Ein Avdat - 22 December 2012

Yesterday (22 December 2012) we went to Ein Avdat National Park. We had been there once before, when it was still quite hot. This time, the weather was much more pleasant. Before, we had both hiked a short distance up the trail but had turned around before getting very far. This time, David stayed in the car and listened to an audiobook while I hiked quite a bit further up.

There were quite a few people there, which is not surprising, since it was a Shabbat with perfect weather. Interestingly, the only language I heard anyone speaking was Hebrew. Usually, I would expect to hear some Russian (spoken by Russian-Israelis) and probably one of two other languages (spoken by visitors from abroad).

This is an absolutely stunningly beautiful place! Here are a few of the best pictures I took there.

Not very far up, there were 3 ibexes quite near the trail, so it wasn't too difficult to get this nice shot of a couple of them. The one on the left has some kind of a collar around its neck. I presume this has something to do with tracking him. I didn't see if the others one had one or not.

A little further up, I came to the first pool. Here's a nice picture of it reflecting the sky. I think the girl in the purple top actually adds a nice touch to this view.

In the right side of the picture above, you get a hint of the cave up high on that side. Here's a full-on view of that same cave or hollow in the side of the canyon.

Somewhat further up, there are steps carved into the wall on the right to allow people to get up past the waterfall. I didn't go that way this time. Instead, I continued toward the bottom of the waterfall. Some distance below it, there is a small, obviously manmade dam. This allows visitors to cross the stream in order to get closer to the falls. Here's a view from near the left end of that dam showing the pool behind the dam reflecting the cliff side. High above is the trail I didn't go on this time (you can't really see it, but you might spot a sign up there beside it). The waterfall is near the lower center of this pictures, but you can't really see it very well, either, since it's a bit dark in there, and there's only a trickle of water coming down. You CAN see, though, that there's another dam, this one natural and much nearer to the falls.

Here's a view from that natural dam showing the waterfall very clearly, together with about a quarter or a third of the pool between it and the natural dam.

The views in the downstream direction are impressive, too. The following 2 shots are examples:

With all this water, it's not surprising to find a lot of both plant and animal life. Here's a bird that I saw and managed to get a good picture of:

A trip to Timna Park - 24 November 2012

Today we went to Timna Park. We had been there once or twice before, but this time the weather was perfect for a bit of hiking. So, while David sat in the car and listened to one of his audiobooks, I took several short walks. Here are some of the pictures I took.

The first hike was only a short distance from the car. The destination was "A Mushroom and a Half". This picture should explain the name:

Next, I took a longer walk, but it was well worth it. Here's a beautiful view of the Pink Canyon:

On the way back to the car, I captured this view of Timna Mountain, in the right half of the picture. In the distance (to the left of Timna Mountain) you can see the Jordanian mountains, which actually, of course, are MUCH higher.

Our next stop was Solomon's Pillars. Here's a nice view of them:

To the right of the picture above, there are steps  that lead up to an opening between the rocks. Here's a view from way up there, looking north. The dark rock that frames the left side is right beside me!

After passing through the gap, there is an area near some nearly vertical smooth rocks. On one of them, barely visible, is a VERY old drawing showing Ramses III giving an offering to the Egyptian god, Hathor, with hieroglyphics below it. It has faded so much, though, that I could hardly see it in the glare of the midday sun. I took pictures, of course, but you can't see it in them, either. Nevertheless, it's quite impressive to see something from so long ago in such a remote location. It underscores the importance of this valley to the Egyptians of that time, who mined copper here.

Down below the inscription is something even more impressive: the remains of an ancient Egyptian temple! According to the sign, they found a LOT of objects associated with the worship of 3 different gods, with Hathor being the most important one. They also found the names of NINE different Egyptian kings from more than 3000 years ago!

Our last stop was the gift shop and restaurant by the artificial lake they have made there. Here's a panoramic view of the lake:

We didn't eat there, but we I did fill a couple of little plastic bottles with different colored sand in layers. It's part of what we get when we pay for entrance to the park, for which residents of Eilat get a discount!

