Free GPX files for the walking tracks and selected 4WD access roads in the Western Hajar Mountains can be downloaded below. These walking tracks in the Western Hajar are shown on the Western Hajar Mountains hiking overview map (PDF) on pages 10–11 of the Introduction chapter of the guidebook Wilderness Trekking Oman. Individual chapters and the entire guidebook are available to download from the free Oman hiking guidebook download (PDF) download page. A printed edition is available for purchase from Nomad Publishing or Amazon U.K., and includes 1:50,000 scale maps for all these walks on pages 86–227. A separate folded A1 map of the traverse and side routes, scaled 1:50,000, is available from Cordee map distributors. GPX files for walking tracks in the Eastern Hajar and Jabal Al Kawr, and for the climbing route in Wadi An Nakhur, are available from their respective top-level tabs and are therefore not listed here.
Most of the tracks and waypoints were recorded using a Garmin GPSMAP64s, with a GPS fix
recorded every 10 m of track.
Download the zipped GPX files to your computer,
unzip them, and then transfer the GPX tracks to your navigation device or mapping app (for
example, Garmin, Gaia GPS, AllTrails or Komoot).
The Western Hajar Traverse is 209 km in length. It consists of 188 km of mountain track and 21 km of graded road, the longest road section being 6 km. The total length of all tracks on the Western Hajar, excluding overlaps, is 607 km. None of the side routes include road sections. The GPX files for the side routes are grouped from east to west. The traverse GPX file includes both options. All 259 waypoints are contained in a single file. Details such as distance, walking times, elevation changes, and degree of difficulty for each track are given either in the traverse details or in the table of side routes.
Western Hajar Route Length
Western Hajar Traverse – 209 km
Side Routes – 398 km
Total Network – 607 km
The side routes do not overlap with each other or with any of the traverse tracks. Many of them branch from other tracks. To create a complete route starting and finishing at a road, several side routes may need to be combined with portions of the traverse. Track segments can be combined to form loops using Garmin BaseCamp software. Twenty such loops have already been created and are listed on this page.
Hyphenated track names—for example Hayl At Talhat–Al Ililanah to Aqbat At Tariq—indicate that the track is a branch starting from the track between Hayl At Talhat and Al Ililanah and leading to Aqbat At Tariq.
Fractional traverse track names—for example 04.1 As Sawjrah to Ar Rus and 04.2 Road to Ar Rus (road)—indicate that Day 4 has two sections, the second being a road.
Several donkey tracks include optional man-track shortcuts in the GPX files. Most of these shortcuts are only marginally shorter and, because of their increased difficulty, may not save time. They are included on the maps and in the GPX files to avoid confusion when walking past a track branch. Until you are familiar with the terrain, it is best to stay on donkey tracks.
Also included on this website are the GPX files for four ultra-marathon tracks with distances of 10 km, 50 km, 130 km and 170 km. These ultra-marathon tracks overlap with each other and also with parts of Days 5 to 9 of the traverse and the corresponding side routes. They are marked with green reflective dots for night running and can therefore be followed without a navigation device. Red dots indicate danger. In places these marathon tracks follow a less scenic but smoother line than the historical tracks.
These 4WD roads connect to many of the side routes from the traverse. ⬇ 4WD access roads GPX (Western Hajar Mountains)
They will be useful if you have a support team who are driving a 4WD vehicle.
These twenty loops or near-loops range from half-day walks to five-day walks. They are listed from east to west, with details of the distance in kilometres, the total ascent and descent in metres, whether there is water on the track, the level of difficulty, and the relevant 1:50,000 map page or pages in Wilderness Trekking Oman.
These loop files contain no new track data. They have been created by joining sections of the traverse with side routes. Information on these loops is also available from the corresponding side routes in the table of side routes and in the Side Routes and Loops chapter.
The GPX files include the main donkey trading routes near the traverse, but they do not include every traditional route in the Western Hajar Mountains. Important traditional routes ascending the southern side of the range from the interior include those up Wadi Kamah, Wadi Tanuf, Wadi Muaydin, and Imty. The route from Imty is known locally as Alerurqub. These tracks are excluded because they are far from the main route and lie on the more developed side of the range, where they are sometimes crossed by roads. Side routes that require ropework are not included on this page. Two climbing routes are described on the Wadi An Nakhur tab, where they can also be downloaded.
This traverse and side routes are intended for hikers who are competent with GPS navigation, as only six of the sixteen day’s tracks have waymarks. Every effort has been made in the guidebook and this website to inform you what to carry, and to give you sufficient navigational aids to find drinking water every night when hiking them. Mountain travel involves unavoidable natural hazards. Conditions may change and route finding is your responsibility. Use these GPX files at your own risk.
