EID Holiday Trip to Jebals Shams & Akhdar
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Day and date: Saturday Sept 10 – Monday Sept 12, 2016 ***PLEASE NOTE DATES ARE TENTATIVE UNTIL EID HOLIDAYS ARE CONFIRMED***
Drive Type: All-level family and friends mountains, wadis, & camping excursion
Meeting Point: Dubai Outlets Mall just in front of Chuck E Cheese
Google maps users (just copy and paste in Google maps): https://goo.gl/maps/aW6xbYANCd72
GPS users: 25°04’20.3″N 55°24’07.0″E or 25.072296, 55.401933
Meeting Time: 0600 (6:00 am) Saturday morning Sept 10th
Drive Start: 0601 (6:01 am) Saturday morning Sept 10th
Drive End: Approx 1600 (4 pm) Monday evening Sept 12th plus a ~6 hour drive back to Dubai)
Duration: 3 days
Drive Route: Jebal Shams & Jebal Akhdar & surrounding wadis
Drive Terrain: Mountains, wadis, graded tracks, rough rocky wadi beds, and tarmacLet’s plan to take time during the upcoming EID holidays and visit Arabia’s highest and second highest peaks. We will plan to have 3 full days of offroad driving in an easy, relaxing manner and 2 wonderful nights under the stars high in the mountains. We will plan to camp between 2,000 and 2,500 meters so you can expect very cool/chilly mountain air. The days will be sunny and warm but comfortable. Our route will take us through remote areas so you will need to pack all of your food and drinks to carry you through the 3 days.
Key things to bring
1) A very reliable 4×4. This is a long, demanding trip and you need to have complete faith in your ride.
2) Petrol stations are generally available but are few and far between. 1x 20L jerry can is required nonetheless to be safe.
3) Working spare tire and lug wrench or other tools to be able to remove/change the tire
4) Spare fluids, belts, hoses, etc
5) Shops are very basic like your typical small grocery shops. ALL food and drink for the whole trip for each car and passengers
should be carried. We will be able to re-load with ice at the grocery stores but we must bring cool boxes full of food and drink for
the full trip
6) All camping gear, tents, cooking utensils, warm clothes, waterproof jackets, etc
7) Two tarps for each tent: 1 for under the tent and one for over the tent.
8) 1 bundle of firewood for each night from each car. We will want to have both night time fires and morning fires. It is very nice to
wake up and have morning breakfast around a fire in this climate.
9) All other offroad/recovery gear you would normally carry.
10) A complete first aid kit and lots of insect repellant, insect bite cream, sun screen, etc.
11) Costs: You will need to budget approximately AED 200-300 for fuel depending on how thirsty your car gets; visa to leave UAE is
AED 35/person and to enter Oman is AED 50/person; all of your food and supply requirementsThis will be a great trip but will require preparation and stocking up on supplies so plan early. I make the assumption that participants of this trip have camped out in the wild before having to be completely self-sufficient so the list above of requirements is not exhaustive. If however, this would be a new/first-time experience for you, please reach out to me directly to answer any questions that you may have or help you with your preparation!
See you on the mountains!!
Matt
Checklist:
a) Keep your emergency contact info at vehicle dashboard.
b) Carry air compressor with you and ensure it’s in working condition.
c) Ensure your 4×4 vehicle is in perfect condition and with enough fuel.
d) Compatible Radio is a must.
e) Carry all necessary off-road gear / recovery equipment in good working condition.
f) Carry enough water / refreshments / re-hydration drinks for self & co-passenger(s).
Extremely tempted but need to check with my boss (AKA wife) hahaha
Been oversea’s for a while, but could be keen on this one, will check with the wife. Been too long!
We are in 🙂
since this trip is planned over the Eid holidays, please carry everything that you may require from Dubai itself. In Oman, theres a fair chance that you wont get any grocery open on the first and second days ot Eid
After consulting with the authority, the Espinosas are confirmed. 2 adults and 3 boys (17,13,11). Looking forward to it and thanks for organizing.
Matthew.
Great trip. I’m very tempted.Couple of questions:
– why not leave Friday? I’m actually planning to leave Friday lunchtime? Whats the plan of your saturday? I can meet you somewhere.
– do you think traffic will be there? Lots of people going there over eid. I’ve heard border checks take ages over eid
– what road you suggest? Fujairah or Al Ain?
quote Gallo:Matthew.
Great trip. I’m very tempted.Couple of questions:
– why not leave Friday? I’m actually planning to leave Friday lunchtime? Whats the plan of your saturday? I can meet you somewhere.
– do you think traffic will be there? Lots of people going there over eid. I’ve heard border checks take ages over eid
– what road you suggest? Fujairah or Al Ain?Hi Gallo,
Did not want to leave Friday so folks could still join the Friday drive if they wanted. Saturday we will be at Wadi Damm and then on Jebal Shams and will camp on Shams that night. We should be at Wadi Damm by 10 or 11am if you want to meet us there.
Border checks may take some time but this is why we are crossing early Saturday morning too…hopefully not so many earlybirds like us. I do not think there will be lots of people on the mountains around us…but even if there are there is plenty of room for everyone.
We will cross Al Ain border. Crossing at Fujairah adds more time to your drive.
I will make a WA group with everyone so we can stay in communication.
Are the dates confirmed now Matt?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yes, the dates are confirmed. We will leave Saturday morning.
Hi,
My wife and I would like to join, but we would only be able to camp one night. Pretty sure we could find our own way back Sunday afternoon. If that’s OK with you Matt I’ll sign up.
Also I’ve been using an app called glimpse that shares the location of all users of a common tag on Google maps. It’s pretty good so everyone can see where everyone else is on a live map. Might be ideal for a trip like this. Only downside is you have to keep sharing every 4 hours.
quote Rocklad:Hi,
My wife and I would like to join, but we would only be able to camp one night. Pretty sure we could find our own way back Sunday afternoon. If that’s OK with you Matt I’ll sign up.
Also I’ve been using an app called glimpse that shares the location of all users of a common tag on Google maps. It’s pretty good so everyone can see where everyone else is on a live map. Might be ideal for a trip like this. Only downside is you have to keep sharing every 4 hours.Hi Simon,
It would be great to have you and your wife along. Absolutely you can take off on Sunday afternoon. Sunday is actually going to be the best day…we will attack 3 very cool wadis. So if you left after that you would have had a great weekend trip.That app sounds cool…we should try it out.
Matt, any hike involved (like snake gorge?).
And, how many hours a day are we planning to drive? (planning for kids & wife…)
The app is called glympse. Auto correct.
Thanks for organising Matt.
quote Gallo:Matt, any hike involved (like snake gorge?).
And, how many hours a day are we planning to drive? (planning for kids & wife…)Nothinig like Snake Gorge Gallo. Just a small hike of maybe 200mtrs elevation (1 hour round trip) just to get to the top of a plateau but only if people want, it is just to catch the views.
each day we will plan to be on the road by 9am and at camp by 5 or 6pm with plenty of breaks, rest, lunch, etc in btw.
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