Day 281: Al-Hatima Crater (فوهة الهتيمة)

Jan 9 - Because one crater wasn’t enough (Day 274), today we visit another. It is about one hour east of Ha’il. The weather isn’t so hopeful, with dark clouds and some rain as we take a series of minor roads out of town.

After about 45 minutes, some rocky hills begin appearing, rising out of the sandy flatlands.

The crater is just past the town of Tabah, about 100 km from Ha’il. From Google Maps I have a fair idea of what the turnoff looks like. As it turns out, there is a big sign that says ‘VOLCANIC ORIFICES’ and an arrow so there is no question about where to go. The road from here is unpaved, a hard packed surface with some sand on top. We are almost there, only about 2 km left, and hit a low spot that serves as a wadi in the current weather. It is flowing with storm runoff, and there is a lot of very sticky mud. Not wanting to risk getting the car stuck, we get out and wade through the water, leaving the car behind.

We didn’t want to fuss with getting Odette’s boots off and on, so we carried her across.

There were a couple of deep parts, so it was good I didn’t try to take the car.

A few km more, and we are at the lip of the crater. Having just been at Al-Wa’bah Crater, I see a lot of structural similarity. Unlike Al-Wa’bah, I could find no geological information online regarding Hatima, but as far as I can tell, it is also a maar. The biggest difference is that the ejecta material is very thick, up to 50 meters in places, and is finely layered. The conclusion would be that this maar exploded many times, perhaps hundreds, but few of those eruptions were large.

It almost looks like sedimentary rock, like a conglomerate. The beige sand under Odette’s feet is sand that has blown inside the crater.

An overall view.

A 360 degree view, with a poor man’s drone (my cellphone).

I went about halfway down. Here I am standing on one of the basalt flows that may have been the original land surface when the maar formed.

A close up of the basalt flow.

Larger scale view of the layered pyroclastics.

Coming back out, there is a Toyota Landcruiser driving around on the near side of the wadi, and it eventually makes it way over to us. One of the two people in the truck owns some camels nearby and wonders what we are up to. He offers to drive us back to the edge of the water to save some time. That is fortunate for us, because now I can see a rainstorm advancing toward us. We unload at the wadi and wade across again. This time, we have to deal with our bare feet, completely covered in mud, trying to get in the car without making a mess. I get enough mud off to safely operate the pedals with my bare feet and we close the doors as the rain hits.

The roads we just took to Tabah earlier today are a real mess now as well, with sheets of runoff coating them with rocks and mud. We pass through a hilly area composed entirely of granites, and waterfalls have sprung up everywhere.

As with Medinah, many locals were out, photographing the waterfalls.

There was a camel train on the highway later on. I wasn’t in a hurry so we just followed it until they moved them off to the side and we could pass.

Today’s route: (A) Ha’il, (B) Entrance road for Hatima Crater.

On the way to the hotel, first look around for our only real meal of the day. Stop at a pizza place but it is only take away with no tables. I am about to walk back out but the owner is really engaging and curious as to what we are doing here. The young woman standing next to him, in niqab dress (as 98% of the women are here) and wearing SpongeBob SquarePants mittens also seems intensely curious, prompting the owner to ask us more questions and fussing with the menu to show us what they have on hand. It is such an odd thing to have to guess what a person’s state of emotion is when you can only see their eyes. The pizza, which we end up taking back to the hotel, is awful, but it is these micro-experiences, so strange and interactive, that make going off the beaten track fun.

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