2nuksabroad: Jebel Shams

It has been awhile since we've gone camping due to the heat of summer so decided it was time to break out the gear and try and find some cooler weather. Jebel Shams (the Sun Mountain) is the highest point in Oman reaching just under 3,000m in elevation. Along with cooler temperatures, it's also home to 2 of the nicest (and best marked) hiking trails, double bonus!

We decided relatively last minute to go and managed to round up a group of 7 - Pete, Zan, Lizzie, Matt and Caroline (2 South Africans, 2 Brits, 2 Canadians and 1 American - a very multinational camping group!). Our convoy left from the Wave Thursday morning and we managed to pack, literally to the roof, all of our gear into two Jeeps (1 Wrangler / 1 Grand Cherokee aka Jake). The drive to Jebel Shams is only 215km from Muscat and takes about 3 hours. The drive takes you through Nizwa where we stopped for gas and food before finishing the final 80km to the top of Shams, or the "Plateau" as it's referred to.

From Nizwa the road takes you through Al Hamra and past an abandoned village at the end of the Oman Grand Canyon (Wadi An Nakhur). Up to this point we really hadn't been climbing so we were expecting to suddenly begin the ascent as at this point we were still only at 750m elevation and had to get to 1950m in only 30km. Needless to say the road began to climb quite steeply with typical Oman switchbacks. A very similar road to Jebel Akhdar, which is interesting as the Jebel Akhdar road has a checkpoint monitored by the ROP and one must have a 4x4 to go up. You can very easily get to the top of Jebel Shams in a car and even the small sections of gravel are still very passable in a regular car.

Upon reaching the Plateau, the temperature had dropped from 44 in Nizwa to a downright cold 28! (you get very skewed here). We stopped at the scenic lookout to see the Canyon for the first time and it was truly breathtaking. We got our fill of touristy pics and the girls bought some handmade Omani bracelets from the local women. There were several spots were you can buy local crafts such as bracelets and other trinkets. It was getting late and with only a couple hours of sunlight we quickly set-up camp near the start of the W4 hike and drove to the start of the W6 hike (Balcony Walk) in the village of Al Khitaym. The Balcony Walk was absolutely stunning and is about a 2-3 hr roundtrip. We lucked out by starting late in the day as the entire walk was in the shade (recommend that to anyone doing the hike to start late in the afternoon). Unfortunately we weren't able to reach the abandoned village at the end of the hike as we started running out of daylight and had to turn around. Returning to camp it was dark already by 6:30 and the rest of the night was spent braaiing, eatting, drinking, telling stories and listening to music.

The following morning two of the more eager members of our group (Janelle and Caroline) went for a short run. The rest of the group held down camp keeping the goats at bay (something else that is common here, fighting to keep the goats from eatting your food!). After a relaxed morning breakfast with a bit of bocci ball we packed up camp and decided to check out the W4 hike. This is the hike to the summit at 3000m and is anywhere from a 10-15 hr roundtrip (with 1000m of elevation gain). It was already late in the morning and the temperature had picked up, combined with the late night prior our group managed about an hour of hiking before returning to the Jeeps for the return trip.