Baqal Loop
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 16.19 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,714 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 3,714 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,712 ft
- TrailRank
-
71
4.5
- Min elevation
- 3,712 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 6 hours 12 minutes
- Time
- 9 hours 37 minutes
- Coordinates
- 4560
- Uploaded
- October 16, 2020
- Recorded
- October 2020
near Baqal, Raʼs al Khaymah (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 1681 times, downloaded 48 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
Waypoint
381 ft
Stone Circle
The road veers off to the left at this point. Stay in the wadi to the right.
Waypoint
413 ft
Wadi
If you are not already on the wadi bed, use the angled rock beds to head down and follow the wadi round to the right.
Photo
614 ft
Ruins
As the wadi forks again, there are multiple sets of old building ruins. Head north up the wadi (to the left).
Photo
705 ft
Cutting
Continue the gradual ascent up the wadi by cutting back through the steep walls. Follow this passage up and around to the right.
Waypoint
1,263 ft
Exit the wadi
Once the boulders in the wadi start to get a little large for comfortable scrambling, head up to the left on the more comfortable terrain.
Risk
1,555 ft
Steep Pass
Take care of navigating the natural path along by the layer of rock. The drop is steep to the side.
Photo
1,749 ft
Climb
Head up the narrow gully to the left moving away from the main wadi climbed to this point.
Waypoint
3,110 ft
Growing Terrace
First signs of life in a while. Almost out of nowhere, several terraces become visible. RAK is also now in view on a clear day over the closest ridge.
Waypoint
3,773 ft
Plateau Road
Never will you or your legs be so happy to see a dirt road... jump on and follow this north.
Waypoint
3,720 ft
Farm
The path leads to a small farm atop the plateau. Carefully and respectfully navigate through to the north.
Waypoint
3,330 ft
Markers
This entire section has white painted markers to help you find the best route.
Waypoint
2,871 ft
Farm
From here, you will take an old road down towards Wadi Naqab. The road is heavily eroded and impassable for vehicles but makes for an interesting hike down. The point where this old road meets the main route through the wadi is where I’d recommend parking your second vehicle if possible.
Comments (3)
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Hello Dan,
Patrick here.
I wanted to ask you if this hike can be done in reverse.
You started from Nahela Dam.
I would like to start from Wadi Naqab using your other trail ( which I already hiked ), connect to Baqal and Tallah village and further descend to Nahela using your trail in reverse.
In your trail, the Ascent part to reach Tallah village looks steep gradient, so my question, is that section descendable ?
Thank you in advance.
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Hi Dan,
Hope all is well with you.
We followed your trail on 8th January 2022 and enjoyed the hike.
But in our case, we extended our summit section towards the Comtel Tower summit.
On our descent, we chose an alternate trail towards Baqal from Tallah.
Our trail is as follows.
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ph4-nahela-dam-yibir-telcom-tower-baqal-naqab-hike-92328373
Your trails, description and waypoints were very helpful in our hike.
Thank you for this trail.
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Thank you for providing this route
Just completed it with a cold overnight stay at the second farm
Was Fab, more mentally difficult than physically
Walking time for us was day 1; 6hrs day 2; 3 hrs if you exclude our navigational struggles(we are fit, we thought!)
We used 7.5 litres of water
Now sitting in Fibber McGees looking at photos