Stress Release
At the end of a week, one of the advantages of being on the edge of the countryside and also having a Jeep, is the ability to run off and release the stress.
Wadi Sheba has many small branches and each turn brings a new discovery.
There are remains of farms and also makeshift shelters for the goat herders that are made in the small caves in the wadi walls.
In the larger expanse of the valley, the mountains rise to end the drive.
Rock climbing has always been something I love, but here in the UAE it can be challenging. The rocks and cliffs are numerous, but the danger is the crumbling nature of the rock. Many years of heat and dryness make it risky in many places.
Spotting an interesting spire standing alone on high, the challenge was too much to resist.
Once reached the rock formation was incredible,
and the other reward was a view to remember.
The descent was as challenging as the climb, and the acacia trees were no use for a handhold.
They have thorns that protect them from the browsers such as goats and donkeys.
Now for a relaxing evening and ready for the week ahead.
Wadi Sheba has many small branches and each turn brings a new discovery.
There are remains of farms and also makeshift shelters for the goat herders that are made in the small caves in the wadi walls.
In the larger expanse of the valley, the mountains rise to end the drive.
Rock climbing has always been something I love, but here in the UAE it can be challenging. The rocks and cliffs are numerous, but the danger is the crumbling nature of the rock. Many years of heat and dryness make it risky in many places.
Spotting an interesting spire standing alone on high, the challenge was too much to resist.
Once reached the rock formation was incredible,
and the other reward was a view to remember.
The descent was as challenging as the climb, and the acacia trees were no use for a handhold.
They have thorns that protect them from the browsers such as goats and donkeys.
Now for a relaxing evening and ready for the week ahead.
posted by Sand Land Dad at 22:49
6 Comments:
Beautiful photos looking much like a lunar landscape. I wonder what forces shaped the landforms...just wind and sand? Or was the area under water at some time? Descent on such loose rock would be too scary for me I think.
There is water affect everywhere, and at different times the sea must have been far inland. When the rains come the wadis fill fast but not to the old levels of ages past.
The final part on loose rock is a little like skiing. Kind of fun in a gut tightening way.
I didn't realise that the rocks would be so crumbly there....
Without periodic "washing" like you have in Canada (rain, snow, ice) the rocks here just bake and slowly fragment with the heat and relative cool in the winter. A couple good downpours on consecutive days would be a disaster in one sense, but would clean the rock faces significantly. However, last time we got a centimeter of rain it stood in the streets for a week.
I must take a moment to marvel at the internet, I am sitting here in pine-land and it is pouring rain outside and looking at a landscape half way around the world but as foreign as the moon.
I would assume the predominate rock is sandstone? If once the sea covered that area is there any amount of fossils to be found or have they been sandblasted away by storms?
The rock is a mix which makes it very interesting and there is not much sandstone. Many sedimentary rocks and also igneous. We have hot springs to the south of our city.
Further south there is a good fossil area, but otherwise I have not seen a lot. The storms do not really blast, but more blanket everything with dust.
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