When Life Gives You A Pandemic, Go Hike.

The past year has thrown so many lemons at us, we may be left with a lifetime’s worth of lemonade to make once the pandemic ends.

For many of my travel mates who’d jet out to a new destination every other week, it has been a shock to the system. No scouring flight deals, no booking offbeat stays in unheard-of places, no adventure-seeking in politically unstable countries, no packing for harsh weather conditions and no rushing to the airport.

My travel-frenzied friends resorted to all kinds of alternatives. Some started gardening. Others learned to play the guitar. A few others indulged in virtual “COVID romances” to beat the boredom.

Six months after the lockdown here in Dubai, and with vaccines making their way into our lives, the brave carefully ventured out. Got on to flights and had a great time visiting near-empty old towns and national parks and museums. Some took to domestic travels and staycations, while those in Europe simply hit the road and ventured to neighbouring countries. Plenty of wonderful stories and pictures emerged on social media.

While most countries continue to debate on the future of travel, Dubai has opened up to a world abound with restrictions and uncertainties. I travelled too. Quit my job and got on a 2-week adventure in Zanzibar and Comoro Islands. But that wasn’t it. I love to travel for the sense of adventure it fuels within me. I’ve come to understand that adventure means different things to different people, but the one thing it surely is is a privilege. And I’m not one to mourn for the lack of it, as long as I remain healthy and sane amidst the turbulence.

There had to be an alternative.

In the UAE, June, July and August are typically the hottest, most humid months of the year. It is a desert after all and it’s not unusual for the mercury to hit upwards of 45C during the day. It would be rather silly to venture out in the heat, exploring new hiking trails every other weekend. But if that’s what we had to resort to for the sake of our sanity and for a dose of nature, we had to give in. And give in we did.

Every 2-3 weeks, a few of us head out into the mountains and canyons. Winters have made it better. Lesser chances of heat exhaustion and heat strokes. But even when they weren’t, we explored. Seasoned hikers may be familiar with these trails, but I was surely ignorant of the possibilities of adventure and mountain escapes that existed in my own backyard.

Wikiloc has been my app of choice so far. Needless to say, that no matter the temperature, there are some basic essentials that one cannot go on a hike without. Here is that list from the experts.

And this is a list of my favourite trails if you’d like to check them out yourself.

Canyon Hike, Hatta (July 2020)

Right beside the Hatta Dam is this rather unknown trail that leads up a rocky hill. After a short ascent, the view from the top opens up to a valley with a slender fissure through the earth as far as your eyes can go. The trail leads you down into the canyon, where we wandered for a couple of hours, endlessly walking and admiring the canyon walls along the way. The hike up the hill is marked for a Spartan race. Overall, it’s an easy hike for Dubai summers of 45C and a rather fascinating experience losing your way through the shaded canyon. There are also some ideal camping spots at the start of the hike if you’d like to spend a night here.

Wadi Showka (August 2020)

This one’s a super easy, fun trail on all counts. The weather was great too, meaning 39C and breezy, as opposed to the usual 45C with 90% humidity. Along the way, we also got invited to eat fresh dates on a farm. We then meandered around the popular but stagnant natural pools around this time of the year. We played with frogs, chased a hopping lizard and flew a drone.

All was going well, till it grew dark. And we walked past the diversion that we were meant to take, hoping to get to the endpoint via the dirt road leading to the dam. We realized late into the darkness that we weren’t on the right track. We scrambled our way up vertical rock walls a few times before getting it right and making our way back to the trail. I had silently planned to camp under the stunning starlit sky, but saving that idea for another day.

Wadi Helou (September 2020)

This one was a fascinating find. A signboard on our way to Wadi Showka (or Shawkah) two weeks ago got us curious and we decided to explore. For our next hike, we made our way to the relatively unknown and interesting hiking trail between Sharjah and Kalba. Wadi Helou means “beautiful valley” in Arabic. It is a well-preserved archeological site dating back to the early 1900s, nestled in an oasis. It is also the start point of the hike.

Everything in and around Helou has the feels of Oman, given the proximity to the country. There is a watchtower on a hill nearby that reminded me of a few I visited in Oman as a child. We walked past the tower and followed the trail that leads back to the wadi (valley).

Leopard Canyon (December 2020)

A great day-hike to which we added some Christmas cheer by dressing up for the occasion. Just donned on a Santa hat, but that counts!

Yanis Village Hike: (January 2021)

This is a good hike for the cooler months, with a somewhat steep ascent in the beginning. The trail flattens out in some places, making it ideal for short breaks with great views. It ends at a gated strip of land at the top, which ordinarily marks the end of the ascent and it’s where one

turns back around to make their way down. We, however, found an abandoned 2-day-old baby goat, weak and petrified. She was unable to stand and unable to bleat in protest as we picked her up from an edge of an unsteady rock. We carried her to the top, jumped over the green gate and made our way to the dirt path on the other side of the gated land. We hitchhiked on the back of a quarry truck that was carrying rocks to the construction site below. This hike was particularly special because of the cute goat that we named ‘Destiny’ and later handed over to the good folks of the Ras Al Khaimah Animal Centre.

Wadi Ghub to Spectrum, Fujairah (January 2021)

Wadi Ghub or what is popularly known as the Rainbow Valley (Spectrum) hike, is one of the most fascinating of all hikes and trails we went on this season. It is a geological trail and has gorgeous layered coloured rock formations all along, therefore no guesses there on why it’s called that. The hike itself is more of bouldering and rock hopping with occasional climbs and leads up to a lookout over the beautiful Fujairah coastline. This one’s most enjoyable with a group of crazies.

Wadi Tayyibah/Ain Sheriyah (January 2021)

A straightforward hike but we did stumble upon a graveyard up in the mountains. A small detour towards the end of our hike took us to a more interesting part of the trail with more rocky terrain and beautiful rock formations. Wadi Tayyibah makes for an ideal picnicking and camping site. There is a history museum at the start of the trail, where rooms overlooking the wadi (valley) are also available for rent.

Hidden Oasis (February 2021)

The best part about this trail is that you start with a descent into the hidden oasis, passing by a cute village on the way, ending up in a valley that is normally lush green during the winter months. The worst part about this trail is the climb back up as the day gets hotter and the knees weaker. All in all, a great reverse hike.

Know a hiking trail in the UAE that you absolutely love? Please please do share! We’d love to keep exploring.