Evaluating Trails

In order to plan successful and enjoyable outings, it is helpful to carefully evaluate trails to ensure that they fit the skill level of your group. The three most common metrics used to evaluate a trail are 

• Distance: the distance traveled in the course of the activity.

• Ascent: to cumulative sum of uphill travel. For example, if a trail goes 50 feet up one hill, then down into a creek bed, then up another hill 25 feet, the total ascent is 75 feet. Ascent is usually correlated with Distance, meaning the longer a trail is, the more Ascent we would expect from the trail.

• Steepness: The average Ascent per mile traveled (Ascent / Mile). Higher numbers may indicate more uphill than downhill walking, or may indicate very steep inclines. 

Steepness is usually a reliable indicator of the difficulty of a trail, and is the fastest way to evaluate if  your group will be successful on any given trail. As a broad generalization

• less than 100 feet per mile is an easy walk for most hikers.

• 150 - 200 feet per mile will be the challenging for novice hikers.

• 200 - 250 feet per mile will be comfortably challenging for seasoned hikers.

• more than 300 feet per mile will be challenging for seasoned hikers.

Where steepness can fail to predict the difficulty of a trail is if the trail is predominantly downhill. Most trails will have roughly the same Descent per mile as they do Ascent per mile. But if you have a long trail with a low Ascent per mile, it's good to check the elevation profile. If you are hiking a steep Descent, it may not be reflected in the Ascent per mile.

Another way to evaluate a hiking trail is to use Naismith's Rule to calculate the time to hike the trail. It's a good idea to keep hikes to less than 6-7 hours per day, especially if carrying a backpack. Hiking longer than this can lead to extreme fatigue and hikers may have trouble recovering in time for the next day. 

Naismith's rule is that the time to hike a trail is Hours = (Distance / 3) + (Ascent / 2000).  Keep in mind that Naismith's rule is best applied to adults (Naismith was an expert mountaineer). Younger hikers may require a little more time than is calculated by Naismith's Rule, especially when carrying weight. For less experienced hikers, we use the formula Hours = (Distance / 2) + Ascent / 1500) to represent the length of time novice hikers may require to complete a hike when backpacking. Taken together, these two values can be used to give an approximate window of time it may take for a group to complete a hike.

Using Naismith's rule, we can also calculate the Flat Mile Equivalent (FME), which provides an estimate of the distance a hiker would walk if a trail were "flattened." For example, a 3 mile trail that ascends 2,000 feet would feel about the same as a 6 mile hike on flat terrain.

Trails in our HEAT Library are published with the Distance, Ascent, Steepness, FME, and Hours for reference. 

The tables at the bottom of this page give recommendations for limiting daily distances.

Cycling trails may also be evaluated by estimating the time required to complete a trail. Doing so requires knowing the group's average riding speed on flat ground and the ascent the group can achieve each hour.  (you can learn more about these ideas here and here). Indivdual speeds on flat ground and up hills can vary quite a bit more than speeds when hiking. Our trails are published with the expected hours to complete based on a relatively seasoned cyclist (but not expert) and with a relatively novice cyclist. 

• Seasoned: Hours = (Distance / 15) + (Ascent / 2000)

• Novice: Hours = (Distance / 7.5) + (Ascent / 1000)

Canoeing routes rarely involve any significant elevation change unless portages are involved. Distance is the primary factor in determining the difficulty of an itinerary, but consideration must also be made for currents, winds, and especially skill level of the participants. Namely, participants who can keep the canoe moving in a straight direction are likely to move faster than participants who make frequent, wide swings along the path. 

Our experience has been that, assuming good weather conditions, most novice paddlers will travel between 1 and 2 miles per hours, and most seasoned paddlers will travel between 2 and 3 miles per hour. Itineraries are published with Distance and hours to travel at 1, 2, and 3 miles per hour. 

The following tables provide insight into the limits of what a group of hikers may be able to accomplish.  The contents of the table give the Flat Mile Equivalents of a hike based on its Distance and Ascent.  Recommended limits will be different for day hiking and backpacking.