The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of heart rates (HR), ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and feeling scores (FS) during a hiking program for college students. Hiking started from the Daiman temple camp site to the Mimosa camp site, in Okinoshima-cho, Shimane Prefecture. Subjects were nine college students, both male and female who were all novices and were going to acquire the credits of the outdoor activity. The hiking route was determined in accordance with their physical fitness level. It was total 18 km, 550 m height difference and took approximately 8 hours. They monitored their HR and walking speed continuously. Eight checkpoints were set up along the hiking route where the subjects were asked their RPE and FS at each checkpoint. The results showed HR were from 85.6 to 120.3 beats/min, RPE responses were “very very light” to “hard” and FS ranged from “good” to “bad.” There were significant correlation coefficients among RPE, HR and FS for all subjects.
