2 days of hiking to reach the highest point of Oman in January 2019
45 km and more than 4000 m vertical drop via the "Abandonned village walk"
GPX traces
The GPS trace recreated from my recorded datas of my Garmin watch can be downloaded here.
To summarize our route, we started from the road, we ascended till the start of the path which is going in the canyon till the abandoned village, we went to this village, then we came back on our way. Then we followed the road in the direction of the base camp of the summit ascent. We ascended to the summit and came back to the base camp.
Information sources
Our source about the paths going to the Jabal Shams is the official website OmanTourism that compiles maps of existing trails and those that are marked. We qui reprend des cartes des sentiers qui existent et ceux qui sont marqués. We walked on the W6a 'Rim walk', W6 'Abandoned Village Walk' and W4 'Summit Walk'.
and our first source of information to hike in the Western Hajar: the article of Simon on the website itrekking (in french) that describe very well his crossing. He searched to reach directly the Jabal Sham from the heights of Bilad Sayd as appears possible on the OmanTourism map, but was unable to do so. We inquired about the possibility of doing this from locals we met in this area but they did not seem to know the way. So we decided to do it in the same way as Simon, going back to El Hamra.
As explained in my article about my crossing of the Western Hajar, we followed the UTMB Oman trace. The 2019 edition includes a 170 km race that reaches the top of Jabal Sham from the other side! There is therefore a practicable path! To see with the official trace of the UTMB Oman 2019!
Day 1
From Ghul to the parking with the antenna
19,4 km - 2400 m vertical drop - 6h
After our 6 days trek between Izki and Al Hamra, a good night of sleep, well-washed recovered clothes and a good breakfast, we made another stop at the bakery next to our hotel to get supplies.
The breads, or rather the pancakes, were wonderful again!
We then started walking along the main road that leaves Al Hamra towards Ghul.
In order to save time, we tried to hitchhike a bit to be dropped off at Ghul, at the entrance to what is called the “Grand Canyon of Oman”. Several cars offered to take us higher, towards the Jabal Shams for a fee, guides in our opinion, but we finally found a car that kindly dropped us further down the road, as we wanted.
There, the view over the ancient village is very pretty.
So we started walking, first going down to the bottom of the wadi, and finding a door to the oasis.
It was from there that we found the marking.
We then crossed the cultures and the ancient village, in a state of ruin, then we started the climb.
The path is followed from sign to sign through the stones. And it goes up!
And the view emerges over the valley and the wadi! More and more beautiful as you go up.
The ascent is tiring. It therefore takes time. We had the impression that we were moving very slowly.
This is because it climbs well, but also because you have to walk between the rocks.
And sometimes help yourself a little with your hands.
During our ascent, we decided to take a break to eat something!
Especially chocolate pancakes!
Small challenge!
I am somewhere, among the rocks, on the picture below! Can you find me?
Going along the canyon as we did gives really extraordinary views but this path is really not easy and accessible to all.
Once at the top of this section, we found a more touristy spot at the start of the 'Abandoned village walk' trail.
Some children were selling cold drinks and some souvenirs there.
We quickly began to meet other tourists, who had come here by bus or car to walk along the path.
For us, this portion was much easier to navigate. The path is clearly visible and is easy to follow. It is not flat, but alternates between small climbs and descents.
We met again the group of French tourists that we had seen in Bilad Sayd. So we stopped for a while to chat with them.
The view in the canyon is extraordinary!
It is really a trail to hike whatever the type of trip made in Oman since it is easy and accessible by car.
Arrived at the end of the canyon, we passed through the abandoned village.
The view from the end is definitely worth going but it's still quite a long way to go there and back.
We passed tourists turning around before reaching the village.
We took advantage of the village to take a short break. It’s always interesting for the goats to come and see what we are eating! And that makes us pretty pictures too.
The afternoon was going well so we continue on our way. The light was very beautiful and we again encountered groups of tourists on the way. It's always an opportunity to chat and talk about our journey.
Back on the road, we followed it with the aim of moving a little further but also to find a place to camp.
Maps.me, that we also use to follow certain paths, indicated several places to camp. We quickly discovered that we weren't the only ones who wanted to camp in this area.
We met several couples and families who had come so far in 4x4 with all the camping equipment.
We chatted for a while with a Belgian couple.
Tourism in a fully equipped for camping 4x4 is very popular in Oman as camping is allowed almost everywhere. However, the bill can quickly climb to rent this type of car.
We continued to walk until we found, just before the dark, some sort of empty parking lot next to a large antenna where there was plenty of room to camp.
Day 2
From the parking with the antenna to the summit and back to the resort along the road
25,7 km - 1900 m vertical drop - 7h15
After a good night of sleep a bit disturbed by the noice of the antenna, and a good breakfast of pancakes, we started again direction the Jabal Shams!
The first part of the day consisted to follow a road till the resort. We crossed, on the way, a small village.
Once arrived at the resort, we left the road to follow the W4 path.
This path is marked but we have to stay focus and sometimes to improvise, like in the beginning, where we had some troubles to find the way.
Then, it is a path from rock to rock, which is climbing! One more time, is quite physical!
But wonderful!
And there is no one on the way!
The path follows for a big part the canyon wich is below!
We followed the signs to a point that offers us a point of view on the valley on the other side! We enjoyed that view to take a break.
A bit further, a difficult part, where it was needed to climb a bit. We deciced to let our backpack there before continuing to the summit.
We took a minimum of things with us as we were absolutely not afraid to be stolen.
We tought, at that point, that we were close to the summit, but, even lighter, we still walked a while.
There, the path was almost falt, along the crete.
We finally saw a orientation table which indicated the highest accessible point and the end of our path.
We enjoyed the wonderful view over all the surrounding valleys and did a nice pictures shoot!
It was cold at 3000 m high and we had no warm clothes with us. Then, we continue to go back to our backpack.
The descent is going on the same path but allows to enjoy the view differently.
The amount of days of walking on rocks was starting to hurt my feet!
We were happy to return to the resort for a short break and buy some water.
We also had tea there.
Our walk in the Western Hajar was coming to an end.
We had several options to get back down.
Retrace our steps to Ghul, or follow the road, or even hitchhike.
Given the time and the fatigue, we decided to try to hitchhike.
We have been taking almost directly by a grop of French in a 4x4. They were looking fo a place to camp so they dropped us when they found it.
A local car was followong us. They directly took us with them.
It was driving slowly and we were enjoying a magnificient sunset!
Arrived near their village, the driver helped us to stop a tourist car.
It was a solo Canadian, Charlene. She took us with her.
She was also looking for a place to camp but wanted to descent as much as possible in altitude to avoid to be cold at night.
While chatting, we realized that we all wanted to go to the desert the next day.
She kindly offer to take us there with her. So we decided to camp together that niffht and spend the day togheter the next day.
So we went down to Ghul, and entered, with the car, in the bottom of the Wadi to find a place to camp.
We saw other campers on our way. Once a location was found, we set up the camp.
Two more wonderful days in Oman! And a lot of luck in the meetings!
In conclusion, the ascent of the Jabal Shams is not easy ut it offers breathtaking views!
The "abandonned village walk" is worth the detour and is much more practicable than most of others area.