Hiking can double a walk’s workout, and the way down needs a plan too

Key takeaways

• In the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities, a moderate walk on flat ground rates 3.8 METs, while hiking with a daypack rates 7.8, about twice the work¹.
• University of Michigan researchers found that walking over bumps that varied by about an inch raised energy use by 28%, about the same as walking up a gentle slope³.
• Downhill stretches are easy on your lungs but hard on your knees, and in a trial on Mount Snowdon, hikers who used trekking poles had less muscle soreness over the next two days⁴⁵.
• CDC estimates that about 476,000 Lyme disease infections are diagnosed and treated in the U.S. each year, so treat hiking clothes with 0.5% permethrin and check your whole body after a hike¹¹.
• The National Park Service advises leaving a trip plan with someone who isn’t coming, setting a turnaround time and expecting climbs to take at least twice as long as descents⁹.

Researchers at the University of Michigan once fastened wooden blocks to a treadmill belt. The blocks came in three heights and were capped with foam, so the surface rose and fell by up to about an inch³.

Eleven healthy young adults walked over it at a slow 2.2 miles per hour. They burned 28% more energy than on a flat surface, roughly what it takes to walk up a 2% grade³. The authors likened the bumps to the natural unevenness of a trail, a lawn or a cracked sidewalk³.

That small experiment explains a lot about hiking. A trail adds rough ground, hills and often a pack to an ordinary walk. Each one makes your legs, heart and balance work harder.

For many natural-health readers, hiking is movement the way people have always done it: outdoors, on varied ground, carrying what you need. This guide starts where the pavement ends: what hiking does for fitness, how to start, and the safety rules that keep a good day from turning into a rescue.

A trail can turn a walk into vigorous exercise

Scientists rate effort in METs, or metabolic equivalents. One MET is the energy you burn sitting still, so a 4-MET activity burns about four times as much. The federal Physical Activity Guidelines call 3.0 to under 6.0 METs moderate and 6.0 or more vigorous².

The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities is a research catalog of the energy cost of 1,114 activities for adults 19 to 59¹. This is how a trail stacks up against a sidewalk.

Activity (2024 Adult Compendium)	METs	Intensity
Walking on flat ground, 2.8 to 3.4 mph	3.8	Moderate
Brisk walking on flat ground, 3.5 to 3.9 mph	4.8	Moderate
Hiking slowly through fields and hillsides, no pack	3.8	Moderate
Hiking at a normal pace through fields and hillsides, no pack	5.3	Moderate
Walking downhill at 2.5 mph	3.3	Moderate
Climbing hills, no pack, 6% to 10% grade, moderate to brisk pace	7.0	Vigorous
Hiking with a daypack	7.8	Vigorous
Climbing hills, no pack, 11% to 20% grade, slow to moderate pace	8.8	Vigorous

The federal guidelines agree. Their list of vigorous activities includes uphill hiking and hiking with a heavy pack². Adults need 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity². A two-hour hike with real climbs can cover much of a week’s total.

These numbers are averages, and a steep trail feels harder to a beginner than to a seasoned hiker. METs also miss strain: going downhill burns less energy but is hard on your knees.

A simple effort check beats any chart. HHS describes a 0-to-10 scale where sitting is 0 and your hardest effort is 10. Moderate work feels like a 5 or 6, and vigorous work starts around 7 or 8². The park service’s version is even simpler: if you can talk while you walk, your pace is fine⁹.

Rough ground puts your legs and balance to work

In the Michigan study, the bumpy surface changed how people walked. Their steps got about 4% shorter, and step width varied 36% more from one step to the next³. Lower-leg and thigh muscles worked harder, and the hip muscles produced 62% more work³.

Your body makes constant small corrections on uneven ground. Every root and rock is a tiny balance test.

That sounds like balance training, and it may be. But the study tested 11 young adults on a treadmill for minutes, not months of trail walking³, so whether hiking improves balance is still an open question. Our article on balance covers training that has been tested.

Military research agencies, including the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, paid for the work³. None of them sells hiking gear.

If you have balance problems or have fallen before, rough ground is a reason to go slowly, not to stay home. Start on wide, smooth trails, consider poles and hike with a partner.

Going down is where your knees take the strain

Climbing makes you breathe hard. Descending rates just 3.3 METs at an easy pace¹, but your knees feel it more.

Going downhill, your thigh muscles act as brakes. They tense while they lengthen, the kind of work that often leaves you sore a day or two later. In a lab study at the University of Salzburg in Austria, 10 people walked down a steep 24-degree ramp, and the knee did the largest share of the braking⁴. It absorbed more energy on the ramp than on stairs of the same steepness⁴.

Trekking poles shift some of that load to your arms. In a field trial on Mount Snowdon in Wales, 37 active adults hiked up and down carrying day packs that averaged about 12 pounds⁵. Some used poles. Some didn’t.

