Bikepacking The Middle East

A little bit of dirt, a little bit of sand, lots of camels, and pure adventure. This is an eclectic 2-3 day bikepacking loop in the United Arab Emirates that takes in all the country has to offer and explores its lesser known regions.

The Jordan Bike Trail runs the length of Jordan, connecting over 450 miles of dirt trails, singletrack, and backroads. It starts at the Decapolis ruins of Umm Qais near the northern border with Syria, rolls up and down the deep ridges that dissect the high plateau rising above the Jordan Valley, and finally drops down to the southern desert and azure waters of the Red Sea in the port city of Aqaba.

The Holyland Challenge crosses the Golan Heights and the tiny country of Israel in a truly serpentine fashion, connecting over 850 miles (1400km) of singletrack and dirt tracks from the snowy peak of Mt. Hermon in the north to the sun-soaked Red Sea city of Eilat.

A route packed with desert sands, olive trees, mind-bending landscapes, and rock cut architecture dating from the 3rd century B.C.E...