Backpacking Trip Difficulty Ratings:
Which Trip is Right for Me?
We describe our trips in terms of both of fitness level (on a scale of 1-10) and experience level (beginner, intermediate, advanced).
Fitness level describes your personal physical fitness level. We have trips available for all fitness levels – whether you’re rarely active, exercise a few times a week, or are always training for the next race. Hikers are active most of the day on a backpacking trip. On any trip, you should plan to be walking for at least several hours. Camp chores – setting up your tent, filtering water, cooking, etc – are all active as well. So for most of our group trips, the ability to be active most of the day is critical.
Experience level refers to camping/backpacking experience. Trips described as “beginner” are designed for folks who have little to no prior hiking, camping, or backpacking experience. These trips are ideal first trips! They usually have lower mileage and elevation change, are in less remote areas. Trips described as “beginner friendly” often list additional information as well – like “beginner friendly for hikers with a high level of fitness”. These trips are higher mileage or elevation change, or are in more remote areas than our normal beginner trips. Trips listed as intermediate or advanced are designed for hikers with previous backpacking experience. These trips may be longer mileage or in very remote areas, where it isn’t possible for us to get a hiker off trail if they realize backpacking isn’t a good fit for them. These trips may also be on trails that are not well marked, so it is important for hikers to be comfortable on trail and with skills like reading maps.
Fitness Level
Fitness Level continues to be one of the hardest things to describe or define in an objective way. We describe fitness level on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being least fit and 10 being most fit. Some examples of those levels are listed below.
- Fitness Level 1 = rarely active, sedentary job
- Fitness Level 4 = active 3-5 times per week (ex: walking 30 minutes) or someone who works an active job (ex: retail work, construction)
- Fitness Level 7 = works out 3-5 times per week and regularly participates in active forms of recreation (ex: hiking on the weekends)
- Fitness Level 10 = an elite endurance athlete (ex: ultrarunner or triathlete)
On all of our trips, we list a minimum recommended fitness level and a preferred fitness level range. A hiker with this minimum recommended fitness level will likely find the mileage and terrain of the trip very challenging. A hiker within the preferred fitness level range will find some challenges with the trip, but it should not feel like they’re pushing themselves to the max. A hiker with a fitness level above this range may enjoy slowing a down a bit for the trip.
Additionally, some types of fitness translate better to backpacking than others. I would describe both an elite body builder and a professional triathlete as both being a 10/10 on the scale listed above. But an endurance athlete’s training background will be more well suited for backpacking than a body builder.
Experience Level
Along with Fitness Levels, one other rating system you'll see on our trips is experience level. This refers not to your physical fitness level, but to your experience in the outdoors. We are primarily focused on experience with hiking/backpacking, but skills from other outdoor sports can translate well (multi-day canoeing or bikepacking, for example). We describe our trips either as Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, or Advanced. Regardless of the experience level, any hiker joining a Group Overnight trip should be able to hike solo for at least 30 minutes.
- A Beginner trip is suitable for someone with limited hiking experience and/or no backpacking experience. These trips provide extensive backpacking instruction, a slow pace on trail, and plenty of time at camp.
- Hikers joining a Novice trip should have some hiking experience, and may remember going backpacking or camping as a kid. These hikers should be confident enough on trail that they could spend some time separated from their guide if needed (ex: if the group separates because hiking paces are different). Novice trips are a great step-up for hikers who have joined our Intro to Backpacking trips in the past.
- An Intermediate backpacking trip assumes that hikers have been backpacking before. They're comfortable sleeping in a tent, familiar with camp chores, etc. Intermediate trips may have higher daily mileage, requiring hikers to set up or pack up camp relatively quickly.
- Advanced trips are for hikers with backpacking experience, who are looking for a supportive place to step up their skills. Advanced trips may be in very technical terrain, be planned with high daily mileage, and/or be in very remote areas.
How to Tell if a Trip Distance is Right for You
If you don’t live in a mountainous area of if you aren’t used to carrying a backpack with weight, it can be difficult to tell if a specific trail or trip is the right fit for you. In addition to understanding the experience levels and fitness levels we use, there are a few ways you can assess your own abilities compared to the trip you’re planning to join.
Walking on flat ground is a great way to judge how your training is going! But elevation has a huge impact on your body. For every 1,000ft of elevation gain on a hike, it’s equivalent on your body to adding an extra mile to the hike. If you’re hiking 10 miles with 2,000ft of elevation gain, it has approximately the same impact on your body as hiking 12 miles on flat ground.
Another good rule of thumb is that you can hike about 25% farther with a day pack than a backpack on the same type of terrain. So if I head out for a day hike on the AT and can hike a maximum of 10 miles, I should expect to backpack a maximum of 7-8 miles per day on the same section of trail.
Terrain also plays a role in how far you can hike. Rocky, rooty, or uneven trails are harder on your body than well groomed trails, and often require folks to slow down a bit. Many of the trails we hike on in Western NC are rocky, rooty, narrow trails.
The descriptions are above guidelines, based on what we've seen from hikers in the past. Of course, there are always exceptions. If you have questions about whether a trip is right for you, feel free to reach out to our office and ask! You can reach us by phone at 828-713-5451 or by email at trips@blueridgehikingco.com.