wadi creepy

Sometimes i'd tempt fate and let the wave come upon me and feel myself losing ground undernath and get giddy and wake with a start and wonder how it would be, one day, to lose oneself completely, and lift off forever. How tempting it is to go to the edge and get a whiff of a hint at what may come.

We’re staring at a pile of bones lying halfway into a long sliver of a cave. For one deliciously macabre moment we asked ourselves if it had been a man who’d crawled within one night, for the last time, but we abandoned such thoughts, along with the idea of crawling in. If there’s one thing you don’t do in Wadi Creepy, it’s crawl into dark caves, while the riverbed disappears into twilight around you. That’s just asking for trouble.

Ironically, Wadi Creepy can be quite charming when seen in better light, earlier in the evening, before its mood turns sombre as the hours pass. Of course, creepy has more story appeal than ‘Wadi Changing Moods.’ One thing is certain – this valley is like no other. Firstly, most of its stones are a dull, soft green, from the shingle underneath to the wall of mountain to your right. Secondly, this has got to be one of the most vegetated riverbeds around. It was carpeted with a soft sprinkling of grass, and although this might be seasonal, the thick gnarled roots and clumps of shrubs are not. Thirdly, it is awash with the sweet smell of donkeys and the telltale remnants of goats, although you are likely to see neither. And fourthly, there’s no chance in a million coincidences you will ever know of it unless you follow our directions at the end of this article.

Creepy Wadi doesn’t offer you water, nor does it promise you views once you climb up its innards. But it is strikingly different from anything else you’ve been in, and for this is worth a visit. We got off the road, parked the car by the side, and walked through.

The first part of this wadi is a largely flat undulation of dry shingle riverbed, a few feet across, meandering through a landscape of hillocks that rise into mountains later on. There’s nothing particularly earth shattering here, and the lack of grand adventure will force you to seek out the little details that you would normally miss out on grander trips. There’s the knotted, weather beaten roots still clinging to the wadi floor, the little flowers sprouting out of seemingly dead branches and, under everything, ever present rock: dull green, brown, crumbling, cut into layers.

Further on, you will be funnelled by narrowing walls into the deepening gloom. Where the broad wadi narrows to the point where it starts to climb, you’ll find the remnants of a stone dwelling, and, a few feet above, our cave. From this point on the wadi becomes more interesting – you’ve got steep walls on either side, you’re constantly climbing from one level to the other and you can’t see past the next curve. This is adventurous because of the uncertainty, but easy enough to do for just about anyone.

But perhaps the best thing about Creepy Wadi is that it is about nothing in particular at all. If you climb long enough, the wadi will eventually thin out and become one with the slope of the hill. Such terrain, casually layed out after a nondescript turning off the Quriyat road, frees you from the tyranny of something exciting, and allows for a bit of free wandering of the mind. Will you photograph the distant mountains, or splash through streams? There are a million other destinations for those. Instead, while away your time by focusing on the little details, and enjoy the freedom that comes from having to go nowhere in particular.



GPS waypoints

Turn right off Quriyat road to Samakt
N 23º21.265’, E 58º32.091’
Altitude: 575ft

Turn off the road into wadi
N 23º18.125’, E 58º32.093’
Altitude: 849ft

The wadi narrows, climbs
N 23º17.404’, E 58º32.423’
Altitude: 1,100ft

Where we stopped
N 23º17.145’, E 58º32.300’
Altitude: 1,441ft

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