# Trail Difficulty Formula - alfred's Gemini capsule


This week I hiked a trail that gained 4000 feet in elevation over 6.6 miles. It was very tough! The most I had done before was 3700 feet over 5.5 miles, nine years ago.

One formula for determining trail difficulty involves assigning a point for every mile hiked, plus another for every 500 feet of elevation gain. It's a reasonable approach, but it might underestimate the difficulty of elevation gain. It also fails to account for terrain (rocky vs. smooth, exposed vs. shaded), weather (hot? humid? rainy?), and pack weight. But under similar conditions, it provides a baseline for comparison. 


=> gemlog.gmi Back to Gemlog contents

Last edited: 2025-09-13