Hiking Time Calculator

Estimate your hiking time or duration with our hiking time calculator using Naismith's rule and its further corrections considering the descent and the type of ground you are hiking on.

Determining the time to climb is one of the most important points you should take when organizing your trip. If you're using public transportation, it's even more important, as you'll need to plan your walk to match the departure time of the bus or train. If you're following weather forecasts, you can check your hiking time to ensure you'll reach your accommodation before dark or avoid a dangerous weather collapse.

Whatever the reason, our walking time calculator is a convenient tool to find out how long your planned hike will take. Now pack your backpack, plan your trip, and have a great hike!

When you are planning a walk or a hike, that's one of the first and most critical questions. If you are a responsible hiker, you want to know if you make it home before it gets dark or before your stamina runs out. This is where walk and hike time calculators can help you ensure your safety. When you know the hiking distance and height, you can check how many steps per mile you take.

So, let's assume you want to know how long it takes to hike 5 miles. Well, it depends on:

• Your fitness level;
• How steep the route is;
• How heavy your backpack is;
• How long your breaks will be, and
• What the hiking conditions are.

So, let's see how to calculate this.There are many different ways of calculating the hike length:

• Naismith's rule — the simplest one that gives you a reasonable minimum time to climb.
• Tranter's corrections — allow encountering for fitness type and fatigue level.
• Aitken corrections — take into consideration the surface type.
• Langmuir corrections — calculate descent depending on the steepness of the slope.

There are many ways to estimate the hiking time, but let's start with the simplest one you can memorize. It's called Naismith's rule. Naismith was a Scottish accountant and mountaineer who devised this handy rule of thumb in 1892. Despite the rule's age, it still works effectively. You can imagine that Naismith didn't spend much time at his desk then, so he was relatively fit. Because of that, we like to think of Naismith's rule as the minimum walk time calculator.

Naismith's rule

Allow 1 hour for every 3 miles (5 km) forward + 1 hour for every 2000 feet (600 m) of ascent.

This means that the average walking time for a mile according to Naismith is 20 minutes. However, Naismith was optimistic and only took into account hiking time on level ground, and neglected the effects of rest, extra weight, bad weather, and rough underfoot conditions.

Several refinements that are used in our hiking time calculator have been made to Naismith's rule. In 1977, Aitken assumed that a speed of 3 miles/h (5 km/h) could be maintained on paths and roads, while it is reduced to 2.5 miles/h (4 km/h) in all other areas. Langmuir then added another refinements when going downhill:

For gentle declines (slopes between 5 and 12 degrees), subtract 10 minutes for each 300 meters of descent.

For steep decline (slopes above 12 degrees) add 10 minutes for each 300 meters of descent.

Using our hiking time calculator is easy and intuitive:

1. Choose the ground conditions. Will you take roads and paths or other grounds?

2. Select the descent slope, gentle or steep.

3. Enter the total distance you plan to walk or hike. You can get this information from a digital or paper map.

4. Add the break time, or enter 0 if you do not anticipate a time for rest.

5. Enter the total gain in height (ascent) during that walk or hike.

6. Enter the total descent you must do on the walk or hike. Enter 0 if you do not include descent distance.

7. Once you have those numbers filled in, the calculator will estimate how long you should walk this route!