Day 6: From Shizafon to Tzihor - 8 October, 2017

After a long summer break, I finally got back to some walking. I started the day at home at 6am, and after two trains to Beer Sheva, and a long bus ride, I finally arrived at Shizafon at around 11:00, and started walking.

First trail marker on the way

The track was fairly monotonous - it followed the Eilat Ashkelon pipeline for the whole day and was never far from road 40. I stopped outside the Shizafon army base for a lunch break (avocado sandwich bought on the way) - the army base provided nice shaded picnic tables (not sure if they were meant for civilians, but no-one complained :)

Thankfully the day was somewhat overcast (as there was very little shade). 

There were lots of dust devils throughout the day which I tried to avoid (mostly successfully).

As the day progressed, visibility improved and I could see the Arava mountains in the distance.

As I started late, I was running out of time to get to the night camp before it got dark.

I ended up making it to the night camp (Tzihor) just as it was getting dark. I had arranged for someone to leave me water, but I couldn't find it. As it was dark, I went and had dinner and returned after the moon rose. Eventually, I found the place where he hid the water, but there was only water wrappers but no water. After speaking to the person who arranges the water cache, he said he would come in the night and leave more water, which I found in the morning.