The reason we’re staying at Bahla is not because of the djinns. Rather, Jebel Shams, the highest point in the Middle East, is a mere 30 km away. Our car is not equipped to reach the trailhead from which we could climb to the highest point, but we can still access some pretty good trails. Our goal was to park at the bottom of the mountain, climb up to the top, complete the “balcony walk” along the rim of a canyon, and return the way we came.

The first obstacle to our plans was a poorly labeled parking sign near the first trailhead. We drove our little sedan off road, much farther than the 300 m indicated by the sign, and found ourselves nowhere. A local farmer pointed back the way we came and suggested we park there. That was, of course, in the opposite direction of the sign, nor did we see a parking lot there. Without any other ideas, we simply parked the car on a large shoulder and considered that good enough.

Having wasted an hour trying to figure out where we should leave our car, we weren’t sure if we could complete the entire hike by sunset. But in the meantime, at least we could begin it.

Abandoned village at start of hike

Up to the canyon

We made up a little bit of time walking to the top and made the decision to continue with the balcony walk. Worst case scenario, we make it back to the car at dusk.

On the balcony

On the way back, we ran into a group of Czech tourists who had driven up. We asked them if they could give us a ride down, to which they generously agreed. Ultimately, we probably didn’t save very much time because they parked about 1.5 hours away from the balcony walk trailhead. But the gesture was kind and it at least saved our knees a little bit of pounding.