Wadi Naqab, Bristly Ridge, Jebel Harf Tila and the Villages
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 26.21 mi
- Elevation gain
- 9,783 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Very difficult
- Elevation loss
- 9,783 ft
- Max elevation
- 5,113 ft
- TrailRank
- 56
- Min elevation
- 205 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- one day 5 hours 29 minutes
- Coordinates
- 630
- Uploaded
- April 17, 2018
- Recorded
- April 2018
near Baqal, Raʼs al Khaymah (United Arab Emirates)
Viewed 2714 times, downloaded 79 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
As the weather warms with the onset of the 2018 Summer, this route took on the trek late or trek high summer strategy, with an all-height-gained-must-be-retained mentality. We headed sharply in an upward direction therefore, camping at around 3000'/900m looking down on a picturesque mountain village, and remained high until late afternoon the following day, then dropping height to find some cold pools worthy of a quick swim in the wadi. This made the temperatures still very reasonable throughout. The actual move time for this route was 17 hour 20 mins, at a Moderate pace. With a 4x4 you are able to park as high up as (WP2), which will save around 2 hours of walking. (1 hour each way).
To note: I estimate temperatures in the hajar mountains by taking away 1'C for every 500ft, or 2'C for every 300m gained. This has been really consistent, and won me many a bet!
The difficulty of this route ranged from an Easy Hike to Very Difficult. Lower Wadi Niqab has a track, and is therefore easy. The crux of the route is Middle Wadi Niqab (Reference Heli Hike) between (WP19-25) which I graded the route off. Other 'Difficult' sections are the drop from the village into Niqab (WP14-17) and the Bristly Ridge section (WP5-8). The trek up from Niqab to the village, is a Moderate (WP3-4), and the remainder of the route is Easy.
As is usually the case with these routes, it's probably best used, by being broken into sections and used to create routes of your own, to your own spec, although it can be done as a whole evidently. The route from the wadi to the village is certainly a nice short trek in itself (WP2-4) for example.
This route had 6 sections.
1. WP 01 - 03 - Wadi Niqab Walk in - 1 Hour 30 mins - 5.7km - (200m/650' height gain)
2. WP 03 - 04 - Wadi Niqab up to the Villages - 45 mins - 1.3km - (250m/800’ height gain)
3. WP 04 - 08 - Bristly Ridge - 2 Hours 45 mins - 4.2km - (600m/2000' height gain)
4. WP 08 - 13 - The Plateau, Peak and the Villages - 3 Hours 45 mins - 8km - (500m+ then 400 descent / 1600'+ then 1300' descent)
5. WP 13 - 19 - The descent into Wadi Naqab - 2 Hours 45 mins – 5km – (600m / 2000’ descent)
6. WP 19 - 03 - Wadi Niqab Walk out - 4 Hours 20 – 11km - (350m/1100’ descent)
1. WP 03 - 01 - Wadi Niqab Walk out - 1 Hour 30 mins – 5.7km - (200m/650' descent)
To note: I estimate temperatures in the hajar mountains by taking away 1'C for every 500ft, or 2'C for every 300m gained. This has been really consistent, and won me many a bet!
The difficulty of this route ranged from an Easy Hike to Very Difficult. Lower Wadi Niqab has a track, and is therefore easy. The crux of the route is Middle Wadi Niqab (Reference Heli Hike) between (WP19-25) which I graded the route off. Other 'Difficult' sections are the drop from the village into Niqab (WP14-17) and the Bristly Ridge section (WP5-8). The trek up from Niqab to the village, is a Moderate (WP3-4), and the remainder of the route is Easy.
As is usually the case with these routes, it's probably best used, by being broken into sections and used to create routes of your own, to your own spec, although it can be done as a whole evidently. The route from the wadi to the village is certainly a nice short trek in itself (WP2-4) for example.
This route had 6 sections.