Hemet Cistern בור חמת

Today (10 November 2012) we drove up through Makhtesh Ramon, past Mitzpe Ramon, and on west a little to הר הנגב Har HaNegev ("The Negev Mountain") nature reserve. We visited an ancient water collection cistern called בור חמת Bor Khemet ("Hemet Cistern"). I don't know who dug it because the signs only gave its name. However, it was likely the Nabateans, meaning that it was at least 1500-1600 years ago! There was no water in it today, probably because the channels that directed water into it are no longer maintained. I imagine that it was virtually NEVER completely empty during the time it was actually in use. There are still steep stairs that descend to the bottom of it (I went down them). It's probably about 2-3 meters deep. I took this picture using the neat panorama feature of iOS 6 on my iPhone.

Nakhal Shakhamon the day after a big thunderstorm

Yesterday afternoon (9 November 2012) we had a BIG thunderstorm here in Eilat! It didn't rain all that long, but plenty of it, including some small hail, came down in that short time. We stayed in our apartment for the duration, but today I read about flooding and saw plenty of evidence of when we were downtown. The airport was even closed yesterday afternoon due to flooding there!

This morning, on my way back from the outdoor gym, I took a couple of pictures of the freshly washed Nakhal Shakhamon. This first one was taken from where Harim Road crosses the nakhal (which flows under the road through TWELVE pipes that are each about 2 meters tall!). Notice that, although it looks a bit wet, there is no water flowing -- it's all gone on downstream (contributing to the flooding near the sea!), evaporated, or soaked into the ground!

Here's a pretty view from the round pergola where I do my exercises. In the foreground you can see a small beautifully landscaped area near the pergola. On the right are the exits of the 12 pipes under the road. In the distance, slightly to the left of center, is White Mountain, the tallest point in this view although it doesn't look as tall as the other hills because they are much closer.

The Small Makhtesh

Last Shabbat (the 27th of October) we took a trip to the Small Makhtesh ("crater").

There are at least three of these in the Negev Desert. The other two are known as the Big Makhtesh and Makhtesh Ramon. The last is actually the biggest, but it was discovered later due to its remoteness. There are also now paved roads through the Big Makhtesh and Makhtesh Ramon. In fact, highway 40, the main highway through the Negev, passes dramatically down from Mitzpe Ramon and goes right through Makhtesh Ramon. The road through the Big Makhtesh is much less important, but it is still paved.

But these is no read at all through the Small Makhtesh. In fact, we had to drive about a kilometer or so on a rocky unpaved road just to get to the parking area. Then I walked another kilometer or two to get to where I could see the Small Makhtesh. But the view, as you can see here, is pretty dramatic. These pictures were all taken from the viewpoint. This first one is looking toward the north end of the crater.

This second picture is looking directly across the crater and shows the interesting and varied patches of color on its floor. The gap at the right of this picture is where the Makhtesh drains toward the Arava and then the Dead Sea. In the distance, you can see the mountains of Jordan on the other side of the Arava.

This picture is looking slightly further to the right from the one above. Now the drainage gap is just right of the center of the picture.

Turning further still to the right, we see the southern wall of the makhtesh. The viewpoint is actually NOT right at the edge of the crater but on a hill somewhat above it and set back a little. The edge in the foreground at the left of this picture is really not that far away. Again, you can see the mountains of Jordan in the background.

This picture is looking still further to the right and barely overlaps with the one above. We really can't see any of the makhtesh at all in this view. What we do see is another stream that barely misses the crater but instead flows down a completely different valley toward the Arava.

A hike just south of Makhtesh Ramon

Today (8 October 2012) we drove up to just south of Makhtesh Ramon (the Ramon Crater), where I parked the car at the side of the road and took a short hike. The weather was beautiful, with warm sun, a cool breeze, and a few fluffy clouds in the sky. Also, it was about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset, which is a great time for photography. Here are some pictures that I took (all of them with my iPhone 4s).

For this first one, I hiked up near a small cliff (seen on the right) and took this view looking approximately northeast.

This second picture was taken near the same spot but looking a little more northward. The Makhtesh really begins just the other side of these hills.

In this final view, we are looking almost directly east towards two mesas. Somewhat closer, at the bottom of the picture, you can see our car (the red on on the left) and several others parked along highway 40 at the beginning of the trail I took.

Paran River flowing over highway 40

Yesterday (1 October) we were driving down highway 40 after having made a trip further north. When we go to נחל פראן Nakhal Paran (the Paran River), there was actually water in it, something we have never before seen. Since there's no bridge over the river (or even pipes under the road), the water just runs across the road. Luckily, it wasn't too deep to get across easily.

