Riyam Hike (C38)

“There is no shade in Oman.” – Stephen

Map of the C38 hike.

This past weekend, we went on our first hike here in Oman.  I had it planned all week.  The weather had been slightly cooler and definitely less humid.  Saturday morning, however, was quite warm.  Too warm as we soon found out on the hike.  Oh, and when people said there was no shade on this trail, they weren’t lying.  See Stephen’s above quote.

The Riyam Hike begins in Riyam.  You take the first turn of the roundabout when coming from Mutrah.  You park in the parking lot on your left and walk across the street and up the hill.  There is a sign about the trail, so we were confident we were close.  The actual trail begins between a building and a tiny car port that had 4 or 5 taxis when we were there.  A sign is painted on the back corner of the building.

First flag of the hike.

Example flag painted on the rocks along the trail.

These flags are painted on the rocks throughout the hike to make sure that you are on the correct path.  Though there is a pipe going up (down?) the mountains.  Follow the pipe up and you will be fine.  But after that, follow the flags!

Speaking of the top, check out the view!

View from the top.

The mountains are rock with absolutely no trees.  Okay, we found one tree about half way through the trail.  It might have been a clump of trees.  We stopped there to rest and drink some water.  But the mountains are beautiful in their own way.  They even have intriguing tiny caves carved out everywhere.

My boys hiking the trail.

Look how tiny everyone looks!

Example of some of the little caves.

The shade tree(s?) may be where the village ruins are, but I honestly missed it.  We might have been too tired.  The end of the trail winds through a graveyard.  The path went over one of the graves!  The headstone was on one side and the foot stone on the other.  Isn’t there some rule about not walking on graves?  I don’t know.

Mutrah from the end of the trails.  I love how you can see two of the lookout forts that are common in this area.

Looking back at the trail from the edge of the graveyard.

Anyways, to finish the loop, you walk through the town, get to the main road just east of the Mutrah Souq (note to self, I still need to go back to check out the souq), then you walk along the road.  You do have a nice breeze from the ocean and trees occasionally thanks to little green spaces they have cultivated.  The port here is where cruise ships dock (though I haven’t seen one yet) and where the sultan docks.  This weekend we saw both of His Majesty’s boats yachts cruise ships.

His Majesty's ships.

For the nerds out there like me, near the end of the loop, we found a sign about the trail.  It had some geological information about the mountains.  They are made of ophiolite.  Specifically, this is the Semail Ophiolite.  It is rich in copper and iron ores that are and have been mined in this area.  It is considered to be one of the best exposed ophiolite sequences.  I love unique things!