How Fast and Far Could a Nephite Walk?

To Mesoamerican Theorists, the Isthmus of Tuantepec, a distance of 144 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, is the Nephite Narrow Neck of Land. Because of this pre-determinated distance, these Theorists make outlandish claims to justify their model. Take E. L. Peay, in his book, "The Lands of Zarahemla," page 147, states that the line of fortifications the Nephites built across this 144-mile wide isthmus:

“The length of the fortification was one day's journey for a Nephite, approximately 144 miles wide from the west sea to probably 2/3 way across the Yucatan peninsula.”

This type of irresponsible writing is the worst kind of manipulation of the scripture. First of all, there is obviously no mention of the Yucatan peninsula in the scriptures, nor is there anything mentioned to suggest a whopping 144 miles for a day's journey of a Nephite. To cover 144 miles in a day, a person would have to cover an average of 5.5 miles per hour for 24 straight hours. Even 2/3 of that would be 96 mile, or 4 miles per hour for 24 hours.
What scholars often forget is that the abridger of the record understood that his writing would be for a future people. Since he had no knowledge of what terminology of distances would be known by that future people, he would have to choose a method of travel to make distances understandable. Obviouisly, the one thing that would be consistent then and now is the length of a day—the rotation of the earth in a 24-bour period. The other thing that would seem to be consistent is travel time—that is, how far can the average person walk in a certain length of time.

Thus, Mormon gives us several instances of distance and always connecting days with travel. While Nephi listed travel in both specific days (1 Nephi 2:6; 16:13) and many days (1 Nephi 16:17, 33), Mormon tended toward the specifics. While it took "many days" for Zeniff to reach the land of Lehi-Nephi (Mosiah 9:4), it was a 40-day trip for Ammon (Mosiah 7:5). It took Alma 8 days to reach Helam (Mosiah 23:3) and another 12 days for him to reach the land of Zarahemla (Mosiah 24:25). We often get the impression of this use of many days that it was a long period, sometimes involving months or years.

But when Mormon wants to be specific to illustrate how long something is (as we would typically say in miles today), he tells us how long it would take a person to cover that distance. Thus, 1 1/2 days travel for a Nephite across the narrow neck of land (Alma 22:32), and a day's travel the length of the fortification that had been set up to defend themselves against Lamanite incursions (Helaman 4:7). Since the intent of both these latter instances (as opposed to the travel of Zeniff, Ammon, and Alma) is to convey how wide or long something is, he uses a specific terminology of how long it would take a Nephite to journey from one point to another.

Why a Nephite? Since there were only Nephites and Lamanites in the land of promise, he uses a Nephite since that would be more in keeping with a future people, whom he had likely seen since prophets are typically given a view of the future. Obviously, the Lamanites who were used to traveling in open land as hunters (Enos 1:20) would probably be able to cover more ground than city-dwelling Nephites. Knowing his work would be read by a future people who would be more like the Nephites than the Lamanites, Mormon uses the distance a Nephite could travel.

Thus common sense and logic should tell us that Mormon is trying to convey distance in a way we would understand, and this length of journey would probably be what we could cover today. To suggest a Nephite would travel a full 24-hours without sleeping or resting is disingenuous. Consequently, if the travel time was during a day, it would probably be about 12 hours of actual travel, making the pace 12 miles per hour to cover 144 miles. Or 9 miles per hour in a day and a half journey. Either way, the idea is ridiculous. (2/3 would be 8 and 12 miles per hour)

Before making such outlandish comments, perhaps these Theorists should try walking from Provo to Beaver, about 140 miles, and see how long it takes, and if they would try it for a straight 24 hours, or stop to rest. And that is over flat, paved ground. The Land of Promise would have had hills, cliffs, gorges, valleys, mountains, etc, making coverage on uneven ground much more difficult. Probably a better figure would be about 2 miles an hour, which is maintaining a very brisk walk, or a distance of about 24 miles in a 12 hour period, or 36 miles in a day and a half. Nowhere in all of Mesoamerica do figures like these match.