Desert Surivial!!!

Desert Survival:

Sunday the 16th, we were outside before 6 in the morning to leave for our desert tiyul (trip). For this, we were separated by tracks, so I spent the whole time with the Yerucham track. My track left first to take about a 2 hour bus ride to Be'er Sheva where we prayed in the only conservative synagogue in the city. By about 10 we were done with praying and eating and then were off to the desert. We started off near Mitzpeh Ramon (not sure if the transliteration is correct) where we met our guide Yoav, and guard Sapir. Due to me not having a hat (supposedly they were required) Adi (one of my staff) pulled out a scarf of hers and made me where it as basically a headdress. I'll admit that while I was initially not a fan, I definitely really liked wearing it the 2nd and 3rd days.

The 34 of us (30 Nativers, 2 Madrichim (staff), Yoav and Sapir) start going at about noon, and we start hard. We immediately climb up this one hill which must have been a couple hundred feet high and quite steep. We then take a break there for Yoav to give an overview of the path that we will be taking. It was a little over 30 km in 3 days, but that including climbing up at least 2 mountains each day.

The first day's hike went into the dark, I think because none of us were expecting the intensity of the sun, heat, and hike to be as hard as it was, so by the time we got to our campsite, it was basically right at sunset. There was nothing in particular that was very cool to see, just a lot of different hills, mountains, and random cliffs, but it was still such amazing scenery. There was however one very old riverbed that we walked through, which is cool to think about since the desert is now very dry, but that there used to be ocean and river where there is now desert.

The 2nd day Yoav woke us up at 4:30 to very annoying music he had on portable speakers, but what really woke us up was the knowledge of pre breakfast being available. I say pre breakfast because we would pack food to eat at a normal breakfast time even though the food we had for pre breakfast was much more breakfast like. We then left the campsite and once we got to the trail, it was straight up from there. About 2/3 the way up the mountain we stop for a little break and Yoav did more ocean explaining but also showing that there were different fossils from very old water creatures. While also there, we are explained about the Machtash. Apparently Israel is the first place of these. It is essentially a canyon but instead of carved by rivers, it is ground that rose from the tectonic plates, then the sandstone eroded and water filled in, but then went away leaving the hole in the ground. We finish the mountain then go through this very long pass to our campsite. A pretty difficult day mostly because it was the only day that was truly a full day of hiking.

Because we are in the desert with essentially no light pollution, you can see millions of stars. That night we go on a little night hike to this one flat area which is more comfortable to lie down at and have about 20 minutes of no talking and just listening to the sounds of the desert and watching the stars.

3rd day starts bright and early. We walk for maybe an hour without and hills or mountains or anything. It is just straight walking in the desert with literally nothing around. Then we get to the hardest part of the hike. We hit this one mountain which is essentially straight up, to the point where if one person were to have fallen, there would have been no chance for them to not take everyone else out with them. We end up finishing the hike and get to the best part of the hiking, the jeep ride. We then take about a 30 minute jeep ride to the bus and lunch.

All in all, a very good way to spend 3 days of sukkot in the desert. It was a ton of fun and an amazing bonding experience as well.