Work out calories and kilojoules burned hiking, based on your body weight, the terrain and pack weight you're carrying, and how long you're on the trail.
Hiking burns calories in proportion to how hard your body works against terrain, elevation and load, which is captured by a MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) value for each combination of trail difficulty and pack weight. The formula is calories = MET × body weight in kilograms × time in hours. A steeper trail or a heavier pack lifts the MET value, so the same walk on hillier ground or with more gear on your back burns noticeably more. A 70 kg hiker on moderate hills with a light pack (0–5 kg) for 90 minutes burns roughly 683 kcal, about 2,856 kJ.
| Metric | Value |
|---|
The calculation rests on three things: the terrain and pack weight you're carrying (expressed as a MET value), your body weight, and how long you were moving. Steeper ground and a heavier pack both push the MET value up, heavier hikers burn more per minute at any given MET, and more minutes on the trail simply means more total calories.
The table below holds terrain constant at moderate hills with a light pack (MET 6.5, roughly 3.5 km/h) for a full 3-hour hike, so you can see how much body weight alone changes the total.
| Body Weight | MET | Calories (3 hours) | Kilojoules |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | 6.5 | 1,170 kcal | 4,895 kJ |
| 70 kg | 6.5 | 1,365 kcal | 5,711 kJ |
| 80 kg | 6.5 | 1,560 kcal | 6,527 kJ |
| 90 kg | 6.5 | 1,755 kcal | 7,343 kJ |
| 100 kg | 6.5 | 1,950 kcal | 8,159 kJ |
Here body weight is fixed at 70 kg and only the terrain/pack preset changes, so you can see exactly how much trail difficulty and load matter on their own.
| Terrain / Pack Preset | MET | Benchmark Speed | Calories/hour | Kilojoules/hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy trail, flat, no pack | 5.3 | 4.0 km/h | 371 kcal | 1,552 kJ |
| Moderate hills, light pack (0-5kg) | 6.5 | 3.5 km/h | 455 kcal | 1,904 kJ |
| Steep terrain, moderate pack (~10kg) | 7.8 | 3.0 km/h | 546 kcal | 2,284 kJ |
| Mountainous terrain, heavy pack (20kg+) | 9.0 | 2.5 km/h | 630 kcal | 2,636 kJ |
For comparison, a 70 kg adult walking on flat ground at a moderate 5 km/h pace (MET 3.5) burns about 245 kcal/hr. Against that baseline, even an easy, flat, unloaded hiking trail burns roughly 51% more per hour, moderate hills with a light pack burn about 86% more, steep terrain with a moderate pack burns around 123% more, and mountainous terrain with a heavy pack burns close to 157% more — more than double the flat-walking rate.
Two things separate hiking from ordinary flat-ground walking, and both push your MET value — and therefore your calorie burn — well above a level footpath stroll. The first is elevation gain: climbing forces your leg and hip muscles to lift your entire body weight against gravity with every step, which is far more metabolically expensive than moving forward on level ground. The second is load: a pack adds directly to the mass your body has to move, stabilise and carry uphill, and also changes your posture and stride, which costs extra energy even on gentler sections. These two effects compound rather than simply add together, which is why the MET progression across the four presets above climbs so steeply — from 5.3 on an easy, unloaded flat trail to 9.0 on mountainous terrain with 20 kg or more on your back. Even the jump from an easy flat trail to moderate hills with only a light 0–5 kg pack lifts the hourly burn for a 70 kg hiker from 371 kcal to 455 kcal, an increase of roughly 23%, before you factor in a heavier load or steeper ground at all.
Australian nutrition panels list energy in kilojoules, not calories, so it helps to convert your hiking burn into the same unit your food packaging uses. Multiply your calorie figure by 4.184 to get kilojoules. A 70 kg hiker doing a 90-minute walk on moderate hills with a light pack burns about 683 kcal, which is roughly 2,856 kJ — useful to know if you want to weigh a hike against the energy value printed on a trail snack or sports drink label.
How many calories does hiking burn per hour?
It depends heavily on terrain and pack weight. For a 70 kg hiker, an easy flat trail with no pack (MET 5.3) burns about 371 kcal/hr, moderate hills with a light pack (MET 6.5) burns about 455 kcal/hr, steep terrain with a moderate pack (MET 7.8) burns about 546 kcal/hr, and mountainous terrain with a heavy pack (MET 9.0) burns about 630 kcal/hr. Use the calculator above with your own weight for a more exact figure.
Does carrying a backpack burn more calories?
Yes. A pack adds directly to the total mass your body has to move and stabilise, especially on climbs, which raises the effective MET value for the same trail. Comparing the presets above, moving from an easy flat trail with no pack to moderate hills with only a light 0–5 kg pack lifts the hourly burn for a 70 kg hiker from 371 kcal to 455 kcal, an increase of roughly 23%, and a heavy 20 kg+ pack on mountainous terrain pushes it to 630 kcal/hr.
How many calories does a 3-hour hike burn?
On moderate hills with a light pack (MET 6.5), a 3-hour hike burns about 1,365 kcal (roughly 5,711 kJ) for a 70 kg hiker. The total scales with body weight: a 60 kg hiker burns about 1,170 kcal, while a 100 kg hiker burns about 1,950 kcal over the same 3 hours on the same terrain.
What's the difference between hiking and flat-ground walking calorie burn?
Hiking almost always burns more than flat walking of the same duration, because elevation gain and uneven ground raise the effective MET value above a level footpath. A 70 kg adult walking on flat ground at 5 km/h (MET 3.5) burns about 245 kcal/hr, while the same person on an easy flat hiking trail burns about 371 kcal/hr — already 51% more — and on mountainous terrain with a heavy pack the gap grows to roughly 157% more than flat walking.
How much does terrain steepness affect hiking calorie burn?
Terrain steepness is one of the biggest levers in the calculation. Moving through the four presets used in this calculator, MET climbs from 5.3 on an easy flat trail to 6.5 on moderate hills, 7.8 on steep terrain, and 9.0 on mountainous terrain, which for a 70 kg hiker means the hourly burn rises from 371 kcal to 630 kcal across that same range — an increase of roughly 70% from the easiest to the hardest terrain and pack combination.
How do I convert hiking calories into kilojoules for Australian food labels?
Multiply the calorie figure by 4.184, the standard conversion between kilocalories and kilojoules used on Australian food labels. A 70 kg hiker on moderate hills with a light pack for 90 minutes burns about 683 kcal, which converts to roughly 2,856 kJ, useful for comparing your hike against the energy value printed on a trail snack or sports drink label.
Does body weight change how many calories hiking burns?
Yes, body weight is one of the three inputs in the calculation along with terrain/pack MET and time. Because calories equal MET multiplied by weight in kilograms multiplied by time in hours, a heavier hiker burns proportionally more than a lighter hiker covering identical terrain for an identical duration. Over a 3-hour hike on moderate hills, a 100 kg hiker burns roughly 1,950 kcal compared with about 1,170 kcal for a 60 kg hiker.
How accurate are these hiking calorie estimates?
MET-based estimates like this calculator are a useful guide but not an exact measurement. Real-world burn also depends on your fitness level, stride efficiency, footwear, how well a pack is fitted and balanced, trail surface, and weather conditions such as heat or wind. Treat the figures here as a solid approximation rather than a precise number, and use them mainly to compare how terrain, pack weight and duration change your effort.