The fourth was a special one and neatly stashed in Bahrain Fort. My wife and I arrived at sunset. It was a cool November evening with the Fort lit from the ground up .. great photo opportunities. Google Earth placed the cache on the northern perimeter of the castle which fooled me since it was further inside. We searched in the wrong place for about 15 minutes before I realized from the difficulty rating and the style of the setter and his previous hides that this should not be too complicated.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Bahrain caches
The fourth was a special one and neatly stashed in Bahrain Fort. My wife and I arrived at sunset. It was a cool November evening with the Fort lit from the ground up .. great photo opportunities. Google Earth placed the cache on the northern perimeter of the castle which fooled me since it was further inside. We searched in the wrong place for about 15 minutes before I realized from the difficulty rating and the style of the setter and his previous hides that this should not be too complicated.
Geocaching and walking
Friday, October 19, 2007
أول إجتماع لهواة الجيوكاشنج في الإمارات
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Two Kingdoms Connected
Although the two stages are only one kilometer apart, they’re in two separate countries. This tiny cache signifies the small world we live in spite of the apparent distances that keep us apart.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Geocaching in Tirhal magazine
Thursday, July 19, 2007
يوم حار
في الغد إتجهنا إلى الدحل القريب من الخاتلة ولم نحضر السلم هذه المرة لكنها كانت فرصة لإخفاء كنز بمدخل الدحل الذي اتخذه الحمام ملجأ له من حرارة الصحراء. أكملنا مسيرنا تجاه الحسي وقرى الصفرات والبير ثم قضينا ليلتنا في أحد الشعاب بوادي عبيثران بعد أن صادفنا أحد الرعاة. في الصباح تحركنا تجاه الرغبة مرورا بخشم الحصان ثم القصب التي إنعطفنا شمالا بعدها تجاه الداهنة، أحد الهجر القديمة، وقضينا القيلولة تحت بعض أشجار النخيل المهملة وأخفيت كنزا هناك . بعد العصرعدنا جنوبا وتوقفنا عند الصوح تحت جبال طويق لنشاهد بعض التشكيلات الغريبة للصخور وإخفاء كنز بها .. لم يكن الجو الحار يسمح لنا بإعداد غداء بالرغم من التجهيزات الكثيرة التي قام بإعدادها أبوطلال والتي جعلتنا نبدوا كالحجاج في سفرهم لكننا قررنا أخيرا أن نتوقف في شقراء لنأكل في بيتزا هت.
في طريق العودة توقفنا قبل المغرب في جبل الفهدة وسط النفود بين القصب وثرمداء لإعداد الشاي ثم قفلنا راجعين للرياض التي وصلناها بعد منتصف الليل
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sadous - Underground
I checked the route on google earth and I could see a dirt track that leaves Sadous and goes west all the way to the Dahl. We left Riyadh in the afternoon heat and upon arriving at Sadous we took the wrong turn that lead us north west to the dam. We came down south to look for the track that I saw on Google. Fortunately I had some points along the track jotted down so we connected with the first point and off we went. The road was smoother than I expected. It was about 20km from the village to the dahl.
A short ladder resting on a pile of rocks was placed at the entrance which opens to a large chamber –more than 12 meters in diameter- where large piles of fallen rocks gather at one end. We walked around the boulders and found ourselves in front of a long tunnel with well defined semicircular section. The air was very humid and at this point we were sweating like a leaky faucet.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Resurrecting Dirab
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Cacher from Canada
I took some notes on cache hides they have in Canada .. may be will try them here.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Thirty years later
We came back through the wadi and headed to the car graveyard. AbuTalal was taking a nap while we were searching. From a distance of about 8 meters, Flydad was able to spot the cache and point to it. He was very pleased to be the first to find the cache (his FTF in Saudi). We then finished our day at Barger-Marat and drove up the Kumait Mountain for the view of the ancient village below. A local gentleman approached us when he saw Barger’s book I was holding in my hands and offered to explain some history about the area. He invited us to join him for dinner at his house but we graciously declined. We made a short stop near a water pond just before sunset; perfect setting. We arrived at Riyadh late in the evening and had Shawarma sandwiches for dinner.
On the second day we went west of Riyadh to Tuwaiq escarpment and found X-marks the spot and the Prize, before reaching the Chameleon. It took us about 12 minutes of search before AbuTalal finally uncovers the chameleon from its hide. On our way back we found the Zenda and came to stop for a drink but the weather suddenly changed to what appeared to be a thunder storm. That night we had some Mutabbaq and Foul at AbuTalal house.