After we had crossed, I parked the car and got out to take some pictures. Here are a few of them. In the first picture, you can see kids wading in the muddy water and a northbound vehicle splashing across.

This is the view looking upstream (roughly towards the west). As you can see, more people were enjoying the water up there.

Here's a view of 2 cars going across the stream, one in each direction. The post at the right is a familiar sight all over this part of the country. It's for situations where the water is quite a bit deeper that this. The lowest black tag marks 0.5 meters, the next one 1 meter, and the top one 1.5 meters. I wouldn't even cross if it were near 0.5 meters (about 20 inches), since that might be enough to wash my car right off the road, I think.

A visit to Ein Avedat

Today (23 September 2012) we decided to visit the Ein Avedat National Park. It's located near Sde Boker, the desert home of Ben Gurion (and his burial place), in the Negev Desert. Its important feature is the deep canyon formed by a sudden drop of Nakhal Tzin (the Tzin Stream), an important stream (dry unless it has just rained, of course!) that drains much of the norther Negev and eventually ends of at the southern end of the Dead Sea.

There are 2 entrances to the park, and we went in both of them. We started with the one that enters the canyon by a switchback road from Ben Gurion's tomb, reaching the bottom of the canyon where Nakhal Hawarim flows into Nakhal Tzin. Here's a view looking of the canyon from the top switchback.

The road then follows the stream a short distance to a parking lot. From there, you must walk to go further up the canyon. Here's the view up the canyon from the parking lot.

Here's another view from the parking lot, looking up at an overhang on the south canyon wall.

We walked a short distance up a nice dusty but smooth trail. Here's a nice view from a little further up the canyon.

After our short walk, we drove back up the way we came in, ate lunch at the Avedat Aroma (along the highway just below the Nabatean city of Avedat, which is another national park), and then went in the upper entrance, not far from there. After a very short drive from the highway, we reached the parking lot. This time, David stayed in the car, and it was a good thing, because the trails up there were generally NOT very smooth, and there were quite a few stone steps, as well.

As I made my way to the canyon, I spotted this ibix also heading towards the canyon.

Here's the view looking down the canyon from the lower viewpoint, which is the one nearest the parking lot.

Here's the view up the canyon from the same viewpoint.

Here's a view looking almost straight down at the bottom of the canyon.

As I was enjoying the views from this viewpoint (which is actually on a broad rock ledge 2 or 3 meters below the level of the canyon rim), another visitor told me to look up, and here's the ibix that I saw up on the rim of the canyon. This is just the best of about 5 or 6 pictures that I got of him! Isn't he magnificent! Check out those horns!

After I came back up from that viewpoint, I saw a trail going parallel to the canyon (but a ways from it) in the upstream direction. I followed it to another viewpoint, located right at the beginning of the canyon. Just as I came to it, I saw this beautiful dragonfly sitting on a cable. It just sat there patiently, and so I had time to get a good picture of it.

This next picture is a view of the stream BEFORE it plunges into the canyon. It's a little hard to get the scale, but the walls here can't be more than 2 or 3 meters high. But this picture was taken from a point not more than a few meters from where this stream plunges into the canyon.

Here's the view the OTHER direction! There were a couple of cables and a sign warning about an abyss ahead, but I was no more than a couple of meters from the edge, I think. Very dramatic!

I easily walked across the stream to the other side and got this view, which only gives a hint of the canyon. Near the center, you can see the railing protecting people on the upper viewpoint from falling into the canyon.

Here's the view from that upper viewpoint.

As you can tell, I had a marvelous time and really enjoyed this trip. I must thank David for waiting so patiently for me in the car, especially since he didn't get the pleasure of seeing ANY of this.

A visit to the west side of Massada

Today (21 July 2012), we decided to visit the west side of Massada, the famous and iconic fortress where the Jews held out as long as they could against the might of the Roman Empire.

In order to get there, one must first drive to Arad, and then one takes a road (a good 20 km long) whose sole purpose, it seems, is to take us to this spot.

This first picture shows the view of Massada from shortly after it first comes into view. As you can see, we are still at a higher elevation than the top of the fortress. Here, you can see all of Massada and also another mountain (to the right of it) that is about the same height. In fact, they don't look separate from this angle, but they are actually separated by a wide gap with nearly vertical walls on both sides. In the distance, of course, is the Dead Sea (the lowest point on the surface of our planet that is not under water!).

