Part of the enjoyment of hiking is planning.
Even with a day hike in a new area, it can help to know how long it will take you to complete the trail.
With experience, you will get to know your abilities, pace, and average time per mile, making it easy to determine how long it will take, even in an unfamiliar area.
There are many factors that contribute to how long it could take you to complete a hike though. Depending on the hiking area, there may be a guidebook, app, or an area map given to you at the visitor center.
These types of resources can be helpful because they will likely provide average hiking times for the most popular trails.
How long it takes you to complete a hike is often referred to as “book-time.”
This term comes from the use of guidebooks versus our current more frequent use of smartphone apps.
In this article, we will break down how to determine your trail book-time so you are prepared for your hike and can plan accordingly.
Calculating How Long it Takes to Complete a Hike
The skill of being able to calculate how much time it will realistically take you to hike any distance is a must for backcountry travel.
It should rank with other important skillsets such as navigation.
The reason knowing how long a hike will take you is that it will help you determine how far you can travel, how many resources (like water) you need to bring, and it prevents you from getting stuck hiking in the dark.
Apply Naismith’s Rule
One of the tried and tested methods for determining how long it will take you to hike any distance is called Naismith’s Rule.
This was developed by a Swedish hiker in the 1890s.
There are plenty of ways to modify this rule to make it more applicable to your abilities and the terrain, but it provides a fast and basic way to estimate how long a hike should take you.
Naismith’s Rule = 20 minutes per mile + 60 minutes per every 2000 feet of ascent
One thing to note is that 20 minutes per mile is a pretty steady pace, even for backpackers, but if you are new to hiking, it could take you longer.
Adjust this rule accordingly, and even consider timing yourself on a local one-mile trail to see how accurate this speed is to your actual hiking pace.
Notice that Naismith’s Rule requires that you add 60 minutes per 2000 feet of ascent.
This is an important addition, because when you are ascending, not only will it take longer for you to walk uphill, but you will be gaining elevation. Both of these factors will slow you down.
Keep in mind that this is simply an estimation, and it may not take you as long but it could take you longer, especially if you take frequent breaks for photos, drink water, or have snacks.
Break it Down per Mile
Now that you know Naismith’s Rule, you can start to apply it to a hike you’re interested in trying. It will be important for you to do some research beyond how many miles the hike is.
After all, even a one-mile hike can take a few hours if it is straight-up a mountain!
We will use a popular 14er in Colorado as an example.
Say we are hiking the Mount Bierstadt Trail near Silver Plume, CO. This trail is approximately 7.5 miles long with 2,782 feet of elevation gain. When applying that to the Naismith’s Rule it would look like this:
(20 minutes x 7.5 miles) + (2782/2000ft) x 60 minutes = 233.5 minutes or 3.9 hours
The approximate time it should take you to hike Mount Bierstadt then is 4 hours.
However, this does not account for breaks for photo ops at the top of the peak. So, adding a bit more time is necessary.
Other Contributing Factors to Consider
As we have mentioned a bit already, even once you’ve calculated the estimated hiking time using the Naismith’s Rule, there are plenty of other things that can add time to your hike:
- Hiking with kids
- Hiking with a dog (or another pet)
- Taking snack and drink breaks
- Bathroom breaks
- If you’re carrying a full pack
- Stopping to admire a vista or other amazing natural beauty
- Weather
- Obstacles on the terrain
- Your fitness level
One thing that must be pointed out about Naismith’s Rule is that it is designed to help adults determine the time it takes to complete a day hike.
That means that children will hike slower, and adults carrying fully loaded backpacks likely will hike slower too.
In either case, it can work to simply round up 20 minutes per mile to 30 minutes per mile. Then, tack on 20 minutes per break.
If you’re not much for doing math, you can also use an online hiking calculator to help you determine an estimated hiking time.
Most of these online hiking calculators will use Naismith’s rule, but also include other factors like your pace, terrain, and pack weight.
Overestimate Time on Terrain
Looking at a map or even trail reviews online does not always to the terrain justice. In most cases, the safest bet is to overestimate how difficult the terrain is going to be.
After all, this will leave you overprepared instead of being underprepared. Some important aspects of terrain NOT to overlook include scree fields, trail maintenance, and downhill hiking.
Trail Maintenance
Hiking on a busy trail has advantages, like the trail will be maintained and very well marked. However, finding solitude int he backcountry usually means a bit of bushwhacking, trial finding, and off-trail hiking.
When planning how long a hike will take, you need to take trail conditions into account.
The likelihood of a day hiking bringing you into this type of wilderness is unlikely, so this is more applicable for backpackers.
If you are having to do navigation that includes trail finding of any kind, this often takes hikers around one mile per hour versus the day hiking Naismath’s speed of one mile per 20 minutes.
Scree Fields and Mountain Passes
Within the same realm of trail maintenance, you have to consider mountain passes and scree fields as well.
These types of boulder fields will always take longer than traditional hiking on well maintained and mostly flat trails because you are scrambling over rocks.
In most of these areas, you will be in a higher elevation as well, so you must factor in elevation changes too.
Downhill Hiking
Lastly, downhill hiking. We always assume that uphill hiking will take longer than going downhill, but that is not always true. Hiking downhill, especially on steep slopes or rocky hills means you need to slow down and make each step carefully.
Then, if you are hiking with a fully loaded backpack, this will be even harder.
When we look at Naismith’s Rule, we see that you add 60 minutes for every 2000 feet of ascent. This same ruling should be applied to descent as well.
That means if you have a 2000 foot climb at the start of the hike, and a 2000 foot descent at the end, then you should account for two extra hours in the time it takes to hike that trail.
Key Takeaways
The skill of being able to calculate how much time it will realistically take you to hike any distance is a must for backcountry travel.
It should rank with other important skillsets such as navigation.
The reason knowing how long a hike will take you is that it will help you determine how far you can travel, how many resources (like water) you need to bring, and it prevents you from getting stuck hiking in the dark.
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