Hiking calorie calculator

Hours on the trail

How the two hour example reaches 769

Calories equals MET times body weight in kilograms times hours. The Compendium MET definition, checked October 11, 2026, gives 1 MET as 1 kcal per kg per hour.

Pounds become kilograms by dividing by 2.2046. Minutes become hours by dividing by 60. The example starts with 160 pounds, or 72.58 kilograms rounded for display. At 5.3 MET for two hours, 5.3 times 72.58 times 2 gives about 769 calories. The calculator rounds only the final result to a whole calorie.

Body weight alone goes into this formula. Pack weight is not added, and the Compendium walking page gives no instruction to add it.

Calories burned hiking for one, two or four hours

The Compendium walking entries, checked October 11, 2026, list these hiking descriptions and MET values. Each calorie cell uses the body weight at the top of its column.

The Compendium prints estimated MET values in red. None of the 19 entries on this page is printed in red.

Across these weights and hiking entries, one hour gives 224 to 599 calories, two hours gives 448 to 1197 and four hours gives 896 to 2395. At 160 pounds, the two hour figures are 552 for code 17081, 769 for code 17082 and 871 for code 17080.

For a given entry, hours and body weight both multiply the result. More of either raises the number in step.

Climbing hours depend on pace as well as grade

Grade is rise over distance. A 10% grade means 10 feet of climb for every 100 feet of distance. These no-load entries pair a grade with a pace, so the grade alone does not determine the MET.

At 160 pounds, an hour ranges from 363 calories for code 17032 to 1183 for code 17040. Code 17034 shares the normal hiking entry's 5.3 MET. Code 17035 lists 7.0 MET, giving 508 calories at that weight, compared with 385 for code 17034.

The grade ranges overlap. Very slow climbing at 5 to 20% grade is 5.0 MET in code 17032. Slow-to-moderate climbing at 11 to 20% is 8.8 MET in code 17036. Even the 30% grade in code 17038 has a lower value of 8.5 MET, with its slow pace of less than 1.2 mph. Climbing on a stair machine or a real staircase uses separate entries, shown in calories for stair climbing and the StairMaster.

A trail that climbs and then levels includes different kinds of walking. This calculator gives a result for one entry at a time, so a mixed trail takes one calculation for each stretch, added together.

What the pack descriptions actually specify

Code 17033 states 15-50 lb, code 17045 states 10 to 20 lb, code 17050 states 21 to 40 lb and code 17060 states 20+ pound. No pack weight is stated for backpacking code 17010, level-ground day pack code 17011 or hiking with a daypack code 17012.

Pack weight is not added to body weight. The load belongs to the entry's description, and the walking page gives no instruction to add it in the formula. The load ranges overlap, while the grades and paces differ.

An hour at 160 pounds gives 254 calories for code 17011 and 566 for code 17012. Code 17060 has the highest MET in this group at 10.0, giving 726 calories for that hour. Code 17033 shares the slow no-load hiking entry's 3.8 MET.

The separate downhill walking figure

Code 17180 states a speed but no grade. Its 3.3 MET is lower than all three hiking entries. The treadmill calorie calculator lists the treadmill downhill entries 17382 and 17412, which also use 3.3 MET.

A trail has details these entries do not describe

The Compendium explanation of corrected METs, checked October 11, 2026, makes these statements about its values.

The Compendium was not developed to determine the precise energy cost of activities within an individual.

It does not correct the MET levels for age, body mass, and sex.

Individuals in the normal body mass index (BMI) category and with a younger age have corrected MET levels closer to the Adult Compendium values. However, as the BMI and age increase, the actual energy cost of the activity increases.

neither the standard nor the corrected MET values replace the direct assessment of RMR or energy expenditure and do not remove all error and misclassification identified from direct measurement.

These descriptions name fields, hillsides, level ground, grades, paces and loads. They name no trail surface such as rock, mud or snow, no altitude and no weather. The formula has no input for any of those details. Time on snow with skis or a board has its own entries, in downhill and cross-country skiing calories.

When the starting information is different

The walking calorie calculator by distance and speed uses miles. For a step count, the steps to calories calculator estimates calories and the steps to miles calculator estimates distance.

The cycling calorie calculator covers bike rides. The TDEE calculator estimates daily energy expenditure.

The water intake calculator works out a daily water figure from body weight and exercise minutes.

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Answers about trail time and loads

How many calories does hiking burn?

At 160 pounds, the formula gives 552 calories for two hours of slow hiking, 769 at a normal pace and 871 for cross country hiking. These use codes 17081, 17082 and 17080.

Is pack weight added to body weight?

No. The formula uses body weight alone. The Compendium walking page gives no instruction to add pack weight.

What does the downhill walking entry list?

Code 17180 is Walking, 2.5 mph, downhill at 3.3 MET. For one hour at 160 pounds, the formula gives 239 calories.

The walking codes and their definitions

1. Compendium Walking activity entries, checked October 11, 2026.
2. Compendium unit conversions and MET definition, checked October 11, 2026.
3. Compendium corrected MET explanation, checked October 11, 2026.