Here's a view from much closer and lower that shows only the north end of Massada.

This view is slightly to the right of the one above and is zoomed in more. This is the earthen ramp that the Romans had to build in order to assault the fortress. Imagine the effort and logistics required to move this much dirt, in the middle of a very DRY desert, with NO modern equipment, nearly 2000 years ago! If I had been one of them, I would surely have said, "Forget about it! Just let them HAVE the d*** place!"

This last picture may well be used to illustrate the definition of "serendipity" in the future! I didn't even know that this bird was there until I looked at my photos after getting home and loading them into my computer. I still don't know what kind of bird it is, but it looks magnificent!

A nice picture, and some news about new blogs

Let's start with the nice picture. On Tuesday, David and I decided to get out a bit, since I wasn't very busy, so we took a short drive up the Arava to Kibbutz Yotvata. On the way, there were a few clouds in the western sky, and, some of the time, the sun went behind them. This was too good a photo opportunity for me. Here's one of the pictures that I took:

Now for the news -- I've started 2 new blogs during this week. You may ask why I'm doing this. The reason is that I feel that this blog has become a bit unfocused, and I thought it might be interesting to have blogs focused on particular topics. In addition, I'm planning to do a LOT more writing, so this will become more important.

The first blog that I started is entitled "Arlan's Day -- and online journal". If you'd really like to follow my daily life, including a lot of trivial things, of course, this is where you'll be able to do it. I hope to post there nearly every day. Here's the link to view it.

The second blog I just started this afternoon. It's entitled "Israel and its neighbors -- a political review of the week". As you might guess from the title, I will only be writing weekly in it. My plan is to collect links to various articles during the week and then tie them together with my comments on what they contain and why I think they're worth reading. I really hope that a lot of you will read at least some of the articles, because I KNOW that you'll get a better idea of the real issues facing Israel! Here's the link to this blog.

I am NOT abandoning THIS blog, however! This is where I plan to post most of the pictures and the stories about various places I go. In other words, it will become mostly (though not TOTALLY!) a sort of travelog about our adventures here.

Videos of Nakhal Yoash

Yesterday (Shabbat, 7 July 2012) I took another early morning hike up Nakhal Yoash. This time, I took my video camera with me. Here are a couple of the videos I shot that help to give you a feel of the beautiful valley. I hope that these short movies give you a little more sense of the beauty of the place. Enjoy!

My mom's letters to her mom

I've just started a new project that I've been intending to do for a LONG time.

Way back in the 1950's, from 1951 right after she got married until 1958, my mom wrote letters from Loma Linda, California, to her parents in Phoenix, Arizona. This includes the time when both I and my younger brother were born! Her mother carefully kept the letters, many in their original envelopes. Much later, after grandpa and grandma had moved to California, my mom got the letters, perhaps even after her parents had died. In any case, we got them when we sold my mom's house and have kept them safe ever since. But I had never taken the time to actually look at them.

My project now is not only to read them but also to type them into the computer so they will be safe for posterity. I suppose I actually COULD scan them and do OCR (almost all of them were typed -- after all, my mom had been a typing teacher!). But it seems more interesting to type them in myself.

They were already sorted into years, but not necessarily WITHIN each year. So, I have started with 1951, the first year. I began by sorting the letters from that year by date, and now I am typing them in, one by one.

The "voice" in the letters is very much that of my mom as I always knew and loved her. She is always very positive about everything and everyone. But she's no Pollyanna. After all, when these letters were written, she was still recovering from the terrible car accident in which she had broken BOTH her legs (the UPPER parts!). She was walking by this time (something the doctors had early on thought she might NEVER do again), but she still had pain in her legs, and she still used crutches some of the time. These facts come up from time to time, but the tone of the letters is utterly positive. Of course, the fact that she was also a newlywed helped. She also had the most wonderful things to say about my dad, and I know from my own experience growing up with both of them that she was right. The man she describes is exactly like the dad I knew, as well, always helping with the work, and always completely supportive of mom.

Already the things she talks about are interesting, and I even knew some of the people she mentions. But it should get REALLY interesting when I get to the parts for which I was actually present. Naturally, I don't remember too many things from the 50's, but I may find that I'll remember some of them, and I'll get a LOT of fill-in about my own early childhood. It should be interesting!

