Camping in Oman

After much planning and packing and cooking ( we were in charge of dinner Friday night), we drove away early Thursday morning to meet up with the other scouts and families for a 3 day camping trip to Oman.  We made it to the border without incident, but got held up there.  Long lines to get an exit stamp on the UAE side, even longer waits to get the visas for Oman.  Drive through a few more check points and finally we are on our way again.  The drive that was supposed to take 5-6 hours, got us there around 5:30.  We were in a rush to get camp set up before losing the light, so my only arrival shots were with my phone.

Check out the nice soft ground.

Our tent, about to go up.

Isaac was sharing a tent with Jay, the girls and I were borrowing his tent.  We tried our best to even out the ground, but scraping away rocks, only revealed more of them.  I started praying the padding would help.  The girls laid out our sleeping bags and as the sun went down we started bundling up.  The scouts built a big fire and we gathered around while dinner was prepped.  Around then a donkey wandered in to camp.  The camper kids were wary at first, but soon adopted him/her as the camp mascot.

Makenna by the fire.

Donkey #1.  We noticed another later. 

Jess loved catching sticks on fire and waving them about.  

This was the girls' first real campout and they got the full experience.  Changing into stiff cold clothes in the dark, digging your own potty by flashlight, brushing teeth with a water bottle and spitting into the dying fire.  We all slept with two layers of clothes, knit hats and gloves.  We did stay warm enough, but sleep largely eluded me thanks to the rocks, close quarters, and the stalking animals. (who knew donkeys were nocturnal!!)  The curse of being a light sleeper.

I set my alarm for 6 (still dark) so we could get up, change and eat a quick breakfast before heading out.  We had a safety briefing ( NO horsing around), and directional briefing (there is no path, you have to watch out for and follow the flags) and then started off in the predawn light.

Makenna and Jess were very happy Aleaha came with her family.  They had so much fun together on the hikes, around camp and driving.  Half the time on the way there and back, she was in our car and Isaac was in theirs with their two boys.  

The sun is creeping. 

The flag says, start climbing here.  See the yellow, white and red flag?  Those became very important.  

Isaac made me laugh with his gear.  He had his camelback, a fanny pack, camera, and leather-man within easy reach.

Jess managed to keep up well, despite filling her pockets with pretty rocks. 

This was so interesting.  It's rock, but looks like tree bark coming out of the ground.  Is it sedimentary?  But it got seriously seismically moved.  

The sun rises!

Isaac in front of a very old tree.  These don't grow up, so much as out.  Our scouting plant expert thought it was a millenium old. 

This is the first clear shot we had of the canyon.  We hiked near the upper edge for much of the day.  

This is a better shot of the all important flag markers.  There is not a discernable path.  You have to watch out for these to stay on the right track.  There was one time we got off and realized we hadn't seen a flag for awhile and had to backtrack and set ourselves straight.  

There might be too many slight variations of this, but really, it was stunning. 

Sometimes we were near the edge, more often it looked like this. 

Water break.

Path? Flags?  

A few of our numbers didn't make it to the top, but our family was there!  Isaac was of course expert, but all the adults were blown away by my tough girls.  We tried to be good with sunscreen, especially at high elevation, but we all got a little burned.  By the time we got back to camp, we had been hiking for 10 hours and were worn out and hungry.  

View of the campsite--essentially pulled off the side of a dirt road.  

We saw lots of goats both days, but donkeys only at camp.  

This is the second day's hike.  We followed a path along the side of the canyon about halfway up, to an abandoned village. 

Loving the rock piles!  

View of the terraced "farm".  I don't know what they tried to grow.  

Our group, nearing the end.  It was about 3 miles each way. 

The village.  It made me think of the Anasazi site we saw in Lake Powell.  But these are not nearly so old.  These were inhabited during the age of gun powder as a defense post.  Why they were worried about someone coming to take over....?

Closer to the terraced fields.  There are cisterns there where they collected water from a dried waterfall. 

Some had second stories, for little people.

A view inside.  Some floors were COVERED with goat poop.  This one was okay.

The goats put us to shame.  They are very sure footed.  

The camp girls.

Gaith said, "Look, an Arabian monkey." Second goat we saw in a tree.

Now some pictures that Isaac took. 

Fossils.

We bought a couple of bracelets right before heading out.