Ranking Hiking Trails by Difficulty

When not supporting charitable organizations serving her local community, Alicia Barnett pursues her interest in outdoor-based activities. In her personal time, Alicia Barnett is an avid angler, hunter, and hiker.

Hiking trails are rated based on several factors that indicate their difficulty and the level of expertise required to complete them. While ratings are not based on a universal scale, most parks and reserves offer their own systems of ranking difficulty.

These rankings may be derived by considering any steepness or gradients, conditions and natural obstacles, and other aspects of the terrain. Easier hikes require little to no experience or preparation. On the other hand, extremely difficult hikes may only be suitable for experienced hikers with the proper training and equipment.

The Sierra Club offers a three-category hiking scale that goes from easy to strenuous. The sporting goods company REI also ranks hikes by three levels of difficulty. Using symbols borrowed from ski resorts, REI identifies easy trails with green circles, intermediate ones with blue squares, and difficult trails with black diamonds. Hikes that fall in between rankings may be described with two symbols.