On the third day, we decided to stay in town and do some Travel Bug and log maintenance. We exchanged gift items; Flydad offered me geocoins including a beautiful one from the National Reconnaissance Office while I offered him a signed copy of my Geocaching book. We couldn’t resist the temptation to go out that day just for a short time to find the nearby Airport and the Hotel caches. He found both in no time. Later that night, we visited the sky bridge at Kingdom Tower. At lunch, Flydad was surprised to see an item that he hasn’t seen since 31 years ago; Sohat bottled water.
We left for Dammam on our fourth day. Flydad being a glider pilot, we talked about flying, geocaching and traveling; among other exotic topics. Time passed so quickly. Four caches were waiting to be found in or near Dammam and one of them is a FTF (Pipeline, Saihat, Tarut Fort and The Garage). We spent the evening in my brother house chatting and listening to interesting travel stories. Flydad didn’t forget to place a hide near my house with my kids and even managed to convince them to keep the hide secret from me. When I asked my children for hints, they said “What cache, dad?!”. The next morning Flydad left home to Bahrain en route to the US.
I’m amazed with the energy and enthusiasm Flydad has … I had difficulty keeping up with him on many times. His visit is simply unforgettable. He has seen so many changes (physical and social) taking place in kingdom since his last visit some 30+ years ago.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Abu Jifan
I later learned the fort was accessible from the north but too many fences there and so the easiest way was to go west to Hardah and then come back east following the power line.
A month later we returned from the south as before but took the wadi that is closest to the mountain range (wadi Sudayrah). By mere chance we found a track that goes up the mountains in two stages.. not very easy but doable in 4WD car. Once above the plateau, the track leads to the fort and is quite a scenic drive. We found the cache after some search and then went on to check out the fort. It is going through renovation work and looks to be close to completion. We then drove by some of the wells and headed back from where we came but made a short detour to hide our own cache.
After the descent into Sudayrah wadi we came to a nice picnic spot and so we stopped for a cup of tea and some healthy bread. After sunset we drove back to the tarmac but to our horror we got stuck few meters from the tarmac in a very muddy area .. we thought we were going to be there for the night. To our pleasant surprise and with little driving skills and a lot of luck we managed to get out of the mud. It was a trip to be remembered.
P.S.
In her book, Ionis Thompson mentioned that you need a permission from the department of antiquities to enter the fort but we did not. The only people who were there, besides the shepherds, were the construction workers doing the renovation and they will open the gate for you. We entered with no permits as did many other people we saw there.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
وادي المياه
أكملنا مسيرنا لنتجه الى كهف الماستادون لنشاهد بقايا عظام الحيوانات القديمة ومنها الماموث ولكننا أضعنا مرشدنا وأخيرا عدنا مساء الى المدرسة. في رحلة لاحقة اصطحبت فيها عائلتي استطعنا أن نصل الى الكهف ونخبأ كنزنا بقربها. بدأت تلك الرحلة مبكرا قبل طلوع الشمس (الخامسة والنصف صباحا) حيث استطعنا أن نمر على الأماكن التي لم نتكمن من الوقوف بها مع رحلة المدرسة حيث تجولنا في الصرار ونطاع ومليجة وحتى النعيرية. توقفنا في مكان به بعض الأشجار المتحجرة عدة كيلومترات جنوب النعيرية
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Jebel Baloum
I have been to Jebel Baloum twice before through Nissah, to the south of Riyadh, but my cousin Hamad and I wanted to visit the Jebel from the east, i.e., through Wadi (valley) Al Howtah. The place has no shortage of caches and the last time we were there we bagged two caches: Tuwaiqcache and Fifth well.
The latter cache is hidden above some old wells sunk into the ground not far from the main mountain. We also bagged part of Adam’s apple.. probably the most demanding and challenging cache in Arabia. Baloum is the Arabic word equivalent to Adam’s apple.
On my third trip to the Jebel, I woke up one early morning and left Riyadh with AbuTalal & Hamad. The weather was dusty at some places but cleared later. We arrived at Howatah and continued through Na’am, the famous garden of palm trees. By 10:30 we were at Hariq and were running low on fuel but all gas stations were closed because of Friday prayer. We went up north to check the dam and it was empty. At 12:30 we filled up and proceeded through Howtah valley on a dirt road. The track was good and lead us out of the Wadi.
The landscape is beautiful. A sense of serenity and tranquility surrounds the area. The whole site looks like a piece from another planet like Mars … not that I lived there but good for making a movie here. As we left the valley we noted a natural arch on our left. It’s a rock feature at the tip of Khashm Makrouq and is known to geocachers as the flying arch. We approached the arch and bagged our cache in no time .. easy one.
