Wadi Naqab Red Wall hike - Ras al Khaimah, UAE
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 10.03 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,776 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 2,776 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,766 ft
- TrailRank
-
55
5
- Min elevation
- -1,371 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 5 hours
- Time
- 16 hours 47 minutes
- Coordinates
- 4859
- Uploaded
- June 24, 2020
- Recorded
- June 2020
near Baqal, Raʼs al Khaymah (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 21550 times, downloaded 412 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Read all you need to know about this hike in my blog post by following "View more" link at the end of this description.
Please ignore straight lines on the map (wikiloc was acting up). Therefore, max elevation 538 meters (not 846).
This hike can be anything between 7km to 16 km depending if you arrive in 4x4 or a sedan and if you choose to go only until Red Wall or beyond. Luckily now you can park your sedan a little closer than it used to be, still it adds up 4km of walking as opposed when you drive in with 4x4.
This hike is the most enjoyable during the cooler months. We have done it in June and it was quite extreme. We stayed overnight to avoid hiking during the day. Aimed to reach some abandoned village on top of the mountain but ran out of time and had to sleep in the wadi. The rock was flat but hot, with some crazy bats screaming in the distance at night- quite an experience.
Please don't go in summer if you can't handle UAE heat if you do carry a bare minimum of 6 liters of water per person (should be more actually) if you can't just don't go in summer.
In good weather this hike rates somewhere in between easy to moderate as its still quite a long walk on rocky terrain and some bouldering involved.
https://www.theroadreel.com/red-wall-hike-in-wadi-naqab/
Waypoints
Photo
514 ft
1. Start-park your sedan here, 4x4 can continue
This is the closest spot non four-wheel car can reach. 4x4 can continue further for another 2km.
Photo
594 ft
2. Continue to your right into the wadi
4x4 can come up to this point and park on the left. Path on the right leads to the wadi Naqab.
Photo
642 ft
4. From here cars cannot continue, real hike begins
This is the spot where the road and easy walk finishes, and a proper hike starts from.
Photo
749 ft
5. Massive rock fall on the way
Many large boulders and massive piles of rocks along the way
Photo
828 ft
6. Follow the red arrow, be ready to climb some massive boulders
There are some red spray indicators to help you find the way in between those massive boulders.
Photo
906 ft
7. Red Wall
This is the Red Wall which seems to be impossible to pass. I was looking for a way to pass it but some boulders were just too big to cross without any special equipment. If you want to continue beyond the red wall, you will have to come 300 meters back and look for a path that will take you across the face of the mountain.
Photo
885 ft
8. Path leading up the mountain - a way to pass Red Wall
Look for the giant rock with red arabic grafitti. At this point there are indocations showing to go up the mountain where you will reach a balcony/platform. Follow it to pass the Red Wall.
Photo
1,075 ft
9. Valley after Red Wall
The mountain path will take you down to a nice large valley behind the red wall.
Photo
1,135 ft
11. Camping spot on one of the flat rocks in the middle of the wadi
that's pretty much where we had to stop for the night
Photo
1,155 ft
12. Attempt to climb up the mountain to abandoned village, had to turn back as it got dark.
We aimed to camp in a village on top of the mountain. But we ran out of time, sun set, and we had to stay in the middle of the wadi- next time:)
Comments (20)
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your hikes are so detailed! thank you
HA 1 you are very welcome, I am glad it is helpful :)
Thanks for the details and the great explanations.
Definitively will try it very soon.
You are most welcome, once the weather is cooler, I sure you will enjoy it, Mokh D.
Hi, can we do this wihtout any climbing gear? Like can we cross boulders with bare hands?
Hi Husnain, yes you can, no need for any climbing gear for this hike, there is a path around the mountain that allows you to pass the Red Wall. Check my blog post on theroadreel . com about this red wall hike, I explain it in detail
So this map will lead us to front of the red wall is it? If we want to continue further 2e can bypass the wall?
This map will lead you to the red wall and also behind it through the path higher up. We went first to the red wall. I even tried to look for the way to pass it but that would require ropes most likely, so we turned back and found the path going up around the mountain. There are even signs sprayed on the rocks, so you can continue behind red wall, and there is apparently some nice staff too. will definitely go again soon to explore more
Loved this trail! Super scenic! Was a 14.2km out and back.... wouldn’t describe this as a loop, more like a U turn! It’s an easy hike with a bit of Boulder climbing until you reach about 5km in, then it’s a lot of climbing past a big mountain of fallen rocks to get to the top... it was great to be a small group where we pulled each other up! A new trail between canyons is revealed when you come out at the top, about 6.5km in and it’s spectacular! We turned back as half our group did not want to Boulder up!
Hi Tamara, glad you liked the hike, yes it is not really a loop but rather U-turn hehe. I have to come back to it and explore further as I did this hike in summer and it was a real challenge to handle the heat. It is indeed one of the most beautiful areas in UAE
One last question.. Can sedan go to the head of this trail? Of yes then whats the condition of road? Any one who did this recently kinkdy confirm
Hi Husnain, please check the link I have shared here to my blog post where I marked the place until which sedan can reach. It can't go until the start of the trail unfortunately as there are parts of loose gravel road that sedan will get stuck (unless they fixed it since June). https://www.theroadreel.com/red-wall-hike-in-wadi-naqab/
You can go in quite deep as they’ve done the roads up but I still wouldn’t take a sedan as there is a lot of rocks and loose gravel as of last weekend! And the hike in is just an additional 2km each way, not bad at all!
Agree with Tamara, it adds up around 2km (before it used to be 3km or even 4km if I remember correctly). So 4km two ways is only an extra hour of walking on a road with a view.
Hi Ausra, thank you so much for all the tips you give fellow hikers, they helped me so much in planning some of the hikes I've done, just to add that it is now possible to drive all the way to where only 4x4 cars could go before, they are building a dam in that area now and the trucks made the road suitable for sedans, I went today in a sedan and had no issues at all, if you have a 4x4 you can even reach deeper but that would only make the trail shorter.
Hi Spirits, that is awesome that sedan can now reach further, although the walk there was quite beautiful too. I hope them building a dam won't mean there will be restrictions to enter wadi naqab, as it is one of the best hiking places in the country.
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As usual, Ausra Osi did a wonderful job desribing the trail and what to expect. Now they are building a dam in the area and once you reach the dam there is a dirt road to the right side that goes uphill and will allow you to pass the dam to the hike start point, actually now even the smallest sedan cars can drive all the way to the hike start point where previously only 4x4's could reach. Huge trucks will travel 1 - 1.5 km deep into the wadi after the hike start point to carry boulders from the wadi to the dam's consruction site. It was a good hike with beautiful scenary I would say it is an easy to easy-plus hike if you only reach the red wall and back.
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Ačiū, patiko.
Very nice hike, we went beyond the Red wall until the small water pool with a high wall and went back. Everything was clear.
which point of red wall you can see the UAE flag, is it in the Red Wall or in the extended hike? thank you
It is in the extended hike in wadi Koob