Wadi Ghalilah to the Beginning of Stairway
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 8.24 mi
- Elevation gain
- 5,213 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 5,213 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,978 ft
- TrailRank
- 21
- Min elevation
- 442 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 3 hours 47 minutes
- Time
- 8 hours 52 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2341
- Uploaded
- January 7, 2023
- Recorded
- January 2023
near Ḩārat ‘Awālī, Raʼs al Khaymah (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 19 times, downloaded 1 times
Itinerary description
Not the best idea to do Stairway to Heaven on a rainy day.
It started well and early from Dxb but it started to rain on the road.
Wanted to drive to the trail head from the dam yet along the way, something was definitely not right. A drive which is supposedly doable with any 4x4 became a solo offroading and rockcrawling trip for me.
Crawl control and Atrac was required and finally made it almost to the starting point at the last farm when a few friendly Emiratis suggested to turn back, as the original road was 'consumed' by earlier rain and their truck was stuck at the inner most farm for 2 days already. No wonder the short journey was so tough!
For my own good, it's better to park the car at a high ground which I did back at the dam, which turn out to be the best decision later that day.
However, offroading solo plus turning back and starting from the dam again took some time.
It started to rain as soon as I arrived at the starting point again but it stopped at 'the split'.Rain caused some changes to the terrain. Took me some time at 'the split' to find the correct way to 'the scree'. On the way up, another group decided to cancel the hike due to rain and return. Time was still available so I decided to continue to the beginning of the 'Stairway'.
At that point, rain clouds started to roll in and to avoid more risk, decided to return. By the time at 'the split' again, it was pouring. At least 20 waterfalls appeared from the mountains. The dried wadi at 'the split' became a river in minutes after i crossed it!
Continue walking down the path til a point almost to the last farm house, which is supposedly a dry wadi, it is a raging river now! Decided to wait for the river to subside a little to wade thru the edge but some helpful locals from the opposite bank suggested climbing all the way around a rocky hill to cross to the other side instead of wading. Managed to cross to the other side, yet eventually still have to cross the wadi(river). Found a shallow point in my opinion and managed to cross without being swept away by the strong current.
To get to the car, a friendly Emirati man suggested crossing on the dam since the normal wadi ghalilah is river ghalilah now. However, them being always generous and helpful, he actually led me to the dam which I safely crossed to the other side.
It started well and early from Dxb but it started to rain on the road.
Wanted to drive to the trail head from the dam yet along the way, something was definitely not right. A drive which is supposedly doable with any 4x4 became a solo offroading and rockcrawling trip for me.
Crawl control and Atrac was required and finally made it almost to the starting point at the last farm when a few friendly Emiratis suggested to turn back, as the original road was 'consumed' by earlier rain and their truck was stuck at the inner most farm for 2 days already. No wonder the short journey was so tough!
For my own good, it's better to park the car at a high ground which I did back at the dam, which turn out to be the best decision later that day.
However, offroading solo plus turning back and starting from the dam again took some time.
It started to rain as soon as I arrived at the starting point again but it stopped at 'the split'.Rain caused some changes to the terrain. Took me some time at 'the split' to find the correct way to 'the scree'. On the way up, another group decided to cancel the hike due to rain and return. Time was still available so I decided to continue to the beginning of the 'Stairway'.
At that point, rain clouds started to roll in and to avoid more risk, decided to return. By the time at 'the split' again, it was pouring. At least 20 waterfalls appeared from the mountains. The dried wadi at 'the split' became a river in minutes after i crossed it!
Continue walking down the path til a point almost to the last farm house, which is supposedly a dry wadi, it is a raging river now! Decided to wait for the river to subside a little to wade thru the edge but some helpful locals from the opposite bank suggested climbing all the way around a rocky hill to cross to the other side instead of wading. Managed to cross to the other side, yet eventually still have to cross the wadi(river). Found a shallow point in my opinion and managed to cross without being swept away by the strong current.
To get to the car, a friendly Emirati man suggested crossing on the dam since the normal wadi ghalilah is river ghalilah now. However, them being always generous and helpful, he actually led me to the dam which I safely crossed to the other side.
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