Hiking Calorie Calculator

How to use this calculator

1. Choose Imperial (miles / feet / lbs) or Metric (km / meters / kg).
2. Enter your distance — the total trail length, not just the ascent.
3. Enter your elevation gain — total vertical feet or meters climbed. Check your trail map or a hiking app for this figure.
4. Enter your weight.
5. Select your terrain type.
6. Click Calculate Calories.

Tip: Elevation gain has a significant effect on calorie burn. A flat 5-mile walk and a 5-mile hike with 1,500 feet of gain can differ by 200–400 calories.

How it works

Base calories and the elevation factor

This calculator combines two calorie components. Base hiking calories use Calories = MET × weight (kg) × time (hours) with a hiking MET of 5.3 (Ainsworth et al., 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities). Time is estimated at a standard hiking pace of 3 mph (4.8 kph) adjusted for terrain. Elevation gain adds extra calories using the approximation: elevation bonus = weight (kg) × elevation gain (m) × 0.45 ÷ 1000 — derived from the mechanical work required to raise body mass against gravity, scaled by typical human metabolic efficiency (~25%). Terrain multipliers (1.0–1.4) reflect the additional muscular effort of unstable or soft surfaces.

Why hiking burns more than walking

Hiking consistently burns more calories per mile than flat walking for three reasons: grade (the body must lift itself vertically), terrain instability (more stabilizer muscle recruitment), and load (backpack weight adds to the mass being moved). Research published in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that inclined treadmill walking at a 10% grade burns approximately 40% more calories per minute than level walking at the same speed. A moderately challenging hike with 1,000 feet of gain per 5 miles (roughly a 4% grade) typically burns 30–50% more than a flat 5-mile walk.

Track it with StepGoals

StepGoals' GPS Sessions feature is built for exactly this kind of outing. Start a session before your hike and it records your full route, distance, step count, pace, and elevation profile using your iPhone's GPS and barometer. The session summary shows a map of your trail alongside all your stats — so you can see the actual calories Apple Health calculated based on your heart rate and motion data, not an estimate.

Floors climbed — tracked via your iPhone's built-in barometric pressure sensor — also appears on the StepGoals main screen as one of the daily metric cards. A mountain hike with significant elevation will register a large floors count, which you can set as a separate goal and track alongside your step total.