It’s very easy to choose a hike online, see a beautiful photo from the summit and decide that is the one you’re doing this weekend.
Then you arrive to find a long climb, wet rock, a narrow path and a route that takes far longer than the app suggested. Somewhere around hour five, you start questioning whether the person who described it as a “lovely easy walk” has ever experienced tired legs.
That doesn’t mean you’re a bad hiker. The route, the conditions and your experience simply haven’t lined up in quite the way you expected.
Choosing a suitable hike gets easier as you spend more time outdoors because you gradually learn what different distances, amounts of ascent and types of terrain actually feel like. When you’re starting out, however, a 15-kilometre line on an app doesn’t tell you very much.
So how do you work out whether a hike is right for you before you’re already halfway up it?
Distance only tells you part of the story
Distance is probably the first number most of us look at when choosing a hike. It’s useful, but it needs context.
15 kilometres along a relatively flat, well-maintained trail can feel completely different from 15 kilometres involving 1,000 metres of ascent, rough mountain paths and a boggy section that has eaten one of your shoes.
When looking at route options you therefore have to consider that ascent has a significant effect on how physically demanding a route feels. So does the terrain beneath your feet. Rocky paths usually require more concentration and energy than smooth tracks. Deep mud slows you down. Loose ground can make descents tiring. Scrambling introduces a completely different set of skills.
The same distance can therefore describe two very different days.
When you’re looking at a potential route, consider distance and elevation together, then look at where those metres are gained. A long gradual climb may feel quite different from several short, steep ascents, even when the total elevation gain is similar.
Over time, you’ll start building your own frame of reference. You’ll know what 15 kilometres feels like to you. You’ll have an idea of how you cope with 500 metres of ascent. You’ll know whether steep descents leave your legs exhausted or whether you happily bounce down them.
That personal knowledge is far more useful than comparing yourself with somebody else’s walking speed or distance.
Look beyond the difficulty rating on hiking apps
Hiking apps are brilliant for discovering routes, but I’d be cautious about relying entirely on a label telling you a walk is “easy”, “moderate” or “hard” because those words can cover an enormous range of experiences.
One person’s easy Sunday morning might be somebody else’s biggest hike of the year. A route description may have been written by someone with years of mountain experience, excellent fitness and absolutely no concern about exposure.
Different platforms and guidebooks also use different criteria when deciding how a route should be graded. So rather than stopping at the difficulty rating, you need to look for the information behind it, asking things like how far is the route? How much ascent does it involve? What is the terrain like? Are there steep sections? Does the description mention scrambling, exposure, boggy ground, river crossings or pathless sections?
Route reviews can be useful here, particularly when several people mention the same thing. If five recent reviews all say a particular descent is extremely muddy, I’d probably assume I’m going to encounter some mud.
Read descriptions carefully too. Words such as exposed, steep, scrambling, remote, pathless, loose and technical are worth paying attention to. They aren’t there to put you off. They’re clues about the experience you’re actually signing up for.
Think about the skills the route requires
Physical fitness is only one part of choosing an appropriate hike.
A route may require navigation skills, comfort with heights, experience moving over rocky terrain or the ability to scramble using your hands. Another might be physically tiring but technically very straightforward.
This matters because we all have different strengths. You can be extremely fit and still feel uncomfortable on an exposed ridge. Someone else might happily scramble over rocks but struggle with a 25-kilometre day. A confident navigator may be comfortable crossing pathless terrain that would make a newer hiker feel completely out of their depth.
So when you’re researching a route, try to picture what you’ll actually be doing rather than focusing solely on the final distance. Will you be following obvious paths all day? Could you navigate if cloud obscured the landscape? Are there sections where you’ll need to use your hands? How steep are the descents? Are you comfortable with that kind of ground?
If the route includes a skill you haven’t developed yet, you don’t necessarily have to abandon the idea altogether. You may decide to practise that skill somewhere easier first, go with someone more experienced or choose a day with particularly favourable conditions.
Use what you’ve done recently as your benchmark
One of the simplest ways to judge whether a hike is suitable is to look at what you’ve actually done recently.
Maybe you walked 20 miles several years ago. Perhaps you were regularly climbing mountains last summer. Those experiences tell you something about what you’re capable of, but they don’t necessarily tell you what your body is ready to do this weekend.
Think about your last few walks. How far did you go? How much ascent was involved? What was the terrain like? How did you feel towards the end? Could you comfortably have continued, or were you counting every metre back to the car? Then use those experiences as your starting point.
If you’ve recently been comfortable walking 10 kilometres with 300 metres of ascent, you might try increasing the distance while keeping the terrain familiar. On another walk, you could keep the distance similar and introduce more climbing.
Changing one element at a time can make it much easier to understand how your body responds, especially as you gradually build a library of experiences: longer distances, steeper hills, rougher paths, different weather, trickier navigation. Eventually, you have enough reference points to look at a route description and have a fairly good idea of how that day is likely to feel.
Give yourself some margin
There is a big difference between choosing a hike that stretches you and choosing one that leaves you with very little capacity for anything unexpected.
Challenging yourself can be incredibly rewarding, and some of my favourite days outdoors have involved doing something that felt slightly beyond what I’d previously done. But I still want some margin.
If a route is already going to require every ounce of your energy, what happens if you accidentally add another three kilometres after taking a wrong turning?
What happens if the weather deteriorates, the ground is much slower than expected or somebody in the group isn’t feeling well?
Having some spare capacity gives you options.
