TrailPace: Hiking Time

TrailPace is a hiking time calculator. Give it the distance, the climb and the drop of a route, tell it how fast your group walks, and it returns a time in hours and minutes. It all works on your device, with no signal, no GPS and no account.

TWO MODELS, SIDE BY SIDE
TrailPace shows two standard models at once, so you can see how far apart they land before you commit to a day.

Naismith's rule allows 5 km/h on the flat and adds one hour for every 600 m of ascent. It is a straight arithmetic rule and it leaves descent out entirely.

Tobler's hiking function works from slope. It sets walking speed as 6 * exp(-3.5 * |slope + 0.05|) in km/h, where the slope is the total ascent plus the total descent spread across the distance. Descent counts here: on a 12 km route with 700 m of climb, adding 700 m of descent moves the Tobler figure from 2:55 to 3:35, while the Naismith figure holds at 3:34. On a hilly route the two can land well apart: 10 km with 1500 m up and 1500 m down reads 4:30 by Naismith and 5:40 by Tobler.

FITNESS FACTOR
Four presets scale both models at once: Casual (1.3x), Standard (1.0x), Fit (0.85x) and Very fit (0.7x). Set it for the slowest person in the party and both numbers move together, along with the average speed beside them, 3.75 km/h at Standard on the opening example and 5.36 km/h at Very fit.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Enter distance, total ascent and total descent for any route
- Read the Naismith hiking time and the Tobler hiking time together
- Scale both with a fitness factor: Casual, Standard, Fit or Very fit
- Work in metric (km, m) or imperial (mi, ft), set with one tap before you type
- See the average speed the Naismith estimate works out to, in km/h
- Watch the figures update as you type, with no button to press
- Type a decimal with a point or a comma, whichever your keyboard gives you
- Start from a worked example, 15 km with 600 m up and 600 m down

WHO IT IS FOR
- Day hikers checking whether the summit still fits before dark
- Walkers planning a route off a guidebook, a map or a track profile
- Trip leaders who need a time for the group, not for themselves
- Anyone wanting a second opinion on the time posted at the trailhead

WORKS OFFLINE
There is no network code in the app at all. No sign in, no sync, no ads, no analytics, no tracking. What you type stays on the device.

QUESTIONS
Do I need GPS or a data connection? No. TrailPace never asks for your location and never goes online. You type the route figures in yourself.

Which of the two times should I use? Whichever has matched your own walking in the past.

Does descent count? It feeds the Tobler estimate through the slope. Naismith's rule leaves descent out, so that figure does not move when you change it. If you only know the climb, leave the descent at zero.

Which units does it take? Kilometres and metres, or miles and feet. Set the unit first and then type: the setting tells the calculator how to read the figures on screen, it does not rewrite figures you have already entered. The average speed line is always in km/h.

Can I save a route? Not in this version. TrailPace is a calculator you open, use and close. The About screen explains both models in plain language.

TrailPace gives you a planning estimate, not a guarantee. Terrain, weather, pack weight, rest stops and trail conditions all change the real time on the ground. Use the hiking time as a starting point and keep your own judgement on the hill.

Recent changes:
New app icon.