So this is the new year.

“Maybe they sacrificed a goat?”

After school on New Year’s Eve, Molly and I headed out to Ras Al-Khaimah for a some camping and exploring. Our information said RAK was about 45 minutes north of Dubai… so naturally it took us 6 hours to get there! (Estimated time: 2 hours).

We encountered our first problem when we hit a detour in Sharjah. Our amazing navigator, Molly, finally got us back on track to reconnect with the highway. Trouble was… the highway was incomplete! It was literally like that scene from Speed. Eventually, we worked our way back to the main road and landed in RAK… well after dark.

Now the trouble was finding a place to camp. Like many places in the UAE, campers are free to pitch a tent just about anywhere they like. All is asked is that campers respect the environment, keep it quiet and peaceful, and avoid private property. With the intent of hiking the next day, we drove out towards the mountains UAE shares with Oman. Stopping just short of the border checkpoint, we pulled over and set up our tent under a tree.

With just a few minutes to spare, we settled into our tent to ring in the New Year!

Unfortunately, we were not treated to a sound night’s sleep. Between the goats’ bleating every few moments, an alarming bird’s cry or animal’s scream, and some men speaking Arabic on the road at 4 in the morning, we woke up quite bleary eyed. Fortunately, when we unzipped the tent we were faced with a glorious new morning at the base of craggy mountains.