciting story (unless you play from a "larger" viewpoint.)</blockquote>

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