Hiking Calculator

Calculating calories burned during various kinds of activities is a fairly simple matter as it revolves around the following equation:

Calories burned = MET × Weight (kg) × Time (hrs)

MET, short for metabolic equivalent, is the amount of oxygen used for particular activities, such as running, walking up the stairs, or cycling. You can check here the most common MET values for different activities. As an example, a person weighing 70 kg (154 lbs) who jogs for an hour will burn approximately 70 × 7 × 1 = 490 calories. Although this result is only approximate, it can serve as a good starting point for our further calculations.

Back in 2002, a group of researchers published a paper in the Journal of Applied Physiology entitled, "Energy cost of walking and running at extreme uphill and downhill slopes". They put a group of volunteers on a treadmill and started testing how much oxygen they use at different gradients, starting from the flat walk or run and climbing higher and higher.

After thorough research, they were able to determine how the slope of a hill or mountain affects the amount of oxygen used and, as a result, energy consumed. Having calculated that, they were able to come up with an equation that roughly allows comparing calories burned on a walk and a hike. From there, it was only a short way to use the aforementioned equation and calculate the energy levels for both climbing up and down.

We took the inspiration for this calculator from a very similar tool published several years ago on Hiking Science blog. And it goes like this:

1. Enter the length of your trail (one-way) as well as its elevation gain (the sum of every elevation hiked during the trail) into the hiking calculator. This information should be available online, as well as at the trail itself.

2. Add your body weight.

3. Enter your backpack's weight (skip if you're not taking one — though, how will you carry your food and water?).

4. Once you have those 4 numbers filled in, all calculations will be performed, and you'll see your approximate results.

Let's discuss a simple example to make things clear. Mark went on a hike last weekend, which lasted for 12 miles (19.3 km) in total (so 6 miles one-way) and featured a 2500 ft (762 m) elevation gain. Mark is pretty slim himself, weighing 150 pounds (68 kg) and carrying 18 pounds (8.15 kg) of backpack on his back. As you can see from the calculator, the trail averaged around 7.9% grade (remember to use the one-way distance — 6 miles).

Now that we have those numbers, we can calculate the number of calories burned on the way up and down. First, if Mark were to leave his backpack before the trail start, he would burn roughly 924 calories on the way up and 533 on the way down. In total — 1457 calories. Add the backpack, and the numbers go up — 998.5 kcal for going up and 575.5 kcal down. In total, Mark should expect to burn around 1574 calories during his hike.

Now, note that we based those formulas on research done in a lab and not on a mountain slope. This means many outside factors were not taken into consideration, such as Mark's stamina and individual predispositions, weather conditions, trail structure, and speed of hike. Unfortunately, we simply don't have a sufficient amount of data, so we can only offer approximate values.

Regardless, it should work as an interesting way to check the calories needed for each trail and could help hikers better prepare for their trips. Use the tool responsibly, and don't forget to take some water and food with you, even if you're headed just for a short walk. Best of luck!

Not sure how much water to take on your hike? Our water intake calculator will help you with that.