The Trail Step-Up Plan

Work up to a harder trail on your own measured pace: your Naismith factor from hikes you have timed, a ladder of step-up hikes one band apart, the goal-day pack carried in training, and a turnaround set at home

OutRail's Trail Difficulty Rating is its most used tool. It gives a trail a number and a band, and stops there: it cannot say whether you are ready for that trail or how long it will take you. The Hiking Time Calculator times a trail with Naismith's rule and a pace preset that is a guess about you, and the Daylight Turnaround needs a round-trip time that could only come from that guess. Checking them for this pack, we also found the turnaround sat at the midpoint of the daylight, as if the way back were as quick as the way out; it now gives the way back 25% more time and rounds every time the safe way. The Trail Step-Up Plan joins them in seven steps. It turns three hikes you have timed car to car into your own factor on Naismith's rule, rates the goal and the gap in Shenandoah bands, builds a ladder of step-up hikes one band apart, weighs the goal-day pack and has you train under it, and sets the turnaround at home. In the worked example a 16 km trail with 950 m of climb takes 4 h 47 min on the average preset and 5 h 48 min at a factor of 1.21: from a 09:30 start with sunset at 17:10 the preset shows 77 minutes to spare, your own pace 8, and the plan moves the start to 08:30. Every figure is computed from OutRail's own calculators; the hikes and the goal day are examples, and Naismith's rule, the bands and the 20% pack figure are rules of thumb. It is a planner, not a replacement for navigation, a forecast or local ranger and park guidance, and it carries the safety facts: a headlamp every time, a plan left with someone at home, and turning back for weather whatever the clock says. Included: 24 printable pages with a hike log, a ladder sheet, a goal-day plan and a pack weigh sheet, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the pack, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Car-to-Car Rule: your own Naismith factor from three hikes you have timed, stops included; plan with the slowest
• The One Band Rule: rate the goal and count the gap in Shenandoah bands
• The Slowest Hike Rule: the goal timed at your factor, not a pace preset
• The Ladder Rule: step-up hikes one band apart, each finished well before the next
• The Same Pack Rule: weigh the goal-day pack with the water in, and train under it
• The Turnaround Rule: a turnaround set at home, with a slower way back and a buffer before sunset
• The Someone Knows Rule: a plan left at home with a time to call for help, and a morning go or no-go list
• Four working pages: a hike log, a ladder sheet, a goal-day plan to leave at home and a pack weigh sheet
• Reference tables (Shenandoah rating and Naismith's time by distance and climb) and a quickstart
• A personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in our trail difficulty, hiking time, backpack weight and daylight turnaround calculators

The pack picks up where the free Trail Difficulty Rating leaves off. The rating gives a goal trail a number; the pack finds your own pace from hikes you have timed, times the goal with the Hiking Time Calculator at that pace rather than a preset, builds a ladder of step-up hikes one band apart, weighs the goal-day pack with the Backpack Weight Calculator, and sets the turnaround at home with the Daylight Turnaround. It is a planner, not a replacement for navigation, a mountain forecast or local ranger and park guidance: carry a headlamp, leave your plan with someone, and turn back for weather whatever the clock says.