the first clear difference between the two is that hiking is always done as a leisure activity, while trekking could have a number of motivations, which is not to say that trekking s never done as a leisure activity, but not always  - this difference is one of the reasons that the length of the journey is usually different as well, with hikes rarely lasting more than a day, whilst treks can go on for weeks, or even months .

another difference is the paths of the walks, as hiking will usually be undertaken on man-made paths and trails, whilst trekking will usually take place on less known terrain, sometimes through complete wilderness - for this reason hiking is considered considerably safer to trekking, as there are more likely to be unknown dangers or hostile terrain during a trek .