We then continued on a northerly direction to Baloum and had to cross some sand ridges before stopping near the old wells on the eastern side.. It was almost 4:00 p.m.. While AbuTalal was preparing our meal, cousin Hamad and I went up the nearby Jebel to bag Adam’s apple. It was one of the difficult and dangerous hikes we took. Our trip up and down lasted for about an hour but there was actually more to go as we discovered later.
Hiding a Geocache
Take a look here.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
أول كتاب باللغة العربية عن الجيوكاشنج First book in Arabic on Geocaching
Al-Tenhat and Wadi Ash Shawki
We stopped to take some pictures while my cousin AbuTalal collected some flowers of which he will later make herbal tea. We then continued to Wadi Ash Shawki and spent the night on its bank. Dinner was served around the camp fire at around 9:30 p.m. We woke up before sunset and prepared our breakfast .. Arabic coffee and dates. Herbal tea was prepared by AbuTalal from the flowers he collected earlier.
At around 8:30 we drove along the wadi. Ash Shawki is one of the main wadis that flows in the Tenhat at the base of the Dhana dunes. The trip was unforgettable as we pass by hundreds of sheep and camels grazing through the fertile valley. Occasionally we make stops to examine the landscape or check out some exotic plant. AbuTalal was keen to locate naturally grown mushroom or faga, known to grow sporadically after the rainy season but cousin Hamad and I were eager to locate good hiding place for a cache. Unlike him, we found what we were looking for (GC113B1).
Our drive along the wadi took us on a westerly direction before heading south to Roawdat Nourah (GC10ZWM) which we reached around noon time. I was concerned about our car fuel but my cousin who knew the area well kept assuring me we will be able to make it and sure we did. We arrived at Riyadh around 2 p.m. making this trip the longest we had so far.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Dahals in the Summan, an update
We first made a stop at Dahal Shawiyah (GCE180) and descended quickly into the upper and lower chamber without looking at the cache description/pictures. That proved to be a mistake. Our search for the cache in the lower chamber did not turn into any find so after a while we quit and decided to leave and headed north to the Mines of Moria cache (GC8069).
Arriving on site, we lowered the ladder easily into the Dahal but it was a little short so we tied it with a rope hooked to our car. I was accompanied by two of my cousins and both were eager to go down. They used the rope to reach the top of the ladder and descended easily. After reaching the bottom, Abu Talal was a little hesitant to grab the cache box so that task went to the hard-headed regular geocacher, cousin Hamad.
We then took a tour of the nearby garden (Rawdat Ma’aqla) before leaving the area. The tarmac continues north to Al-Rafee'ah but we took a short cut across the Dhana dunes that cross it from east to south west along a line parallel to the newly constructed power line. I read about this road (about 64km) in mekshat website. The journey across the dunes was beautiful at this time of the year. Our trip did not stop here as we continued to Al-Tenhat but that is a subject of a new post coming soon.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Tarut Fort
Monday, January 29, 2007
إطلاق بقة السفر الخاصة بمرض السكري
ماذا تعنى بقة السفر ؟ (Travel Bug)
ببساطة هي بطاقة على شكل عروة معدنية لتعليق أي غرض آخر بها كما تحمل رقما خاصا يتم متابعتها به عن طريق موقع الجيوكاشنج. يتم وضع البقة في الكنز إما بواسطة صاحبه الذي أخفاه أو أحد الذين وجدوه. تصبح البقة بعدها نوع من المسافر المجاني أو الهيتشهايكر حيث تنتقل من كنز لآخر بناء على تعليمات صاحب البقة
لكل بقة تقريبا مهمة إقترحها صاحبها وعلى من يأخذها أن ينفذ جزءا من تلك المهمة أو يتركها في مكانها. يمكن طلب البقة من موقع الجيوكاشنج حيث تصل الى صاحبها في نسختين ليضع واحدة في الكنز الذي يريد ويحتفظ بالنسخة الأخرى كتذكار. سيكون هناك صفحة خاصة بالبقة على موقع الجيوكاشنج ليضع بها صاحبها تفاصيل المهمة التي يرغب أن تحققها البقة وأيضا ليطلع على تحركاتها بعد أن يجدها اللاعبون. مع الوقت تصبح هذه الصفحة كأحد المدونات التي تحكي قصة تلك البقة وهي تتنقل في أنحاء المعمورة. بعض البق له أهداف إجتماعية مثل تلك التي أطلقها حديثا موقع الجيوكاشنج الخاصة بمرض السكري. إستلمت واحدة منها وسأقوم بإخفائها في أحد الكنوز قريبا ..