The pole users rated the climb as easier, though their heart rates were the same⁵. In the days after, they lost less leg strength and reported less muscle soreness at 24 and 48 hours⁵. A blood marker of muscle damage was lower at 24 hours, too⁵. The published summary names no funder.

That’s encouraging, but it was one short trial in fit adults, and it didn’t test whether poles prevent knee injuries or arthritis.

For the way down:

• Shorten your steps and slow down on steep pitches.
• Keep early hikes’ descents short while your thighs adapt.
• Try poles, especially when you carry a pack.
• If you have knee arthritis or an old knee injury, ask a physical therapist how much downhill to start with.

A three-level plan to build up

Build time on the trail first, then climbing, then pack weight. Pick the level that fits you today.

Level	Who it’s for	Each week	Trail and climb	Effort cue
1. Trail starter	New to exercise or returning	2 outings of 30 to 60 minutes, plus one 20-minute walk	Flat, well-marked trails; little climbing	3 to 5 out of 10; you can talk in full sentences
2. Rolling hills	Walks 30 minutes most days	One 1.5- to 2.5-hour hike, plus 1 or 2 walks with a hill or stairs	Steady hills, 500 to 1,000 feet of total climb; daypack of 5 to 10 pounds	5 to 6 on climbs; you can talk in short phrases
3. Half-day hikes	Hikes 2 hours comfortably	One 3- to 5-hour hike, plus 2 shorter outings	1,000 to 2,500 feet of climb; full Ten Essentials pack	6 to 7 on climbs, with short pushes to 8; easy pace on descents

Our rule for moving up: change one thing at a time, either time, climb or pack weight. Move up only after a hike leaves you no more than mildly sore two days later. This is a rule of thumb, not a tested formula.

Plan your time with the park service’s math: the return trip counts, and climbs take at least twice as long as the same stretch downhill⁹. Pick a turnaround time before you start⁹.

Pack the Ten Essentials and leave a trip plan

The Ten Essentials come from The Mountaineers, a climbing club, and its guidebook, Freedom of the Hills; the National Park Service publishes its own version⁸. The list groups gear by job, not by brand: navigation, sun protection, extra clothing, a light, first aid, fire, repair tools, extra food, extra water with a way to treat it, and emergency shelter⁸.

Why it matters: a study of U.S. national parks counted more than 65,000 search-and-rescue operations from 1992 to 2007, about 11 a day, at a cost of more than $58 million¹⁰. Day hikers, young men and boaters were among the people who most often needed help¹⁰.

Those figures, from a 2009 Associated Press report on research led by Travis Heggie of the University of North Dakota, are old. Still, they suggest that a short day hike deserves the same planning as a long one.

Your phone is not a plan. The park service warns that cell coverage may be missing, suggests a personal locator beacon, and advises airplane mode to save battery⁹.

Ticks, heat and altitude each have clear rules

Ticks. About 476,000 Lyme disease infections are diagnosed and treated in the U.S. each year, CDC estimates¹¹. Its prevention advice fits a hiker’s day¹¹:

• Before you go: Choose an EPA-registered repellent. CDC’s list of active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol and 2-undecanone. Clothing, boots and socks treated with 0.5% permethrin stay protective through several washes.
• On the trail: Stay mid-trail and out of brushy edges.
• Back home: Run hiking clothes through a hot dryer. Then search the places ticks hide: scalp and hair, ears, armpits, navel, waistband, groin and the backs of the knees.
• If one is attached: Take it off right away with fine-tipped tweezers. Lyme risk is very low if it was attached less than a day, though some other tick-borne germs spread faster. If a rash or fever shows up in the weeks that follow, see a clinician.

Heat. The park service suggests starting before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., wearing light, loose clothing and resting in shade¹². CDC’s travel guide adds that your body adapts to heat over about 10 days of exercise in it¹³. Drink to thirst. Forcing water can dilute your blood’s sodium, a condition called hyponatremia, so eat salty snacks on long outings¹³.

Heat stroke can strike fit, healthy people. The signs are collapse or confusion during exertion¹³. Call 911, and start cooling the person right away with water and fanning, or cold-water immersion if you can¹²¹³.

Altitude. Altitude illness is mostly about where you sleep. CDC says risk begins around 8,000 feet, and about a quarter of visitors who sleep that high in Colorado get acute mountain sickness¹⁴. The main sign is a headache with nausea, dizziness, tiredness or poor appetite¹⁴.

Fitness doesn’t lower your risk. The best guide is how you did on a past trip with a similar altitude and pace of ascent¹⁴. Once you’re sleeping above about 9,800 feet, CDC advises adding no more than about 1,600 feet of sleeping elevation per day¹⁴. Confusion, stumbling or breathlessness at rest are emergencies: go down at once and get help¹⁴.

Cold. Wet clothes and wind steal body heat fastest. Shivering is the warning sign, and confusion or clumsiness means hypothermia is getting worse¹³.

