Ridgefold Data

Elevation Gain Per Mile: Backpacking Trails, Ranked

Updated July 2026 · 135 trails · measured from OpenStreetMap geometry

Distance tells you almost nothing about how hard a backpacking trail feels — gain per mile does. Across 135 popular multi-day trails, the steepest is Annapurna Base Camp Trek at about 798 ft of climbing per mile (11,795 ft over 14.8 miles). The average across all of them is roughly 246 ft/mi. Here's the full ranking.

798ft/mi
Steepest (Annapurna Base Camp Trek)
246ft/mi
Average of 135 trails
25ft/mi
Gentlest (Conundrum Hot Springs)
# Trail Gain / mile Distance Total gain High point
1 Annapurna Base Camp Trek 798 14.8 mi 11,795 ft 13,474 ft
2 Mount Kilimanjaro (Machame Route) 691 24.8 mi 17,149 ft 19,245 ft
3 Kalalau Trail 635 10.2 mi 6,476 ft 755 ft
4 The Narrows (Zion) 557 15 mi 8,356 ft 5,906 ft
5 Choquequirao Trek 540 18.5 mi 9,980 ft 9,777 ft
6 Langtang Valley Trek 508 20.4 mi 10,384 ft 12,694 ft
7 Everest Base Camp Trek 485 33.2 mi 16,106 ft 17,313 ft
8 Peaks of the Balkans 442 123.4 mi 54,508 ft 7,428 ft
9 Maroon-Snowmass Trail 437 8.2 mi 3,583 ft 12,510 ft
10 Salkantay Trek 434 46.3 mi 20,115 ft 15,177 ft
11 Alta Via 2 (Dolomites) 417 98.9 mi 41,270 ft 9,713 ft
12 Besseggen Ridge (Gjendesheim to Memurubu) 409 9.1 mi 3,707 ft 5,712 ft
13 Berliner Höhenweg 385 52 mi 20,000 ft 10,020 ft
14 Stubai High Trail 383 51.8 mi 19,856 ft 9,449 ft
15 Enchanted Valley (East Fork Quinault) 379 17.3 mi 6,552 ft 4,573 ft
16 Alta Via 1 (Dolomites) 376 72.9 mi 27,388 ft 8,458 ft
17 Tour du Queyras (GR58) 376 68.9 mi 25,879 ft 9,469 ft
18 Coyote Gulch 367 13.7 mi 5,026 ft 4,350 ft
19 Walker's Haute Route 367 128.5 mi 47,158 ft 9,788 ft
20 Devil's Path 366 22 mi 8,061 ft 3,885 ft
21 Lost Coast Trail 365 27.8 mi 10,138 ft 2,566 ft
22 GR20 (Corsica) 357 123 mi 43,881 ft 7,234 ft
23 Snowgrass Flat (Goat Rocks) 357 5.6 mi 2,001 ft 6,368 ft
24 Northern Loop Trail 355 26.3 mi 9,344 ft 6,703 ft
25 Ten Lakes Trail 355 6.1 mi 2,165 ft 9,665 ft
26 Annapurna Circuit 345 145 mi 50,000 ft 17,890 ft
27 Chilliwack River Trail 342 9.6 mi 3,281 ft 4,465 ft
28 Routeburn Track 340 19.6 mi 6,663 ft 4,285 ft
29 Kumano Kodo Nakahechi 335 22.3 mi 7,474 ft 2,251 ft
30 Tour des Dents du Midi 334 29 mi 9,695 ft 8,222 ft
31 Tour des Écrins (GR54) 333 134.5 mi 44,783 ft 8,976 ft
32 Fundy Footpath 329 23.6 mi 7,759 ft 745 ft
33 Tour du Mont Blanc 328 102.7 mi 33,736 ft 8,319 ft
34 Tour des Combins 324 61.4 mi 19,872 ft 9,413 ft
35 Grafton Loop Trail 320 33.6 mi 10,758 ft 4,163 ft
36 Alpine Passes Trail (Graubünden) 319 86.6 mi 27,676 ft 9,779 ft
37 Wonderland Trail 316 85.4 mi 26,995 ft 6,755 ft
38 Meraner Höhenweg 315 56.9 mi 17,910 ft 9,485 ft
39 Tour de Monte Rosa 314 102 mi 32,000 ft 10,866 ft
40 Aravaipa Canyon 313 10.6 mi 3,320 ft 3,609 ft
41 Ruby Crest National Recreation Trail 306 32.6 mi 9,987 ft 10,860 ft
42 Copper Ridge Loop 304 23.2 mi 7,054 ft 6,191 ft
43 Art Loeb Trail 303 29.5 mi 8,924 ft 6,181 ft
44 Alta Via dei Monti Liguri — Western High Route (Ventimiglia to Colle di Nava) 302 46.1 mi 13,939 ft 7,086 ft
45 Spider Gap - Buck Creek Loop 299 31.5 mi 9,416 ft 7,051 ft
46 Timberline Trail 299 39.7 mi 11,873 ft 7,339 ft
47 Weminuche Trail 294 11.8 mi 3,471 ft 11,312 ft
48 Berg Lake Trail 292 13.4 mi 3,907 ft 5,479 ft
49 Otter Trail 287 22.8 mi 6,542 ft 666 ft
50 PCT Washington Section J 286 72.1 mi 20,656 ft 5,991 ft
51 Rockwall Trail 285 32.8 mi 9,360 ft 7,671 ft
52 Boundary Trail (Mount St. Helens) 283 57.5 mi 16,299 ft 5,692 ft
53 Milford Track 283 33.3 mi 9,439 ft 3,793 ft
54 Huayhuash Circuit 276 60.9 mi 16,778 ft 16,476 ft
55 Appalachian Trail - Georgia Section 273 83.4 mi 22,749 ft 4,423 ft
56 Escalante Route (Grand Canyon) 272 11.4 mi 3,104 ft 3,881 ft
57 Loowit Trail 271 26.6 mi 7,205 ft 4,908 ft
58 Fimmvörðuháls 270 15.9 mi 4,298 ft 3,389 ft
59 Kepler Track 269 32.1 mi 8,619 ft 4,610 ft
60 Juan de Fuca Trail 255 26.9 mi 6,864 ft 636 ft
61 Long Trail 251 247.2 mi 62,149 ft 4,334 ft
62 Benton MacKaye Trail 249 273 mi 67,858 ft 5,830 ft
63 Bartram Trail 247 101.7 mi 25,108 ft 5,341 ft
