Wadi Shawka is the easiest mountain hike in the UAE — a marked 5.4-kilometre loop running through a dry stream bed in the Hajar foothills southeast of the city. The trail was sponsored by the RAK government as part of a small network of well-signposted walks, and has white-painted stone cairns at regular intervals.
The walk passes goat pens, old falaj irrigation channels still carrying water from mountain springs, and a small reservoir behind the Shawka dam where dragonflies skim and frogs make a surprising racket in spring. Allow two to three hours and start at dawn outside the cooler months. The trailhead has parking and a basic toilet block. For more ambitious walkers, the Stairway to Heaven scramble up Wadi Ghalilah, an hour further north, is a serious day out with proper exposure.