Itinerary: A Measured 6-Day Day-by-Day
Every figure below is measured — recorded on a GPS watch by Kani, the Ohana trip leader, with hiker Kak Yaa’s account woven through. For the full difficulty breakdown, see the difficulty guide.
The Measured Journey
Every metre from a measured GPS track.
Before day one: the trek starts with two days of travel
People underestimate the approach — there are two full days of travel before you take a step.
Two travel days each way
Don’t fly in expecting to walk the next morning — budget the travel days. Kak Yaa lists “understand the journey — the roads, the facilities, the airport-to-trailhead reality” among the first things she wants first-timers to grasp.
Your overnight stops may not match the printed plan
On the trip we measured, two of five overnights differed from the brochure — guides move between teahouses by season and availability. A printed itinerary is indicative, not a contract.
The full measured file, day by day
The measured six days
6 days · Siwai to Siwai
6 days · Siwai to Siwai
The measured days, at a glance
| Day | Route | descent m climb |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Siwai Chhomrong sleep 2,221 m highest HR | |
| Day 2 | Chhomrong Bamboo sleep 2,300 m | |
| Day 3 | Bamboo Deurali sleep 3,152 m breaks people | |
| Day 4 | Deurali Annapurna Base Camp sleep 4,131 m high point | |
| Day 5 | Annapurna Base Camp Bamboo sleep 2,301 m sets up the damage | |
| Day 6 | Bamboo Siwai 1,653 m 80–90% cramp | |
| Total | round trip · measured |
† Heart rate is one hiker's (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — individual, so yours will differ.
Swipe the days — Day 1 of 6
Less than half of Kinabalu's Timpohon → Laban Rata climb (1,406 m) — but you're not warmed in yet.
It looks like a warm-up and it is the hardest single stretch on the route by cardiovascular load. A 2.65 km climb, walked at barely 1.2 km/h, that recorded the highest average heart rate of the whole trek — higher than the morning you reach base camp. Start slow; this sets the tone.
♥ 137 bpm avg, 160 max — The trek's highest average, on its shortest walk. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
2.65 km · +608 / −30 m · sleep 2,221 m climb and descend all day for just +107 m net
The Chhomrong steps set the pattern: you drop hard to the river and climb back through Sinuwa toward Bamboo. The descent is nearly as big as the climb, which is why a day that gains only 79 m of altitude still costs you 799 m of uphill in the legs.
♥ 128 bpm avg — Steady work, no single crux. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
8.95 km · +799 / −692 m · sleep 2,300 m About three-quarters of Kinabalu's Timpohon → Laban Rata climb (1,406 m) — the biggest climb so far.
The first breakdown lands here, and it isn't legs or lungs — it's mental, driven by cold and altitude. The final pitch into Deurali ran at an average heart rate of 154, the hardest sustained effort of the trek. Kak Yaa reads it coming fifteen minutes out: pace slows, mood drops, appetite goes, then people go quiet. It tracks preparation, not fitness.
♥ 125 bpm avg — The climb into Deurali hit 154 — the trek's hardest sustained effort. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
8.42 km · +1,095 / −218 m · sleep 3,152 m You sleep 36 m higher than Low's Peak, Kinabalu's summit (4,095 m).
Through Machhapuchhre Base Camp and up the glacial basin. Notably this is not the hardest morning by heart rate — Deurali was worse. What changes at the top is morale: people arrive lighter, happier. Asked directly whether they also move better, the answer is no. Your mind recovers here at 4,131 m; your legs are exactly as tired as an hour before.
♥ 127 bpm avg, 172 max — Peaked on the final push to base camp. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
7.89 km · +1,091 / −97 m · sleep 4,131 m 94% of a full Kinabalu descent (Low's Peak → Timpohon Gate) — and the longest day on your feet, 7.2 h moving.
Morale is high, so people stop managing their step length; some run. There is no rest pattern, because nobody feels they need one. It is the longest time on your feet of the whole trek and the biggest descent — and it feels like the easy day. This is the day that loads the legs; the bill arrives tomorrow.
♥ 125 bpm avg — HR reads this as easy — exactly why it's the wrong way to rank a descent. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
15.24 km · +253 / −2,086 m · sleep 2,301 m Half of Kinabalu's Timpohon → Laban Rata climb (1,406 m) — on the most tired legs of the trip.
Almost nobody plans for a 700 m climb on the last day. You drop to the river, then climb the stone steps back to Chhomrong — a sustained 32% that takes one to two hours — before dropping out to Siwai. This is where Kak Yaa sees 80–90% of trekkers cramp: calves, quads, adductors. It is not the same people who struggled going up, and it is unpredictable. Start early.
♥ 127 bpm avg — Unremarkable — and that's the point: the damage here is muscular, not cardiovascular. One hiker (Kani, who recorded the track), October 2025 — heart rate is individual, so yours will differ.
11.19 km · +719 / −1,349 m · finish Times are past tense from real GPS moving time — we measured them, we didn't estimate them. Elevation gain is the device's barometric figure. Heart rate is one hiker's, shown only as corroboration.
How we know this
Every figure traces to one of two sources — and we mark which:
- Recorded Measured
- by Kani, the Ohana trip leader, on a COROS watch — 57,960 points at one-second sampling, barometric elevation and heart rate, 19–24 October 2025, on the Ohana route.
- Testimony First-hand
- Kak Yaa, experienced hiker who supports Malaysian groups for Ohana (which contracts a licensed Nepali guide for the trail). She was not on the trip we recorded; her account is drawn from her own treks and the groups she supports, interviewed across three sessions in July 2026 and attributed throughout. Where our reading differs from hers, we say so.
Checked 27 July 2026. Conditions, teahouse stops and prices change — verify anything safety- or money-critical against a current source.
Disclosure: some gear links are affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and our source is listed as a contact for Ohana Travel & Tours.
Related: How hard is it, really? · What it costs · When to go