I haven't backpacked, but walked and hiked. I use the "Running Tile," because presently, the band doesn't have a hike/walk tile. It works fine tracking GPS path, elevation, heart rate, and computing calories. (I think the only drawback of using the running tile for hiking is, if you are a runner, your data gets mixed together. Not the end of the world. But I still bet Microsoft adds a hike/walk tile, maybe with less frequent GPS sampling to save battery, sorta like the optional "GPS Power Saving" feature, which was added to the "runner tile, as the other poster mentioned above. For hiking, putting the GPS power saver on is a must. I hope you have a battery pack to recharge your device!!!