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Sports and recreation

Backcountry hiking

Estimated acute risk associated with backcountry or wilderness hiking away from maintained trails.

Base risk estimate

0.01 micromorts per hours

Population-level estimate. Not a personal prediction.

Assumptions

Assumes wilderness hiking in remote terrain, away from maintained trails, with basic backcountry skills.

Limitations

Highly variable by remoteness, terrain type, solo vs group, navigation skill, emergency preparedness, weather, and altitude.

Source notes

Placeholder value for development only. Wilderness medicine literature and NPS SAR data are the best available sources. NOLS Wilderness Risk Management Conference proceedings and Wilderness & Environmental Medicine journal contain incident rate studies for backcountry settings.

Last reviewed

6/10/2026

RiskLens is an educational tool. It uses population-level estimates to help explain relative risk. It is not a prediction of your personal risk and should not be used as medical, legal, financial, or safety advice.