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Calories Burned Hiking Calculator

See how many calories you burn hiking, based on standard MET values.

How it is calculated

Hiking has three conditions, each with a fixed MET value: general hiking 6.0, hiking with a pack 7.8, steep terrain 8.5. The tool calculates kcal = MET × 3.5 × W / 200 × T, where W is body weight in kilograms and T is hiking time in minutes. The 3.5 is one MET in ml of oxygen per kg per minute, and 200 turns it into kilocalories per minute. The result lists total calories, calories per minute and the MET used. The MET includes resting metabolism, so the total is all the energy spent on the trail. Weight and duration must be above zero; an unknown condition is treated as general. Elevation gain, distance and the actual weight of your pack are not inputs.

Worked example

A 75 kg hiker walks for 3 hours with a backpack, so the duration is 180 minutes and the MET is 7.8. Per minute: 7.8 × 3.5 × 75 / 200 = 10.24 kcal, shown as 10.2. Over the whole hike: 10.2375 × 180 = 1,842.75, which the tool rounds to 1,843. The result is 1,843 calories, at 10.2 per minute, with a MET of 7.8. Without the pack (6.0 METs) the same three hours would be about 1,418 calories.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering the duration in hours. The field is minutes, so a 3-hour hike must be typed as 180, not 3.
  • Including long lunch breaks, viewpoint stops and waiting for the group. Enter moving time, or the result is too high.
  • Adding your pack weight to your body weight and also choosing "with pack". The pack condition already uses a higher MET, so counting both overstates the burn.
  • Choosing "steep" for a hike with just a few climbs. It applies the same higher MET to every minute you enter, so it suits mostly steep terrain.
  • Entering weight in pounds. The formula needs kilograms, and 165 lb typed as 165 more than doubles the answer.

About this calculator

Hiking calorie burn is estimated with the same MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) framework used for walking, but hiking's METs run noticeably higher because of terrain and load: a moderate hike on a mixed trail sits around 5.3–6 METs, hiking with a loaded backpack pushes into the 7–9 MET range, and steep uphill hiking with pack weight can exceed 10 METs — reflecting the extra energy cost of elevation gain, uneven footing and carried weight that flat walking doesn't have. Calories burned = MET × 3.5 × body weight in kg ÷ 200 × duration in minutes (about 1.05 × MET × kg per hour), so a heavier pack and steeper grade both raise the effective MET used in the estimate.

These MET values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities used by exercise scientists, and are applied by backpackers and trekkers to plan trail food and water needs, by wilderness guides estimating group energy demands on multi-day trips, and by fitness apps that adjust hiking estimates for elevation gain data pulled from GPS.

Weight, time on the trail and an intensity that reflects terrain and pack load are matched to standard hiking MET values to estimate calories burned, a better basis for trail food than a flat-walking figure.

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