Whadi Ghul to Al Khitaym (Jebel Shams)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 8.43 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,016 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 4,016 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,204 ft
- TrailRank
-
52
4.8
- Min elevation
- 2,471 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 6 hours 39 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3249
- Uploaded
- October 22, 2012
- Recorded
- October 2012
near Ghūl, Ad Dākhilīyah (Sultanate of Oman)
Viewed 9472 times, downloaded 338 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This route starts at the abandoned and photogenic village of Ghul and climbs to the al Khithaym plateau at Jebel Shams. Along the route you will have exceptional views of the Wadi Ghul the An Nakhur gorge (1000 m hight) and the summit of Jebel Shams. You will also see beautiful rocky formations. The track is based on W6a route proposed by the Ministry of Tourism of oman (see the link). Instead of doing it from the top, as proposed in many guides, we did it two way starting from Ghul (a 4WD would have been necessary to get to Al Kithaym after a 30 km drive). From the top it is possible to follow the W6 trail along the rim which would take 3 more hours. The trail is well marked with whie/yellow/red strips in all segments but the begining. You have to look carefully at the falaj at Ghul (see picture) to see the first marking strips . It took us approximately 2.5 hours each way but is described as 3.5 hours (take a lot of water with you).
Comments (8)
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Nice pictures. From them I see you started the trail earlier than we did. When the sun is high is really hard ;).
Is possible follow this trail by mountain bike ?
Thanks.. I gone through the wadi trail .. you should try it, easy and wonderful scenery especially after raining time :)
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Very difficult
It is very heavy hike, 7.5 km all the way up, with an avarage of 17% incination.
Take enough water, I consumed 3 liters of water, one way. Views are beautifull. After 1.5 km there is a wall cutting the path so you can not continue (why?). I went arround it and had no futher problems. The kike is very clear marked! It is a real challange and I can not imagen you can moutainbike this path!
Hi I would like to aak if this trail is accessible by a regular car or is 4x4 required ? Thank you:)
I have followed this trail verified View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
The trek is clearly marked, on the descent there is even green reflector signs that were very useful after subset with headlamps.
It is quite a long, stony and sometimes steep trek, don’t underestimate it.
It could well take 3,5 hours for the ascent and 3 for descent.
We carried about 4,5 liters of water per person in winter, summer would require more.
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Dear gomezgomar,
We were planning a full loop48 Kms trail of Jebel shams mountain to start from Hayl as Shas village to wadi Ghul to Khityam to Jebel shams to Hayl as Shas back.
We were looking for a trail connection from Wadi Ghul to Khityam and found your recording.
Your trail was very helpful in our success, thank you very much for your recording, details and the pictures.
Our trail recording.
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/oman-jebel-shams-full-circuit-48-kms-20-hrs-hiking-in-2-days-129587747
Many thanks Rainow Hiker