A Hike Below the Sea

Anything that is advertised as involving death, I am quick to sign up for. Well, maybe I’m not that drastic, but when a sign up sheet for an En Gedi Death Hike showed up on the bulletin board I was all over it. The group slowly formulated and gathered excitement for this hike.

We left Saturday evening from Yad HaShmonah for En Gedi, an oasis on the shores of the Dead Sea, but not before taking a group picture. The whole hour and a half bus ride there, we sang. I pulled out some classics from Children’s Church and summer camp. It was so much fun and it made the time pass really fast.

We arrived on the shore of Dead Sea with a full moon reflecting off of the calm water (at the green “S” on the map). The wind was very strong and warm as we walked down to the salty shore. We immediately started taking pictures of this never before seen territory. After the excitement wore down, we set out find our sleeping spot. With the wind blowing at high speeds, we found shelter from the gusts behind a small stone wall and so we all proceeded to get situated for the night. Some of the guys ran off and went floating in the water in complete freedom. Mary and I entertained ourselves by spelling letters in the air with our feet together. It provided not only something that was new and interesting, but a good work-out for our legs the night before an insanely rigorous hike. We all slept on the ground with only a towel separating us from the dirt. I woke up several times in the night, only to find out that I was laying only on dirt. But don’t get me wrong, we were having a blast!

We were rudely awaken at 6am by pesky flies; flies that would haunt us the rest of the day. Breakfast was especially appetizing, since it was food that we packed 24 hours earlier. I ran out from behind the palm trees just in time to see the sun crest over the mountains on the other side of the Dead Sea; several pictures followed. It was incredible to be able to read God’s Word with the rays warming your face in the light of the young sun. Even though we sin so much, God graciously allows us to see gorgeous things, such as sunrises and sunsets, waterfalls, mountains, and clouds. All of the features of earth that we marvel at, shout the power and faithfulness of God. Praise Him for the wonderful works of His hands.

There were 13 of us who were going on the death hike and the others were going on a picnic trip. We left just after 7:30 and walked over to the gate into the En Gedi National Park (the light blue line). From there we filled up our water bottles at the cold water station and set out down the Nahal Arugot for the first destination, the hidden waterfall (the pink line). This part of the hike was relatively flat as we walked in the bottom of the nahal, rather than climbing up the sides, which we were looking forward to later.

We found the waterfall in half the time that the ranger said that we would and quickly jumped in the pool. We had lots of fun going under the waterfall and playing around in the water. Part of our group left early and started up the sharp ascent. I was in the later group and started to climb 15 mins after the first group. As soon as we began the steep uphill, I was strides ahead of the rest of the group and I didn’t stop. I past some people in the group ahead of me and was only minutes behind Robbie and Mary who made it to the top first. The climb was not that long, but it was one of the steepest I have ever done. Some places we climbed straight up, scaling the rock wall. Here are some pics to help you see what it was like. (Notice the two people in the middle of the cliff on the second picture and the group at the very bottom of the third one.)

At the top of the plateau, we walked across to the En Gedi Lookout. That site had one of the most incredible views that I have ever seen. We could see almost all of the Dead Sea and the surrounding shore. It is truly something that pictures cannot do justice to. We ate a little something up there, but didn’t stay long. We hiked down the north side, into the Nahal David. This went very quickly. We stopped at an ancient temple from the Chalcolithic period, which was cool because we had learned about it in archaeology class. After that short stop, we went to the bottom of the nahal and swam in the pools on that side for a half hour or so, a very refreshing break from the hot trek up and down. Nate tried to block up the pool by laying in the only exit for the water, but Mary wanted to see him go down with the water (picture above). My REI equipment came in extremely helpful on this trip; my shorts dried fast after each swimming stop, my boots were very comfortable, my backpack held all of my water and everything else, and my headlamp did its job the night before.

The day was very fun. We even saw some natural ibexes (shown on left). We were all warm and nasty after it was all over, but we had drawn closer through it all. God is so good. How could any of us plan to put all of us strangers together in a group and yet glorify the Lord through it? It has only been by His hand. I thank God for the opportunity to study over. I am learning so much that I now regret, not taking learning serious before. I feel like all through high school and even last year in college, I didn’t really desire to learn, but rather a desire to do everything else knowing that I have to school work in between it all; which is the wrong way to think. Praise God for what He is doing!