Hiking Calorie Burn Calculator
Calculate calories burned hiking from your body weight, hours on trail, terrain, ascent, and pack weight.
Uses MET values plus an elevation correction.
Hiking calorie burn depends on your body weight, the terrain gradient, the distance covered, and the weight of your pack. It’s consistently higher than flat walking because of the constant engagement of leg and core muscles.
The Formula:
Calories = MET × Body weight (kg) × Hours × Pack factor, plus an elevation term
MET Values for Hiking:
| Condition | MET | Used here |
|---|---|---|
| Flat trail, no pack | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Moderate trail (5–10% grade) | 6.0–7.0 | 6.5 |
| Steep trail (10–20% grade) | 7.0–9.0 | 8.0 |
| Off-trail / bushwhacking | 8.0–10.0 | 9.0 |
The pack correction. Most sources tell you to add a flat 1 or 2 MET for a heavy pack, which cannot be right: the same 15 kg is a far bigger ask on a 55 kg hiker than on a 95 kg one. This calculator charges the pack in proportion instead.
Pack factor = 1 + (pack kg ÷ body kg) × 0.5
So a pack at 20% of your body weight costs you 10% more energy, which lines up with the treadmill studies on load carriage reasonably well.
Elevation Gain Correction:
Extra calories per 100 m of ascent = Body weight (kg) × 0.45 × pack factor
That figure comes out of the physics. Lifting 75 kg through 100 m is about 74 kJ of mechanical work, and human walking runs near 25% efficiency, so you burn roughly four times that, which is about 70 kcal. The 0.45 per kg per 100 m is a close enough shorthand.
Worked Example:
Hiker, 75 kg, 4-hour hike on moderate hills (MET 6.5), with a 10 kg pack, 400 m of total ascent:
- Pack factor: 1 + (10 ÷ 75) × 0.5 = 1.067
- Terrain burn: 6.5 × 75 × 4 = 1,950 kcal, × 1.067 = 2,080 kcal
- Elevation: (400 ÷ 100) × 75 × 0.45 × 1.067 = 144 kcal
- Total burn: 2,224 kcal, about 556 an hour
Nutrition Reference for Hiking:
| Hike Duration | Carbs Needed | Recommended Food |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 hours | 30–60g | 1–2 energy bars |
| 2–4 hours | 60–120g | Trail mix, banana |
| 4–8 hours | 120–240g | Sandwiches, dried fruit |
| Full-day 8+ hours | 240g+ | Substantial meals + snacks |
Practical Tips:
- Expect to drink 0.5 to 1 liter an hour depending on heat and terrain. The hiking water calculator works out the rate for your conditions and body weight
- Pack more calories than you think you need. Hunger at mile 10 is miserable
- Descending burns 30–40% fewer calories per hour than ascending the same grade
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.