Hiking Calorie Calculator
A free tool to estimate on-trail burn from your GPX route, with optional daily food targets for overnight trips.
The Hiking Calorie Calculator estimates hiking burn from your GPX route, body weight, and pack weight. For overnight trips, it also estimates camp and sleep baseline calories so you can plan how much food to carry. It is free, requires no account, and runs entirely in your browser.
What this is for
- Estimating on-trail burn for a GPX route (same Pandolf model as the Trip Planner Active stat)
- Overnight food planning — hiking burn plus camp/sleep baseline → total daily need
- Day hikes — trail snacks and lunch only (meals at home are not included)
- Comparing the energy cost of different routes
Trip Planner vs this tool: Both use Pandolf for hiking burn. This calculator pre-fills 12 kg pack weight; the Trip Planner uses your linked gear list total, or no pack load when no list is linked. See Day stats.
Hiking burn is energy while moving on the route (~4 km/h). Total daily need (overnight only) adds camp and sleep baseline for the hours you are not hiking. These are planning estimates, not medical measurements.
Step 1 — Upload your GPX file
Drag a .gpx file onto the upload zone, or click Browse files to select one. Once uploaded, the tool displays:
- Distance (km)
- Elevation gain (m) — from the file, or estimated when elevation is missing
- Elevation data status — whether climb comes from the file or from a route-character estimate (Flat / Typical / Alpine)
When elevation is missing, choose Route character before entering weights — Typical is selected by default.
Step 2 — Enter your weights
When the GPX has no elevation, Route character appears at the top of this step (Flat / Typical / Alpine — see No elevation data).
Two inputs refine the estimate:
| Input | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Body weight | 70 kg | Used for Pandolf hiking burn and overnight baseline |
| Pack weight | 12 kg (pre-filled) | Change to match your load; enter 0 for no pack |
Both fields support kg or lbs — use the toggle to switch units. Body weight is blank until you enter it (70 kg default). Pack weight is pre-filled at 12 kg / 26 lbs.
Reading the result (Step 3)
After upload, Step 3 updates as you change weights, trip type, and (for overnight) days on trail:
Planning for
- Day hike — shows hiking burn (this route) only. Use for trail snacks; breakfast and dinner at home are not included.
- Overnight on trail — enter Days on trail right below the toggle, then see:
- Hiking / day — route burn spread across your trip days
- Camp & sleep / day — baseline for non-hiking hours (Mifflin-St Jeor with typical age/height defaults)
- Total daily need — the number to pack food against
The hiking estimate uses the Pandolf Load Carriage formula (Pandolf et al., 1977). Individual results vary — treat the output as a planning estimate.
Step 4 — Pack weight estimate (optional)
Converts the Step 3 target into food weight:
- Total food weight in kg and lbs — based on 3.5 kcal/g (typical backpacking food)
- Per day — shown for overnight trips once days on trail are entered
3.5 kcal/g is a standard planning figure for mixed backpacking food. Actual weight varies by food choice — calorie-dense foods like nuts, olive oil, and nut butter run higher; lighter fresh food runs lower.
No elevation data in the file
If the GPX does not contain elevation data, choose Route character — Flat, Typical, or Alpine — to estimate climb from distance. Typical (mild ~5% incline) is the default. This tends to underestimate burn on hilly routes and overestimate on flat ones. For best results, use a GPX file that includes elevation (most exports from AllTrails, Gaia GPS, Garmin Connect, and Komoot include it).
No account required
The calculator works without a Trailkeep account. All processing happens in your browser — your GPX file is never uploaded to a server.
The tool does not save state between sessions. Closing or refreshing the page clears everything. Save any results you need before closing.
Using it alongside the Trip Planner
Once you have a calorie estimate, use the Trailkeep Trip Planner to build the full day-by-day itinerary: waypoints, gear list, safety contacts, and one shared link for your emergency contacts and followers. Per-section Active burn in the planner uses the same Pandolf formula.