Hiking Calculator
Fill out the form below to get an estimate of how long your hike will take.About the Calculator
Distance: This is your round trip distance. Thus, if it's 4 miles to the summit, and you backtrack over your same trail, you should enter 8 here.Elevation Gain: This is not the elevation at the summit. That number is the vertical distance from sea level. So unless you're hiking Cadillac Mountain (which essentially rises out of the Maine coast), the summit elevation will give you a very bad result. This is the vertical distance from the base to the summit. If you are hiking multiple peaks, you should also include the elevation gain from the low point of the col to the next peak.
Athletic Evaluation: Consider the member of your hiking party who is least active. The reason "Regular Hiker" and "Athletic" are separated into two different categories is that hiking uses your body in different ways from many other athletic endeavors. I don't consider myself to be an athlete, but at 43 years of age, I can out-hike high school basketball and soccer players, but only on long hikes! If you have an overweight hiker, you should be aware that the steeper and longer your hike is, the more likely that the hiker will have knee/leg problems. And if that happens, all bets are off on the amount of time it's going to take!
Hike Type: I've heard it recommended that you should count on twice as much time to snowshoe a mountain than you would take in the summer. This also depends on your level of athleticism, and I try to incorporate that into the calculator results.
Disclaimer: DouglasTwitchell.com makes no promises regarding the accuracy of this calculator. Your mileage may vary...so to speak!
Douglas Twitchell is the administrator of HikerSpace.net, where more hiking information is just a search away!