64 Paparoa Track 243 31.9 mi 7,733 ft 3,740 ft
65 Trans-Catalina Trail 243 38.1 mi 9,249 ft 1,713 ft
66 Foothills Trail 241 86.6 mi 20,860 ft 3,530 ft
67 Sunshine Coast Trail 241 110.7 mi 26,709 ft 4,219 ft
68 Abel Tasman Coast Track 240 41.8 mi 10,039 ft 617 ft
69 Alice Lake - Redfish Lake Trail 240 20.5 mi 4,915 ft 9,429 ft
70 Sangre de Cristo — Rainbow Trail 231 71.6 mi 16,509 ft 10,299 ft
71 GR10 – Pyrenees Traverse (Section 1) 228 64.3 mi 14,672 ft 6,847 ft
72 Teton Crest Trail 225 40 mi 9,000 ft 10,748 ft
73 Rae Lakes Loop 221 37.6 mi 8,320 ft 11,939 ft
74 Huemul Circuit 206 40.3 mi 8,304 ft 4,633 ft
75 Tongariro Northern Circuit 205 24.9 mi 5,098 ft 6,070 ft
76 Coast to Coast Walk (St Bees to Shap) 202 60.2 mi 12,175 ft 2,569 ft
77 Black Forest Trail 198 41.7 mi 8,271 ft 2,188 ft
78 Santa Cruz Trek 196 28 mi 5,495 ft 15,614 ft
79 Torres del Paine W Trek 196 50 mi 9,800 ft 2,887 ft
80 Heaphy Track 194 45.5 mi 8,842 ft 3,081 ft
81 Colorado Trail — Segment 9 (Tennessee Pass to Hagerman Pass Road) 193 15.1 mi 2,917 ft 11,726 ft
82 GR11 – Senda Pirenaica (Stage 1) 186 9.8 mi 1,827 ft 630 ft
83 Tahoe Rim Trail 186 165.8 mi 30,860 ft 10,233 ft
84 Malerweg 185 66.4 mi 12,313 ft 1,772 ft
85 Chilkoot Trail 184 31.2 mi 5,725 ft 3,576 ft
86 Cohos Trail 184 163.2 mi 30,016 ft 4,459 ft
87 John Muir Trail 184 207 mi 38,186 ft 14,449 ft
88 Torres del Paine O Circuit 183 57.5 mi 10,505 ft 3,891 ft
89 West Rim Trail (Zion) 182 14.6 mi 2,651 ft 7,487 ft
90 Six Foot Track 176 29 mi 5,102 ft 3,990 ft
91 Long Range Traverse 174 35.7 mi 6,207 ft 2,349 ft
92 Skyline Trail 172 28 mi 4,803 ft 8,261 ft
93 East Coast Trail 170 157 mi 26,772 ft 820 ft
94 Wicklow Way 165 77.3 mi 12,776 ft 2,060 ft
95 Westweg (Pforzheim to Titisee) 157 115.6 mi 18,127 ft 3,885 ft
96 Ozark Highlands Trail 156 197.8 mi 30,951 ft 2,346 ft
97 Overland Track 155 48.2 mi 7,477 ft 4,170 ft
98 Cape Wrath Trail (Inchnadamph to Cape Wrath) 154 67.3 mi 10,394 ft 2,047 ft
99 Uinta Highline Trail 153 102.5 mi 15,633 ft 12,667 ft
100 Rakiura Track 151 21.6 mi 3,258 ft 620 ft
101 Eagle Rock Loop 148 26.3 mi 3,885 ft 1,824 ft
102 Druidensteig 141 43.9 mi 6,179 ft 1,663 ft
103 Ouachita National Recreation Trail 140 213 mi 29,902 ft 2,651 ft
104 High Sierra Trail 139 72 mi 10,000 ft 10,705 ft
105 La Cloche Silhouette Trail 139 45.7 mi 6,371 ft 1,312 ft
106 Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail 138 65.4 mi 9,012 ft 2,989 ft
107 The Kerry Way 137 116.2 mi 15,961 ft 1,286 ft
108 Great Ocean Walk 135 59.8 mi 8,054 ft 912 ft
109 Chicago Basin 134 12.7 mi 1,696 ft 13,028 ft
110 Pennine Way (Middleton-in-Teesdale to Kirk Yetholm) 131 125.3 mi 16,404 ft 2,930 ft
111 Camino Francés – Stage 1 (Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Logroño) 130 101.8 mi 13,222 ft 4,698 ft
112 West Highland Way 129 101.5 mi 13,071 ft 1,808 ft
113 Laugavegur 128 32.9 mi 4,215 ft 3,464 ft
114 Pembrokeshire Coast Path 128 151.2 mi 19,383 ft 571 ft
115 Knobstone Trail 126 52.4 mi 6,634 ft 1,043 ft
116 West Coast Trail 110 28.6 mi 3,136 ft 627 ft
117 Rota Vicentina – Fishermen's Trail 106 130 mi 13,766 ft 518 ft
118 Buckskin Gulch 105 16.2 mi 1,693 ft 4,836 ft
119 Jämtland Triangle 103 28.5 mi 2,949 ft 3,553 ft
120 Kungsleden 100 294.9 mi 29,373 ft 3,734 ft
121 Northville-Placid Trail 95 137.3 mi 13,104 ft 3,028 ft
122 Superior Hiking Trail 94 275.1 mi 25,748 ft 1,834 ft
123 Great Glen Way 90 77.5 mi 6,985 ft 1,247 ft
124 Highline Trail (Wind River Range) 90 13.2 mi 1,188 ft 10,449 ft
125 The Dingle Way 87 100.8 mi 8,809 ft 2,152 ft
126 Larapinta Trail (Section 6) 79 24.9 mi 1,965 ft 2,887 ft
127 Kekekabic Trail 78 38.5 mi 3,022 ft 1,959 ft
128 Cape to Cape Track 76 77.8 mi 5,915 ft 633 ft
129 Isle of Wight Coastal Path 75 74.4 mi 5,604 ft 782 ft
130 Hadrian's Wall Path 63 87.9 mi 5,561 ft 1,115 ft
131 Kungsleden – Abisko to Abiskojaure 61 8.7 mi 528 ft 1,631 ft
132 Jatbula Trail 43 37.3 mi 1,594 ft 1,020 ft
133 Fish River Canyon Hiking Trail 34 47.4 mi 1,591 ft 2,595 ft
134 Lone Star Hiking Trail 31 94.4 mi 2,920 ft 489 ft
135 Conundrum Hot Springs 25 10.3 mi 259 ft 12,943 ft

