Few developments changed the world like flight. The ability to move around the world quickly and see it from above absolutely revolutionized humanity.
There’s still nothing quite like seeing the world from ground level, of course. It’s just a much more time-intensive, sweat-producing process, and at some point, you just can’t rely on your own two feet anymore.
Just how far a human can go on the planet just by walking is an interesting question and one that Joseph Pisenti of RealLifeLore decided to find out.
The absolute farthest single route between two points a person can walk before they have to get on a boat clocks in at 14,334 miles.
As Pisenti says in breaking down this epic hike on his RealLifeLore YouTube channel, nobody has ever managed to complete the journey. “People have already climbed the tallest mountain, sunk to the deepest part of the ocean and even landed on the moon, but nobody has ever accomplished the longest possible trek.”
And after doing some more research, it’s easy to see why nobody has ever done it.
The route begins at the southern-most point on the continent of Africa, L’Agulhas, South Africa.
It’s a nice, scenic village with a historic lighthouse, making it a serene spot to start out the journey.
And it’s all uphill from there. No, really, from the start to the end point in Magadan, Russia, the elevation goes up 76.5 miles, and back down again, which Pisenti notes is the same as climbing and descending Mt. Everest 14 times.
The route avoids the major cities on its way out of South Africa, but Pisenti notes that the real dangers start to ramp up in neighboring Zimbabwe.
In fact, even not taking into account active war zones, Africa would be a challenge just from the animals, like Zimbabwe’s black mambas, and malaria-bearing mosquitoes of Malawi, Zambia, and Uganda. And then there’s the roadless Sahara Desert in Sudan and Egypt to traverse, so good luck with that.
Crossing out of Africa and into the Middle East shouldn’t provide much relief, however.
There’s no escaping the dangers of war-torn Syria, which Pisenti notes is the second most dangerous country in the world after Afghanistan. But, if you survive that, you get to visit Turkey and Georgia, before entering the last country on the list, Russia.
The thing is, you’ll have to spend some of that time in Siberia, and it’s so big that you’re guaranteed to be there during the winter. The stretch between Yakutsk, with its average January temperatures of -39 C, and the endpoint in Magadan, is known as the Road of Bones, Pisenti says, after all the laborers who died building the road.
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So, it’s definitely not the same thing as hiking the Appalachian Trail.
In all, walking at a pace of 20 km per day, eight hours a day, Pisenti says it would take 1,153 days, which is more than three years. But hey, if you can survive that trek, you’d be the first to do it!
Check out Pisenti’s full video below.