Wadi Shah to Jebel Jais Summit
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 6.64 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,993 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 558 ft
- Max elevation
- 5,774 ft
- TrailRank
-
63
5
- Min elevation
- 1,306 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 5 hours 41 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1773
- Uploaded
- April 5, 2021
- Recorded
- March 2021
near Shāh, Raʼs al Khaymah (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 648 times, downloaded 19 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Parking at the entrance to Wadi Shah, this trail follows the foundation of the Jebel Jais road to the next wadi north of Shah. From here, the trail heads up towards the plateau above following sporadic donkey trails. On the way up, a small oasis (WP4) provides a great place to rest.
Take care to respect the privacy of the residents on the plateau. The farms here are relatively active and I have frequently seen habitants when passing through. The goal from the plateau is to use a rocky subsidiary ridge to reach the main ridge, which forms the UAE/Oman border.
The access ridge looks somewhat challenging from where the climb begins in the saddle (WP9). There is some exposure and scrambling is required at a couple of points. The way is marked sporadically with cairns, however, and should not require any equipment. Take care and go slow!
You will be greeted at the top of the climb by a UAE/Oman border post (WP12). From here, the rest of the route follows a disused dirt road running along the top of the ridge. Head north towards Jebel Jais. My trail ends at the paved Jebel Jais road just above the zip line station. You can choose where to proceed from here.
At the time of writing (April 2021), access to this point was blocked for private vehicles just before the restaurant (1484 by Puro). I descended by foot to the restaurant along the road. There is a trail just past the restaurant which cuts out a large section of road and arrives at a convenient parking area where I met my support vehicle. I have added a screen shot of this for clarity.
Waypoints
Waypoint
1,379 ft
1) Wadi Ascent
Turn away from the main road and join the wadi at the property. There are some donkey trails you can follow here. Take care, however, as they are not always clear.
Waypoint
3,794 ft
10) Keep to the left
As you reach this waypoint, look our for the cairns which guide your path to the left beneath this rock formation.
Waypoint
3,968 ft
11) Rock Steps
Remain vigilant for cairns to guide your way. There are also several areas of man-made rock steps to get up and over certain sections. One such section can help you up and around this outcrop at this waypoint.
Waypoint
4,940 ft
12) UAE/Oman Border Post
As you reach the top of ridge, you will see the first border post. From this point, there is an old dirt road heading north towards Jebel Jais. You can follow this road all the way to the paved road where this trail ends. Be mindful that everything to the east (your right hand side) is Omani territory. ***** The attached map is guidance for the end of the route. The black X is where this trail ends at the paved road. The blue X is the furthest reachable parking area up Jebel Jais (as of April 2021). It is possible to walk between the two using the paved road and a trail. This will take approximately 45mins - 1hr.
Waypoint
1,732 ft
2) Donkey Path
Plot the easiest route up the wadi using common sense if you lose the path. As a general rule of thumb, I found the left hand side to allow faster progress.
Waypoint
1,934 ft
3) Wadi Intersection
Take care at this spot as there are several different routes that branch off at an intersection of different wadis. Follow the GPS trail up the easterly route (first wadi to branch off to the right). It is possible to rejoin this trail if you accidentally take the north-easterly wadi but it bypasses WP4, which would be a tremendous shame! The tree pictured sits between the easterly and north-easterly wadis. You want to head to the right of it.
Waypoint
2,676 ft
4) Oasis
One of my favourite little spots in the area. An active oasis with date palm plantation. Keep an eye out for the spring flowing out of the mountainside.
Waypoint
2,530 ft
5) Scree Path
Heading up and around out of the oasis, the path crosses a scree slope as it hugs the underside of the cliffs above.
Waypoint
3,094 ft
6) Shelter Ruins
Keep your eyes peeled for some fascinating, crumbling ruins of old shelters as you ascend the ledge path.
Waypoint
3,255 ft
7) Plateau Farms
After one last scramble, you will reach the farms on the plateau. These farms are usually active so please be mindful of local residents.
Waypoint
3,303 ft
8) Plateau Trail
There are several visible trails heading out of these farms across the plateau. It is not imperative you follow my GPS track up here - there is scope for exploration. Just make sure you find your way to WP9 to begin the next ascent!
Waypoint
3,459 ft
9) Saddle/Start of Ridge Ascent
This is a great spot to take pause with views across the plateaus to the south and Jebel Jais to the north. When you are ready, begin the ridge ascent to the east. There are cairns along the majority of this section. I advise using your common sense to plot your path by looking out for these markers.
Comments (6)
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Great review Dan, Thanks.
No issues near the border?
Hey there! No issues at WP12 as it’s just a border marker. I did not see (and have never seen) anyone along the the dirt road, which hits the border, either.
At the main Jebel Jais road, I did not pass any official checkpoint. Certainly on foot, you have much more freedom. The post on the road just before the restaurant is presently only stopping cars.
I don’t want to say definitively but I think you should be find doing this trail at the moment. Good luck and enjoy!
Thanks Dan, appreciate it. Will get it a try 👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Dan,
I followed your trail on 1st December as part of my Wadi2Wadi project segment #6 to connect Wadi Shah to Wadi Litibah/Ghalilah via STH RB.
Your trail is detailed and perfect.
Thank you.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this trail!! This project sounds wonderful, Patrick. Best of luck for the rest of it!
Hi Dan,
It was completed in 18 days with 6 day hikes.
We started at Wadi Ghub and hiked 6 trails, 6 mountains, 7 Wadis and ended at Ghalilah.
Total 114 Kms.