Rate your hiking ability

After hearing some hikers calling themselves "professional hiker", I have given a lot of thought to how people could possibly rate themselves as a hiker. I came up with 45 questions for you to answer to determine a final score that would show you where you fit in the "average hiker" or above/below. Enjoy the quiz. It's been fun.

Don't get discouraged at your score. Average score seems to be about 20-40%. The quiz is designed that way. I would like to say that some of the questions have more power than others. And some are even not counted in the final equation. But, please answer them all truthfully if you want an accurate rating compared to others taking the quiz. Thanks, fiddlehead

Created by: Glenn Fleagle
  1. What is your age?
  2. What is your gender?
  1. Do you own an ice ax?
  2. Do you know how to self arrest?
  3. Have you done a hike that doesn't have a guidebook, data book or town guide?
  4. How many nights have you camped on snow. (in a tent or just sleeping in the snow)
  5. How much of your gear have you designed and/or made yourself?
  6. Do you have an active passport?
  7. Have you hiked in other countries besides your native country?
  8. How many countries (besides your own) have you hiked in? (at least 100 miles)
  9. Do you know (without looking it up) What the magnetic deviation is where you live?
  10. Have you ever had to triangulate your position using map and compass?
  11. Have you ever used a snow anchor to help set up your tent?
  12. Have you ever carried any avalanche preventive or avalanche rescue gear while hiking?
  13. Have you ever made a successful solar still to get water?
  14. Have you ever slept with a hot water bottle to help stay warm at night?
  15. Have you ever taken a college or university course in any of the following: astronomy, botany, geology, meteorology, photography
  16. Have you ever helped on a trail crew for more than a day
  17. Do you know how far a cow will wander away from water?
  18. Do you carry needle and thread (or dental floss for sewing, with a needle big enough to accept dental floss?)
  19. Have you ever done any of the following?
  20. Have you ever taken an on-trail rest day. (not near town)
  21. Have you ever forded a river? River in this case meaning stream crossing of at least 20 feet wide or more.
  22. How many 14,000 peaks have you summited?
  23. How many nights have you camped (tented) above 12,000'? 14,000'?
  24. How many sleeping bags do you own?
  25. Have you ever written a (published) guidebook or suggested changes to a published guidebook?
  26. Have you ever started a fire without matches, lighter or already hot coals/fire? (flint & steel, bow drill, etc?)
  27. Have you ever had hypothermia? Frostbite? Severe dehydration?
  28. Have you ever been a guide for a raft company
  29. Have you ever done a ski/canoe/kayak/raft trip of more than 100 miles? (how many miles total?) (self supported kayak trips & skiing get special bonus points)
  30. Were you ever in the army infantry or Marine Corps? (special forces?)
  31. Have you ever hiked a trail that you needed to carry a tide chart? (at least 3 day hike)
  32. What's the closest you ever came to a bear in the wild? A moose? An Elk? Grizzly bear?
  33. What's the longest stretch you've ever gone without resupply?
  34. What's the longest stretch you've hiked between water sources?
  35. Do you own a dehydrator? Do you use it for hiking purposes?
  36. How old were you when you did your 1st overnight hike? How old are you now?
  37. How many trails have you hiked longer than 300 miles? (includes partial hikes but must be at least 300 miles at one go)
  38. How many trails have you hiked longer than 2,000 miles?
  39. How many years have you hiked a trail of at least 300 miles?
  40. How many miles of snow travel (can't see the trail) have you done?
  41. How many miles of desert hiking have you done?
  42. How many miles of high altitude hiking have you done (above 14,500')
  43. How many continents have you hiked at least 100 miles on?
  44. Have you completed any of the big 3? (in the USA)
  45. Experience?
  46. How many seasons a year do you generally hike?
  47. Do "Non-Pure" hikers bother you? Non-Pure meaning ones who skip around or don't do every mile of a long distance trail.

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Quiz topic: Rate my hiking ability