Having had a refreshing Shabbat in Jerusalem, we set off early on Sunday morning, and after 2 buses and 2 hitchhikes we arrived back where we left off. What we had facing us was the Carbolet – a knife edged ridge around the Maktesh HaGadol. We had been warned since the beginning by everyone we met that it was the most difficult part of the hike, so we expected the worst.
After a steep climb onto the ridge we walked along it for a few hours without any real difficulty, and after what was admittedly the steepest and most dangerous climb down of the trip, we came out the other side, wondering what all the fuss was about.
We made it to the campsite at Nahal Mador and were overjoyed to find many litres of water, keft especially for hikers. It is amazing to think just how valuable water is in the desert and the joy of discovery was greater than had we found lost treasure. We found so much that we even used a bottle each to have a much needed shower.
We made a camp fire and were soon joined by the group of Israelis we met on the way. They had far too much food and we were more than happy to help them consume it.
Day 28 – Nahal mador to Mitzepe Ramon
Up early and we were off again, but were soon hit by some of the hottest weather on the trip. It turned out to be a blessing as we arrived at Ein Aqev, a proper oasis in the desert.
We spent 3 hours there, swimming, eating and sleeping. Jeremy by this point was well used to washing his clothes in any body of water we could find, so he joined Yonatan and i in a laundry session and with all our clothes washed and hanging up to dry we had a good mid-afternoon schloff.
We woke up to walk another 10kms to road at Avdat, an archaeological area with ruins from the incense route times.
We finally reached the road just before sunset, filled up on food and water and decided that to make up some of the time we lost going to Sderot we would hitchhike the last 12 kms, which would have been horrible to walk along the road anyway, and arrived in Mitzepe Ramon where Brandon was waiting for us.
Day 29: Mitzepe Ramon to Har Sachronim
After a fantastic sunrise we set off into Maktesh ramon, Israel’s biggest and most famous crater.
After a long walk across the crater and a really tough climb out we were met with fantastic views from the top.
Brandon decided to sing for us and his beautiful chazan’s voice was heard for miles around across the crater.
As the heat of the day began to get stifling we found shade in a small cave and sat down for our usual lunch and midday schloff break.
Soon after lunch we hit a main road and decided to try to stop cars for water, rather than relying on finding some at the campsite. As we stood by the side of the road holding our empty bottles upside-down, we were all blown away by the kindness of the people here. Almost no-one drove past without giving us water, and on several occasions people drove past and actually took the time and effort to turn around to come back and give us water. All loaded up we carried onto our next campsite under a tree and soon how our fire for the night going with a pot of tasty vegetable soup on the boil.
1
