Sunday, January 23, 2011

Eilat - January 20th - January 22nd, 2011

After makeing our way south towards Eilat, we met at the Halleluya restuarant in Eilat's old commercial center for supper. It was a bit noisy, but the food was good, and everyone had a good time.

On Friday morning we met our guide, Colin, at the field school. got on SUV's and drove through the back trails to the starting point of our hike. We used SUV's since the road was closed for the Israman competition.

We started our hike with a short walk towards Har Sholomo. We had to let the bikers go by when crossing the road. We 'found' an old bridge built by the Mamelukes on the Darb el Hajj (the pilgrims road to Mecca).

We retuned to our starting point (which was our ending point last year), and started climbing up into the mountains.

At the end of the climb we turned south on Nachal Yehoshafat. We left the wadi, and climbed along the northern rim of Ke'ar Rechav'am. It seemed like the mountain had been tipped on its side, since the layers were vertical instead of horizantal. At some points it looked like we were walking along the back of a giant dragon buried in the mountain.

After a few more ups and downs, some more challenging than others, we got to the top of Har Tzfachot, and a beautiful view of Eilat, Aqaba and the Gulf of Eilat.

The decent towards the field school (From an altitude of 278m to sea level) was long and steep but we all made it in once piece.

We had a lovely Friday Night Dinner at the Orchid Hotel, and then returned to the field school for some rest and relaxation that continued until Motzaei Shabat.

Thanks to Judith for coordinating the wonderful weekend, to Colin, our guide, and to the drivers for getting us all the way to Eilat and back, and to everyone who helped and contributed to the fun weekend.

Pictures:
Gadi's Pictures
Haya Shalom's Pictures
Heidi's Pictures
Adam's Pictures
Craig's Pictures
Leah's pictures from Petra
Heidi's Pictures