That might mean choosing a slightly shorter distance when you’re trying more technical terrain for the first time, or choosing an easier route when the weather forecast is uncertain. It doesn’t mean every hike needs to feel easy. You just want enough physical and mental capacity left to deal with the things you didn’t predict.
The weather can completely change a hike
A route you’ve walked comfortably before can feel remarkably different in bad weather.
Rain can make rock slippery and turn paths into mud. Heavy rainfall can affect river crossings and streams. Strong winds can make exposed ridges unpleasant or unsafe. Heat can dramatically increase how much water you need and how tiring a route feels.
Low cloud can change navigation too. A path that feels obvious when you can see the valley, summit and surrounding hills may be considerably harder to follow when your entire world consists of fifty metres of grey.
This is why I’d always check the forecast when choosing a hike rather than treating weather as something to look at once you’ve already decided where you’re going. You have to be prepared to change your plans if the conditions don’t suit the route.
Sometimes that means choosing a lower walk instead of heading onto an exposed ridge. Sometimes it means shortening the day. Occasionally it means deciding that today is better suited to a café and trying again another weekend. The mountain won’t mind.
Make logistics part of your route planning
Some routes are easier to adapt than others. A circular walk with several paths leading back towards the start gives you plenty of opportunities to shorten the day. A long ridge with very few ways down may leave you committed to several more hours of walking.
You need to look at those options before you leave. Where could you shorten the route if you’re moving more slowly than expected? Are there alternative paths down? Does the route pass through villages or near roads? Once you reach a particular point, are you effectively committed to finishing the rest?
Then think about the practical constraints around the walk. If you’re relying on public transport, when is the last bus or train? If you’re walking near the coast, are tides relevant? When does it get dark? Are there seasonal access restrictions? Will you be able to refill water?
These things can completely change how much flexibility you have, because finishing an hour later than planned may be mildly inconvenient when your car is waiting at the trailhead, but it becomes considerably more complicated when the last bus left forty minutes ago.
Ask yourself what you want from the day
This is one people sometimes forget. Every hike doesn’t have to advance you towards some imaginary higher level of hiking. So before choosing a route, think about what you actually want from the day.
Maybe you want to challenge yourself physically. Perhaps you want to practise navigation somewhere forgiving. You might be trying to build confidence on steeper terrain or increase the distances you’re comfortable walking.
Or perhaps you’ve had an exhausting week and want to wander around somewhere beautiful for three hours before eating an enormous piece of cake.
All are perfectly legitimate reasons to go hiking.
Knowing what you want from the day helps you choose a route that delivers it.
There are times when I’ll deliberately choose something comfortably within my ability because I want to enjoy the landscape rather than spend the entire day concentrating. On another day, I might specifically choose something that pushes me.
The route doesn’t always need to be the biggest thing you’re capable of completing.
How do you know if a hike is too difficult for you?
There isn’t a perfect formula, but before committing to a route I would think about a few things:
- Can I comfortably manage the distance and amount of ascent?
- Have I walked on this type of terrain before?
- Does the route require any skills I don’t currently have?
- Am I comfortable with any steep or exposed sections?
- Do I have the navigation skills required for the route and conditions?
- What does the weather forecast mean for this particular walk?
- Do I have enough daylight and realistic time to complete it?
- Can I shorten the route or get off it if something changes?
- Will I still have enough energy and headspace to deal with something unexpected?
You don’t need to answer yes to absolutely everything before you’re allowed to go anywhere remotely challenging.
Look at the overall picture.
One unfamiliar element on an otherwise manageable walk can be a brilliant opportunity to learn. Five unfamiliar elements appearing together may suggest there’s a better route for today.
Build your hiking experience gradually
Don’t forget, you aren’t assigned a hiking level that follows you around forever. Experience accumulates.
Every walk teaches you something about how you move, what you enjoy and where your current limits sit. You learn that you quite like steep climbs but hate bogs. You discover that 20 kilometres on rolling trails feels comfortable, while 15 kilometres over rough mountain terrain leaves you exhausted.
You learn how much water you drink, how quickly you tend to walk uphill and whether exposure bothers you.
You also develop practical skills. Navigation becomes easier. Reading a weather forecast becomes more meaningful because you’ve experienced those conditions before. You get better at spotting problems early and changing your plans.
That knowledge gradually opens up more possibilities.
If there’s a route you’d love to complete but it currently feels beyond your experience, work out why. Maybe the distance feels too long, there’s a scrambling section you’ve never tried or you’re worried about navigating a remote section.
Then find smaller walks that let you practise those individual elements. You can build towards the route rather than hoping you’ll somehow become ready for it.
The right hike is the one that works for today
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that bigger automatically means better. More miles. More ascent. Higher mountains. Harder routes. But some of the best days I’ve had outdoors haven’t been the biggest ones.
Choosing an appropriate hike means looking at the route, the conditions, your current experience and what you actually want from the day, then finding something where those things fit together.
Sometimes you’ll deliberately push yourself. Sometimes you’ll practise a new skill. Sometimes you’ll walk somewhere familiar simply because you want to be outside. And occasionally you’ll research the impressive route you originally planned, look at the weather forecast and decide that today isn’t the day.
That’s all part of becoming a more capable hiker.
Pick routes that give you opportunities to learn without constantly pushing yourself to your absolute limit. Give yourself enough space to make mistakes, change your plans and still enjoy the experience.
The bigger route will still be there when it’s the right one for you.