How Many Calories Does Hiking Burn?

The number of calories you can expect to burn hiking depends on a variety of factors, particularly your weight and trail grade — or the steepness of the path.

This table estimates the number of calories burned per hour based on weight and trail grade at an average walking speed of 2.9–3.5 mph (4.7–5.6 kph) (1):

A grade of 1–5% is mild, while 6–15% ranges from medium to steep. Some trails may have a grade as high as 35%, which would burn even more calories.

You can get an idea of how different grades feel by gradually raising the incline on a treadmill.

Other factors that influence the number of calories burned include the weight of your backpack, temperature, and your age and sex (2).

Summary

The total calories you burn hiking depends mainly on your weight and the trail grade. Choosing a trail with a higher grade increases the number of calories burned per hour.

Walking and running are other common forms of outdoor exercise that many people use to stay fit and burn calories.

Calories burned walking

While some walking terrain may be hilly, it’s generally flat.

Thus, you’re likely to burn fewer calories when walking — even at a brisk pace — than when hiking. Nonetheless, other factors like terrain, temperature, and your weight, age, and sex also matter (2).

The table below compares the calories burned per hour either hiking at a shallow grade of 1–5% — assuming a moderate pace of 2.9–3.5 mph (4.7–5.6 kph) — with walking on flat ground at an average pace of 3 mph (4.8 kph) or a brisk pace of 4.0 mph (6.4 kph) (1).

Hiking burns more calories because trails are generally steeper and more uneven than walking paths, neighborhood roads, or sidewalks.

Still, if you don’t have access to trails, walking steep sidewalks may be comparable to hiking.

Calories burned running

Like walking, running tends to occur on mostly flat terrain. The calories you burn depends on your weight and running speed, among other factors.

According to data from a fitness app, the average global running speed is about 6 mph (9.7 kph) for women and 7 mph (11.3 kph) for men (3).

The table below compares the calories burned per 30 minutes of either hiking at a shallow grade of 1–5% — assuming a moderate pace of 2.9–3.5 mph (4.7–5.6 kph) — with running on flat ground at the average paces for women and men mentioned above (4).

As you can see, running burns roughly double the calories as hiking per half an hour. Still, you should keep in mind that many people hike for longer periods than they run. Thus, a hike’s total calories burned may be comparable to — or even higher than — a run’s.

Summary

The number of calories burned walking or running depends on your body weight and speed. In general, hiking burns fewer calories than running but more than walking.

Hiking has been shown to offer several health benefits.

Weight loss

Depending on the duration and trail grade, hiking may burn a significant number of calories.

As such, it can aid weight loss when paired with a healthy diet.

Of course, factors like the weather, the amount of free time you have, and your proximity to trails may limit how often you can hike — so this activity may not be a sustainable weight loss solution for many people.

All the same, setting the incline of a treadmill to 5% or higher may approximate a rigorous hike. You can also try walking steep sidewalks or hills.

Other benefits

Trail hiking may offer additional benefits that you can’t experience from walking on a treadmill.

One study found that outdoor mountain hiking led to greater improvements in mood, feelings of calmness, and anxiety than indoor treadmill walking (5).

Other reviews show similar results, suggesting that exercising outdoors in natural settings may lead to greater improvements in mental health than indoor physical activity (5, 6).

In either case, hiking or walking at an incline may likewise help build lower body strength, which is particularly important for maintaining mobility and avoiding injuries as you age (7, 8, 9).

Summary

Hiking may aid weight loss by increasing the number of calories you burn. Compared with indoor exercise, it’s associated with greater improvements in mental health.

The calories you burn hiking depends on your weight, the steepness of the terrain, and the duration of your excursion, as well as other factors like the weight of your backpack and temperature.

In general, hiking burns more calories than walking because it utilizes steeper paths. Yet, per half an hour, hiking burns fewer calories than running.

This form of outdoor exercise offers several benefits, including improvements in weight loss, mental health, and lower body strength.