So, stay tuned, and I'll try to post again from time to time about this project. Perhaps I'll even share a few quotes from my mom. If she were writing now, in the early 21st century, she'd probably be doing a blog, too!

Early morning hike up Nakhal Yoash

Yesterday morning (12 June 2012) I hiked up a trail I had never been on before. It starts from Highway 12 a short distance after the highway begins to climb out of Nakhal Shlomo on the west side (about a 14-minute drive from our house). The wadi is called Nakhal Yoash. I had seen the trail from the highway, and it looked interesting. In the picture below, you can see where it begins to climb and how it goes near the edge of the tipped strata. This is practically right beside the highway and easily visible from it.

In the picture below (which is more towards the right but overlaps a bit with the view above), you can see how the stream itself flows down from the gap near the middle of the picture. That's where the trail is also heading, of course. The trail is somewhat steep but not overly so. When we arrive at the gap, we have to climb up a bit to get through, but metal handholds have been imbedded in the rock to make it much easier.

Here's the view up the stream from the gap. This is actually a short, intermediate section. Near the center of this view, you can see some large boulders. These are at the point where the stream comes out of a larger and much wider valley (I'll call it "the upper valley").

But, before continuing, check out the severely tipped strata to the right of the first gap. Below are two pictures of them. I took the first one on my way up and the second on my way back down, so the angle of the sun was lower in the first than in the second (and they're not from EXACTLY the same spot, either, of course).

Here's a view of the upper valley from the entrance (well, actually the EXIT from the point of view of the stream!). On the way up, it was almost totally in the shade, so the pictures I took were not as good. I took this picture on my way back, when the sun was higher.

This valley is really even more beautiful than the pictures show. Its floor is covered with real sand, like at a nice beach, unlike most of the nakhals I have walked in, which are covered with gravel. The trail goes to the right at the first branching and then left shortly thereafter (I want to go back and explore those other branches sometime, although I'm sure they're not very long).

Here's a view of some pretty old-rose-colored and white sandstone that I saw there. This is on the left side near where the trail turns right and goes up out of the upper valley.

In this next pictures, you can see some interesting layers with contrasting colors. I also thinks it's fascinating the way the hardened mud (well, at least that's what it looks like and maybe once was!) hangs over like the eaves like a thatched roof. If you look closely, you may be able to see a trail marker painted near the lower right, showing that the trail goes up between the exposed strata on the left and the smaller exposed segment on the extreme right.

Below is a close-up view of the layers on the right. Because this shot (even before I cropped it) was TOTALLY in the shade, the camera opened up more, showing the contrasting colors better.

After going up out of the upper valley, we reach a relatively flat area, although it is riddled with canyons, some of them quite deep.

At this point I should probably mention that I bought a large, plastic-coated trail map of this region (in Hebrew) and a book (in English) about hiking in the area. So, now I know the correct names of the nakhals (or wadis) and mountains. The book also tells about the geology of the region, although I don't fully understand all the technical details. In any case, according to the book, many millions of years ago, this area actually WAS a nearly flat plain, and that's what we have reached at this point in the hike. The views in all directions from here are really quite wonderful. Below, you can see some of them.

This first view is approximately in the northwest direction. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you may be able to see a short section of the new fence along the Egyptian border, just to the left of the small hill at nearly the right side of the picture.

Here's the view in about the south-southwest direction. In the foreground is a very deep canyon (150 meters, according to the book), Nakhal Gishron. On the extreme right, barely visible on the horizon, you can see a nearly flat white mountain. I'm pretty sure this is the same one we see from our balcony and living room and that it is mostly if not totally in Egypt, near Taba, the town on the sea just south of the border. On the left, of course, you can see a bit of the Red Sea.

This is the view further to the left. Here, the sea is more obvious. In the foreground is a pile of rocks that someone built here, and on the left is a hill that goes up a little higher. It looks like it might be pretty easy to go to the top of it from here, and there's no doubt that the view would be fabulous, but that will have to wait for another time.

Here's the view to the east-southeast. On the left you can see a bit of the "upper valley" we came through. Behind that is the rugged mountain the other side of Nakhal Shlomo. Further back, you can see a tiny bit of the Red Sea, and, beyond that, the mountains in Jordan.

At this point, I turned around and headed back. I'll close with a couple more views, both looking towards the entrance (or, really, EXIT) of the upper valley. The angle of the sun by this time allowed for some pretty dramatic pictures.