Day 15: From Mador night camp to Oron - 21st September 2018

I was awake early in the morning (5:00) to get an early start. According to the red book (Jacob Saar's book of the Israel national trail), this is the most difficult day and also the most beautiful. I'm not sure if it was either of those, but it certainly was tough, especially in the heat.

I headed off early to try to get as much done before the heat of the day. The guidebook said to walk under a powerline after 2km. I saw one in the distance (and no others) so didn't pay enough attention to the trail markers. After not seeing any trail marlers for a while, I realized I was walking in the completely wrong direction and needed to head back - it turned out there was another powerline hidden in the distance. The first part of the day was a relatively easy walk back towards the "Karbolet".

From there, the ascent started, technically it was not too hard (there were metal handles in the hard bits), but it was very hot and tiring!

I caught sight of an Ibex, but he ran away before I could get the camera out.

The climbing was tough, but the views over the "Maktesh hagadol" (the big Maktesh) were stunning.

There were also lots of snail-like fossils on the way (thousands of them)!

The walk along the Karbolet (cockscomb) had great views.

For parts of the walk, the rock was at approximately a 45-degree angle which made walking tough!

As the Maktesh hagadol is so big, you are higher than the bids who are flying around looking for their next meal.

Lunch today was tortilla, tehina and chestnuts! 

This rock on the right looked like a cartoon character to me (or I had been already too long in the heat . . )

After walking down from the Karoblet, the path heads under the train tracks (no passenger trains, just for factories), and then eventually to the Oron factory (a phosphate factory). It wasn't exactly a natural setting (next to a factory with lots of lights, noise and cars coming and going), but they do provide a free place to camp, shaded picnic tables and drinking water.

Day 14: From Sde Boker to Mador night camp - 20th September, 2018

Just before Sukkot I managed to get back to the Israel trail, I was hoping that the weather would have cooled down, but it was still hot (maximum of 30 degrees for the 3 days I was walking). After an early start (left home at 6:00), getting the train to Beer Sheva (the photo is of sunrise at Lod station on the way), and a bus to Sde Boker, I got started at around 9:00.

The first part of the day was walking back to where I finished the previous day, after the descent from Hod Akev.

I could see Hod Akev (the biggest peak) in the distance as I walked down the 4x4 road

The day was relatively uneventful and not too hard, with no significant changes in height, just very hot

There was very little shade during the day, so I hung around for a while under a small acacia tree in a dry river bed.

I reached the campground pretty early (around 3pm), and sat in the shade drinking coffee and reading my book (Darwin's origin of species). It was the first time I was all alone in a campground - after leaving Sde Boker I only saw one couple in a jeep during the whole day. After the early morning start, I was pretty exhausted and was already asleep by 8:30pm (after watching the moonrise).

Day 13: Hava night camp to Akev night camp - 7th April 2018

I woke up early, and at 6:20 I already started walking.

The first part of the day was relatively easy and uneventful. I took a detour to see the Zinim caves, which looked like a set from a James Bond movie. They were apparently built to store oil (it is close to the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeway), but abandoned after they found the oil leaked (which doesn't sound like a great explanation, surely they could have just coated the walls with a non-porous surface . . . )

From the caves there was a nice view down to the Zin valley

After some more walking, signs of water started to be seen, leading up to some big springs.

When I got to this ponit, I could see no other way to continue apart from crossing the "river" (I made it without falling in )

The highlight of the day was reaching the Akev spring. However, it seems like I wasn't the only one who had the idea to come here (although most of the people came by jeep not walking ). . . After lunch and a dip in the freezing but refreshing water, I continued on

A few kilometers later the ascent to Hod Akev started. The way up was a good climb (about 150m up) but not too difficult, altough it was getting very hot. 

The view from the top was fantastic though 

The way down from Hod Akev was much, much more challenging - no photos as I was too concerned with not falling! I was happy to get to the bottom, to the end of the day's walking (Hod Akev night camp).

When I was on top of Hod Akev, I realized that from the campground the walk back to the main road is up (I had assumed down . . .), about 5 km. Thankfully, however, a generous couple picked me up after 1 minute of walking and gave me a ride all the way to my car in Mitzpe Ramon (thanks!), allowing me to make it back home in time for the Mimouna celebrations at my wife's brother's house.

Due to the weather and time, I think the next instalment will have to wait, unfortunately, until after the summer, around sukkot.

Day 12: From Mitzpe Ramon to Hava night camp - 6th April 2018

I set off from home early in the morning (around 5:30) to drive to Mitzpe Ramon. As it was the last day of Pesach, there was no public transport so driving was the only option. I parked and started walking at around 8am.

After leaving the town, the first part of the walk goes by the sculpture park. It looked like it has seen better days . . . but still some nice sculptures.

The path continued along the maktesh for a few more hours (17km in total!). At one point I took the old Israel trail for about 10 minutes before realizing my mistake and heading back. There were a few nice lookouts, including one with maps to help identify the features.

By the time I took the short detour to Meizad Mahmal (a small fortification) I was pretty hot and tired.  The fortress is at the top of a climb out of the Maktesh. As it was the middle of the day and already pretty hot, I was grateful for the few cm of shade granted by the wall to eat my lunch.

After some more walking, I reached Nahal Hava, a nice canyon, and a great change of scenery.

Unfortunately, there was only a little bit of water in the Hava pits, and from the look and smell not something to go swimming in.

I met a few people on the way also on the Israel trail, we walked also to another spring (Ein hava), but it was also dry. We made it to the very windy campground at a reasonable hour, after dinner I was exhausted and went to sleep fairly early.