Scope: this ranks the 135 multi-day trails Ridgefold has mapped so far — a growing curated selection, not every trail on Earth. "Steepest" means steepest in this set. Each figure is measured from real OpenStreetMap geometry (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) with elevation sampled along the route; as with any GPS-derived measurement, totals run within ~15–25% of official signage. Click any column to re-sort.

Why gain per mile beats total distance

A flat 12-mile day and a 12-mile day over a 4,000-ft pass are completely different efforts. Climbing is slow and it compounds over multiple days, so a trail's sustained steepness predicts how hard it feels far better than its length. Annapurna Base Camp Trek packs 11,795 feet of climbing into just 14.8 miles — that's like climbing the Empire State Building 8 times over the length of the trail.

How we measured it

Each trail is drawn from its OpenStreetMap route, snapped to the real trail path, with elevation sampled along the way and cumulative gain computed using a 5-metre threshold to strip out elevation-model noise. This is the same route engine Ridgefold uses to split a trip into days with per-day miles, elevation, and hiking time.

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This table is one number per trail. Ridgefold breaks your route into days — per-day miles, elevation gain, and hiking time between each campsite — so you know exactly which day is the brutal one before you go.

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Questions

Which backpacking trail has the most elevation gain per mile?

Of the 135 popular multi-day trails measured, Annapurna Base Camp Trek climbs the most per mile at about 798 ft/mi (11,795 ft over 14.8 miles). Sustained steepness — not total distance — is what makes a trail relentless.

What is a lot of elevation gain per mile for backpacking?

Across these trails the average is about 246 ft of gain per mile. Under ~150 ft/mi feels rolling; 300+ ft/mi is steep, sustained climbing that meaningfully slows your pace and shortens realistic daily mileage.

How is elevation gain per mile measured here?

Each trail is measured from its OpenStreetMap route geometry with SRTM/terrain elevation sampled along the path, then cumulative gain is computed with a 5-metre threshold to remove elevation-model noise. Figures are comparable to consumer GPS apps and typically within 15–25% of official trail signage.