Day 19: Be'er Efe to Arad

I set off early in the morning, eager to start walking and warm up

The walk today went through Nahal Kanfan. The red guide book warned about a hiker who was seriously injured on one of the rocks on the way, so I was extra careful, and there were a few challening parts on the way. There were also a few small pools of water left.

There was a stark change in the scenery as I left the wadi. After I started smelling food and coffee, I soon walked past some Bedouin encampments, including camels!

From the peak of Mt. Kina, I started the descent towards Arad, which was already visible. There were some great views on the way.

The final gentle ascent on the day was in a wide wadi following the road into Arad, unfortunately with a fair amount of rubbish probably washed there following the rain.

I finally made it to Arad, considered the mid-point of the Israel trail! As it was a Saturday, there was still a few hours until the buses started, but a generous couple on their way home from the dead sea gave me a lift most of the way home

Day 18: From Mezad Tamar to Be'er Efe

This was a fairly uneventful day. As it was a relatively short walk today (18km), I started a little later (around 7:00) to wait for it to warm up a bit (the night was freezing!). After a few kilometers, the path went under a conveyor belt that takes minerals from the dead sea for processing (it wasn't working while I was there)

There were some menacing signs warning you not to go to Wadi Ashalim (because of pollution), but thankfully the Israel trail keeps clear of the polluted part

There were no large climbs or descents either, lots of wide open spaces

I passed a science experiment, not really sure what they were doing

Nice rock!

There were some interesting cloud formations in the late afternoon

I arrived at a reasonable hour at Be'er Efe, and found the water cache. I missed the abandoned building from the previous night (it was freezing!) but relatively peaceful (apart from the sound of the jackals howling in the night, and some light traffic on the road)

Day 17: From the small crater to Mezad Tamar

I left home early to catch the first train to Dimona (via Lod and Beer sheva)

From Dimona, I got a taxi to where I left off last time (next to Ma'ale akrabim - the scorpian ascent). The driver didn't know where it was, and tried talking to his GPS. He kept saying the name, but the GPS understood "Ma'ale haclavim" (the dog ascent). After a few minute of this, I insisted that we could use Waze on my phone . . .

There was a large yeshiva group also hiking the maktesh so there was quite a lot of people around for the first half of the day. There was a spectacular view from the top before heading down into the maktesh.

This is the view after climbing down most of the way

There was beautiful colored sandstone throughout the maktesh (unfortunately much of it carved out as a form of graffitti).

Slightly off the trail was the impressive crater's gap. From here, the layers that were horizontal in much of the crater are almost vertical, a record of the immense forces that were once at work here

As it had rained quite a lot recently, there were quite a few small flowers around

Deep red colored sandstone

The climb out of the maktesh did not look so hard, but then I saw some tiny-looking people and realized it was significant (about 500 metres of climbing)

This rock reminded me of a mask

I took a small detour near the end of the day to Ein Zafit, which had quite a bit of water and was a good place for a coffee break

After a short walk, I made it to the 25 road. There was a hunched crossing through a tunnel to the other side.

The end of the day was at Mezad Tamar (Tamar stronghold) by the busy road

The campground was deserted and dirty, so following a suggestion from the Israel trail app, I slept in one of the abandoned buildings above the mezad (which did a good job keeping out the wind)