Wadi Al Far may seem like a simple little hiking route starting out near the base of Jebal Jais but in reality it is a muscle-burner that challenges you and requires you to dig deep and use all of your strength to make it up and even more so, down. This wadi was a first-time hike for all 20 members of the convoy. Nonetheless, we were all very excited to explore this infamous mountain gorge. We assembled at the trailhead at about 7:00am after an approximate 2-hour drive from Dubai. Once everyone had their boots laced up and hydration packs filled we gathered for our standard group introduction and safety brief. As there were several folks joining Adventure Emarat for the first time we took care to understand everyone’s background, experience, and abilities before embarking on such an exploratory hike. With a few quick conversations and by sizing up everyone’s gear we could tell that the group was experience and capable of the hike ahead. We had one pre-hike group photo and then we were off!
Wadi Al Far is one of those hikes that gives you all of about 50 meters to warm up; after that you have very steep climbs on large boulders and loose rocks. We took a few quick breaks early on to allow everyone time to catch their breath, regroup, and maintain their confidence; sometimes when hikes start out as aggressive as Wadi Far people may get discouraged. Once the body warms up though and is in its rhythm everything balances out; this is the rhythm that we needed to find.
After we climbed the very steep set of carved-out stairs we continued our hike up along the right side of the canyon wall. We encountered more steep steps, large boulders, and slippery gravel and sand; not exactly a hiker’s idea of paradise! Due to the risk of falling rocks we had to scatter the convoy out and not have hikers climbing underneath each other. As we climbed higher the boulders seemed to get bigger and we soon found ourselves hopping from one massive boulder to the next while scaling in, on, and around them. We finally popped up to the mid-section of the gorge and were greeted with a dormant plantation field, which would make for a great camping spot for an overnight hike.
Seeing a farmhouse on top of the eastern ridge we decided to head in its direction to sooth our curious appetites. We soon came across a few beds, sleeping huts, water drums, and a small, natural source of water. Although it looked like it had been quite a bit of time there surely were the signs of part-time farmers that would inhabit the area. We climbed above the water source and up a few steep faces, which one could easily visualize would be a raging waterfall when the wadi was running. It would be a great sight to see, from a distance of course.
We continued our ascent up the south-eastern ridge of the canyon. In spite of the terrain being very steep and rugged we did have an advantage…lots of shade. Wadi Al Far has steep canyon walls all around you so this helps keep the sun at bay for an extended period and keep the wadi relatively cooler. By this point in the hike however, fatigue and strain had started to set in a bit. The convoy was getting further spread, muscles began showing signs of cramps, and general feelings of tiredness started to spread. There was no lack of enthusiasm however, and everyone was easily able to muscle up and keep charging upwards.
Within short time we were at our summit of 1,050 meters. It gave way to magnificent views all around the surrounding Jebal Jais area. We were looking down into Wadi Bih, off to our north-western view was the Arabian Gulf, which we could see clearly even though it was over 12km away, and further west we could see the RAK skyline. It was a great moment with bright blue skies, a beaming yellow sun, and a crisp, balmy air blowing.
We hung around at the top of the wadi for about an hour; a few members of the convoy climbed a bit higher on the adjacent wall ledges. After a relaxing break we decided to get back up and start our descent. Not wanting to descend the same track we headed to the western edge of the canyon, which meant we were now exposed to the sun. The weather was still pleasant thought and compared to what we are generally used to, the sun was not that bad. As we descended, our track saw us dip into a waterway gorge, which then ultimately T-junction-ed up with another gorge. We once again found the shade as we were protected by the deep gorge walls.
The last quarter of the hike’s descent was very exciting. All of those large boulders that we climbed up in the beginning were now our playground for descending. We were running, hopping, sliding, twisting, and turning over them, under them, through them, and around them. Everyone seemed to split up a bit and find their most preferred track down. We were like a bunch of kids playing on all of the monkey bars, swings, and slides at the playground; it was a thrilling way to end the hike. As we neared the trailhead, we had one last obstacle and it was that steep set of carved-out stairs. Once cleared of these it was a few hundred meters or so back to the cars.
We had a great hike. We covered 5km and with an elevation change of 750 meters and rose up to 1,050 meters. We did this in 8 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. There were a few scrapes and bruises here and there but nothing that won’t heal during the week before the next adventure. Thanks to everyone who participated for making it such a great day and looking forward to the next one!
To download the GPX track file, please right click here and select “Save link as…”
To view the track on the map, zoom in on the red track line