1. WP 01 - 03 - Wadi Niqab Walk in - 1 Hour 30 mins - 5.7km - (200m/650' height gain)
2. WP 03 - 04 - Wadi Niqab up to the Villages - 45 mins - 1.3km - (250m/800’ height gain)
3. WP 04 - 08 - Bristly Ridge - 2 Hours 45 mins - 4.2km - (600m/2000' height gain)
4. WP 08 - 13 - The Plateau, Peak and the Villages - 3 Hours 45 mins - 8km - (500m+ then 400 descent / 1600'+ then 1300' descent)
5. WP 13 - 19 - The descent into Wadi Naqab - 2 Hours 45 mins – 5km – (600m / 2000’ descent)
6. WP 19 - 03 - Wadi Niqab Walk out - 4 Hours 20 – 11km - (350m/1100’ descent)
1. WP 03 - 01 - Wadi Niqab Walk out - 1 Hour 30 mins – 5.7km - (200m/650' descent)
Waypoints
Car park
277 ft
01 - Start/End
01 - Start/End
Photo
Intersection
Campsite
Mountain pass
Summit
Waypoint
0 ft
20 - Big Step
20 - Big Step
Waypoint
1,579 ft
21 - Squeeze
21 - Squeeze
Cave
Waypoint
1,523 ft
23 - Steps
23 - Steps
Lake
Comments (13)
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I have just started doing small two to three hours hiking, in curiosity I am asking you went in a group organized by any adventure company or you went alone with friends.
I have done showka pools, wadi abadilah, jebel yanas balcony hike and mleika desert walk. I am residing in ras al khaimah so please suggest me easy and moderate hikes in ras al khaimah
Wikiloc requires a technical difficulty attached to each route, so look through the routes that I and others have put here for easy routes. I always organise my own treks/climbs rather than going with large groups, which is a bit more risky if a route is experimental.
Thank you
السلام عليكم
الدرب في تسلق ولا بس مشي
Hey Ben--How was the decent back into Wadi Naqab? I'm assuming no rope was needed (as per your grade)--but some areas seemed steep when I was last there going into the Wadi (reverse your direction).
Thanks!
HI Simon, No ropes were used, and going down into the wadi is fine...steepish, bit of scree, but not too bad. Waypoint 20 (Big Step) is the crux of the route, and some may want a rope. It's easy, but very exposed briefly.
Thanks!
Did it over the weekend. Very nice. Agree with your crux indications. Will be more convenient to have a rope for those but as you say doable without.
The trails most places have disappeared, especially from the village to wadi naqab.
I think they use the path from the south to the village now, since the tawian mountain road was tarmacked, so it's a long route but minimal up/down. So a lot of these other old paths are getting trickier and trickier to sniff out year on year.
Makes sense. It's amazing to see how green it was today compared to your pictures. The valley, especially the north facing side was full with greenery and yellow flowers (also why it was difficult to find the old path).
By the way, was the reason you chose to go above the wadi until the wadi naqab waypoint the trail? Or any other reason. I followed the same path, but could very well have been more enjoyable to go into the wadi from beginning instead of cross the screen on the side of the wadi.
From having done that bit of the wadi previously when doing the western approach to Jebel Qihwi I remembered that wadi floor section being flat on the macro, but bouldery on the micro, so went along the path the left bank. It may have been, like you said, not possible to see the old path on this section, which would have made it a bit more scree/sketchy and have slowed it down.
Sometimes the routes I do, may take alternative options with the intention of avoiding repetition for myself. I often upload routes with the hope people can use them not just in their entirety but also by combining elements of different ones.
100%. This part of the route i stuck to the suggestion, as I didnt have a rope, so didnt want to go into the valley in the case it was required (and it was getting warm so didnt want to climb back up).
For future people who would be interested, given what you say and the current condition; seems like it would be easier and nicer to go in the wadi earlier.
To note, there is a trail down the ridge from the village going north. I have not done it, but have seen the path at both ends. This would miss the wadi's big drops, which could be seen as a good or bad thing depending what your after. This is also probably partly why this path section is so faint now.
Also, there are a few steps in that wadi section, I don't recall anything that difficult, but it wasn't featureless. So the wadi route could be nicer, but in this case I gambled on it being slower.