How we measure

Every trek page separates three things on purpose: what we measured off a device, what we sourced and dated, and what we haven't walked yet. Here's exactly how that works — and how to check us.

Route data comes off a GPS watch, recorded by a named person who was on the trail — not scraped from other blogs. The distances, climbs, elevation profiles and heart rate are what the device logged.

The two treks above are measured and walked. Our own first-hand walk is the Annapurna Circuit in November 2026 — we're deep in preparation now. Until we've walked a route and verified the track ourselves, we don't publish a destination guide for it — we say so on the page instead.

• Measured — off a GPS file we hold: distances, elevation, heart rate. Checkable (see below).
• Sourced — planning facts we didn't measure ourselves (costs, permit rules, seasons). Cited and dated, given as ranges, never as false precision.
• First-hand testimony — what a named, experienced hiker sees on the trail (e.g. Kak Yaa). Attributed throughout, and we publish where our reading of the evidence differs from theirs.
• Not yet walked — a route we may hold a track for but haven't walked and verified ourselves. We hold it back rather than publish a destination guide we can't stand behind; the Annapurna Circuit goes live after we walk it in Nov 2026.
• [verify] — anything unconfirmed. It never goes live: we fill it, or the page stays a draft.

Elevation. Ascent figures are the device's barometric reading — not summed from raw GPS, which overcounts. Village heights use conventional map figures for labels, so a barometric altitude can differ by a few metres from a map number. Both are stated for what they are.

Heart rate. HR is one person's body — individual, and no guide to yours. We publish it as corroboration of effort, always caveated, never as a target.