Massif down route E30

This massif is pretty much remote as there are no towns of note anywhere near it. It's about 250 KMs down the E30 highway towards Bisha, turn off for a small town called Hasah and then head for an even sleepier 'town' called Turaif.

I originally planned to cycle into hike a big wadi then hide the bicycle and start hiking, but about 2.5 KMs in there was a dam (not yet shown on Google Earth!), so I cycled dejected back towards the car, but I noticed a small opening on my left, which turned out to be a very impressive and exciting hike (after hiding the bike behind some rocks). Lots of boulders and large pools of clear water, including big and deep enough to swim in (late March - and I heard there had been rain about 4 days before, giving the water in the deep pools enough time to settle and clear). About 3 KMs in there is climbing and scrambling up clean polished granite to a lovely basin with soft sand and a lot of vegetation. I camped there but hiked a little way along a long straight wadi which looked as though it could go on for quite a few KMs of fairly easy hiking, heading upwards gradually and, possibly, linking with a wadi that heads down to the eastern side of this massif (the hike from west to east right across the massif, if possible, would be about 13 KMs).

I also scrambled up to a few heights around the camping spot for truly spectacular views of the higher peaks and also west into the desert and the setting sun.

I would strongly recommend this hike as it's not that long or difficult but there is a lot to do and see like pools, bouldering, weird rock formations carved by the elements, etc. Plus there is virtually no sign of humans having been there for a long time (litter, camel droppings, etc).