What the evidence shows, claim by claim

Claim	Rating	What the research shows
Regular moderate to vigorous activity lowers the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, several cancers and depression	Strong evidence	Federal guidelines rest on a large body of research on physical activity in general2
Hills and packs make hiking vigorous exercise	Strong evidence	Measured energy costs in the 2024 Compendium1
Uneven ground makes walking harder work	Promising but early	One careful lab study of 11 young adults3
Trekking poles reduce soreness and strength loss after a mountain hike	Promising but early	One field trial of 37 active adults5
Trekking poles protect knees from injury or arthritis over years	Not enough evidence	No long-term studies among the sources reviewed here45
A nature walk eases brooding thoughts more than a city walk	Promising but early	One randomized study of 38 people; the group difference was not quite significant15
Trail hiking improves balance or prevents falls	Not enough evidence	Not tested directly in the studies reviewed here3

A word on cause and effect. Studies that find hikers are healthier than non-hikers can’t tell whether hiking did it. Healthier people are more likely to hike in the first place. That’s why the strong ratings above rest on activity research as a whole, not on comparisons of hikers with everyone else.

Hiking fits natural-health values, and nature adds a bonus

Hiking asks for little: legs, a trail and some planning. The Ten Essentials are about self-reliance, not shopping. You can meet most of the list with things you already own, whatever the outdoor-gear ads suggest.

Nature may add something a treadmill can’t. In a 2015 Stanford study, 38 city dwellers were randomly assigned to a 90-minute walk, about 3.3 miles, through grassland and oaks or along a busy road¹⁵. After the nature walk, people reported less rumination, the habit of replaying negative thoughts, and brain scans showed less blood flow to a region linked to it¹⁵. The urban walkers showed neither change¹⁵.

Keep it in proportion. The study was small, involved one walk, and the difference between groups in self-reported rumination fell just short of statistical significance¹⁵. The nature route also climbed about 500 feet while the city route was flat¹⁵. Our articles on outdoor recreation and green spaces go further into nature’s effects.

Questions readers ask

The bottom line

A hike is a walk with the volume turned up. Hills, rough ground and a daypack can push your effort into the vigorous range, so a weekend hike can cover much of a week’s activity. The way down is the hard part for your knees, and poles and patience help.

Start with flat trails, build one thing at a time, and treat the Ten Essentials and a trip plan as part of the workout. Check for ticks, respect the heat, and let altitude set your pace.

Related reading

• Walking clubs work, and you need fewer steps than you were told
• Your heart counts the weekly total while your habits count the repeats
• Wellness advice is written for an average person who doesn’t exist
• Balance fades after 50, and a 10-second test shows where you stand
• The symptoms that mean call 911 now

Sources

1. Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al. “2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A Third Update of the Energy Costs of Human Activities.” Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024; values from the Compendium’s “Walking” activity list. pacompendium.com
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition.” HHS, 2018. odphp.health.gov
3. Voloshina AS, Kuo AD, Daley MA, Ferris DP. “Biomechanics and Energetics of Walking on Uneven Terrain.” Journal of Experimental Biology, 2013. cob.silverchair.com
4. Schwameder H, Müller E, Roithner R. “Energetics of the Lower Extremity Joints During Graded Walking on a Slope Compared With Ascending and Descending Stairs.” Biomechanics Symposia (ISBS), University of San Francisco, 2001. ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de
5. Howatson G, Hough P, Pattison J, et al. “Trekking Poles Reduce Exercise-Induced Muscle Injury During Mountain Walking.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2011. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
6. Riebe D, Franklin BA, Thompson PD, et al. “Updating ACSM’s Recommendations for Exercise Preparticipation Health Screening.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2015 (abstract, University of Rhode Island repository; screening flowchart in ACSM roundtable slides hosted by the University of the West Indies, uwi.edu). digitalcommons.uri.edu
7. Leeds Beckett University, Carnegie School of Sport. “Physiology Group Screening Process” (health screening guidance based on ACSM), version July 2020. Www.Leedsbeckett.Ac.Uk
8. National Park Service. “The Ten Essentials.” NPS, updated 2026. nps.gov
9. National Park Service. “Hike Smart.” NPS, updated 2024. nps.gov
10. Associated Press. “Study: Park Service Averages 11 Searches per Day.” Published by KSL.com, October 19, 2009. ksl.com
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. “Prevent Lyme Disease.” CDC.
12. National Park Service. “Beat the Heat.” NPS, updated 2023. nps.gov
13. Backer HD, Freer L. “Heat and Cold Illness in Travelers.” CDC Yellow Book 2026, published 2025. cdc.gov
14. Hackett PH, Shlim DR. “High-Altitude Travel and Altitude Illness.” CDC Yellow Book 2026, published 2025. cdc.gov
15. Bratman GN, Hamilton JP, Hahn KS, Daily GC, Gross JJ. “Nature Experience Reduces Rumination and Subgenual Prefrontal Cortex Activation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015 (university-hosted copy). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov