Manaslu Circuit, September 19 to October 6, 2025
This is the itinerary for my Manaslu Circuit trek in Nepal as it actually happened, per the data I recorded.
| Day | Date | Route | Sleep altitude | Distance | Trek hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-3 to T-2 | Sep 19–20 | East Coast USADoha, QatarKathmandu | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| T-1 | Sep 21 | Procure supplies in Thamel; meet the trekking company | 4,344 feet | n/a | n/a |
| 01 | Sep 22 | 7–9h drive from Kathmandu to Machha Khola | 2,851 feet | n/a | n/a |
| 02 | Sep 23 | Machha Khola to Jagat | 4,396 feet | 11 miles | 8 hrs |
| 03 | Sep 24 | Jagat to Deng | 6,102 feet | 12 miles | 9 hrs |
| 04 | Sep 25 | Deng to Namrung | 8,629 feet | 11 miles | 8 hrs |
| 05 | Sep 26 | Namrung to Shyala | 11,483 feet | 8.7 miles | 7 hrs |
| 06 | Sep 27 | Shyala to Samagaon via Pungyen Gompa | 11,581 feet | 8 miles | 6 hrs |
| 07 | Sep 28 | Acclimatization day at Samagaon, towards Manaslu Base Camp (15,748 ft) | 11,581 feet | 6.3 miles | 5 hrs |
| 08 | Sep 29 | Samagaon to Samdo | 12,713 feet | 4.6 miles | 3.5 hrs |
| 09 | Sep 30 | Samdo to Dharmasala | 14,633 feet | 3.9 miles | 3 hrs |
| 10 | Oct 1 | Dharmasala to Bhimtang via the Larkya La (16,929 ft) | 11,778 feet | 10.4 miles | 9.5 hrs |
| 11 | Oct 2 | Bhimtang to Ghoa | 7,546 feet | 9.4 miles | 6 hrs |
| 12 | Oct 3 | Hike Ghoa to Tilje, then drive back to Kathmandu | 4,593 feet | 2 miles | 1 hr |
| Buffer | Oct 4–5 | Kathmandu | 4,344 feet | n/a | n/a |
| Travel | Oct 6 | KathmanduDoha, QatarEast Coast USA | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Trek summary
- Total distance
- 89.5 miles
- Including side trips, excluding car travel
- Highest point
- 16,929 feet
- Larkya La
- Duration
- 12 days
- September 22 to October 3, 2025
Daily Elevation Profile
The data below comes from my own device, which tracked the entire trek across 38,504 feet of elevation gain, 33,599 feet loss and 89.5 miles of total distance. That is roughly 225k steps, plus 3900-4000 flights of stairs.
Earlier versions of this chart relied on GPX exports—tracks traced and retraced from routes someone, somewhere, once claimed to have walked. Those files were sampled at such wide intervals that whole valleys could vanish in the gaps, their elevation gains and losses bearing only a passing resemblance to reality.
My numbers aren’t perfect either—tight Himalayan valleys still confuse satellites—but at least they’re mine. The device I carried spoke five satellite languages—GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and BEIDOU—as if an orbital consensus would somehow make the mountains more cooperative. Even then, multipath reflections and cloud cover made the signal sketchy at times.
The charts below appear in chronological order of suffering. Each day is scaled to its own lowest and highest point, so you see the shape rather than the size, highlighting the relative shapes of daily punishment: Machhakhola to Jagat rises as pure ascent, while Bhimtang to Ghoa drops away in a knee-destroying descent.
Daily Rhythm Pattern
This visualization shows my actual daily rhythms throughout the trek—when I slept, hiked, and did everything else. Each row is one day, running from midnight to midnight. The shaded band behind each row marks night, from sunset to sunrise, computed for the Manaslu region on those dates.
- Hiking
- Sleeping
- Everything else
- Night
The figure at the end of each row is hours spent hiking.
Trek Route Map
This is the GPS track of my planned route, borrowed from AllTrails’ community GPX file—that democratic fiction where everyone’s suffering gets averaged into a single authoritative line. Reality will doubtless intervene. Side trips will beckon with their particular brands of masochism, and I’ll deviate from this path like someone who apparently hasn’t learned their lesson. The claimed elevation gain seems inflated, though whether by algorithmic enthusiasm or the mountains’ own propaganda department remains unclear.