Hike to the upper pools at Ein Avdat - 9 February 2013

Last Shabbat (9 February 2013), we decided to visit Ein Avdat again. Last time we were there, I only hiked to the lower pool, below the waterfall. You can see my post about that at this link.

This time, I headed for the upper pools, above the waterfall. In order to get there, you must turn right before the pools at the foot of the waterfall and go up these steps that are hewn into the side of the canyon. Note the metal handholds in the wall along the lower steps!

When you get to the top of the steps, there is a path about 30 cm (1 foot) wide and about 10 cm (4 inches) deep that is cut into a ledge that is around 2 m (6-7 feet) wide (my estimates). This goes all along the right side (as you are going up the canyon) of the lower pools. Here's a view of the waterfall from that ledge:

Here are a couple of views looking down the canyon and back toward the ledge, where you can see people walking along. In these views, you can also see the lower pools and people down near them. These are both taken from very near where the water goes down a short slope before the actual top of the waterfall (which, of course, you can NOT see in these photos!):

Here's another view looking more directly down the canyon, again from just above the waterfall:

Above the waterfall and just a little further upstream, there are more pools. The canyon curves toward the left (as you are going up it). There's a place between pools where the trail crosses the stream. Here's a view from that general area looking down the canyon (back toward the waterfall):

In this view, we are looking UP the canyon from that same general area. There's a small grove of poplar trees growing on the slope above the stream (but FAR below the top of the cliffs, of course!). You can see a view of them on the right side of this photo:

The area upstream of here is closed to the public so that the wild animals can feel safe there. There is a trail up the right cliff from here, but it is one-way only (UP!), so you can only take it if somebody can drive to the upper entrance of Ein Avdat and pick you up there.

My last picture is a close-up of some pretty colors in the small side branch where the water was barely flowing at all. I'm sure these colors are due to various minerals in the water:

I took all these photos with the built-in camera and standard camera app on my iPhone 4S. Of course, I did crop them and scaled the size so that the files wouldn't be to big for uploading and viewing, but I didn't do any other kind of editing at all on them.

Flowers along Highway 12

I was always amazed and impressed by the profusion of wild flowers every Spring when we were in the North. Of course, here in the desert of the South, there are simply nowhere near as many plants of any kind since we get so little rain. However, there still ARE some very lovely wildflowers, particularly along highway 12.

There's a place on highway 12 a little south of the Uvda airport where, for no apparent reason, there are wider shoulders on the road and places not quite opposite each other on both sides where there are short curbs with a bit of sidewalk, just like where there are bus stops, except there are NO bus stops here and no obvious reason why there every WOULD be! David and I refer to this as "the wide place in the road".

Since this is along the route that we call "the short loop" (up highway 90 to highway 40, then over and down highway 12 back to Eilat), we drive by this place quite often. Last week, I stopped at the wide place in the road and snapped these pictures.

This plant you see in the first couple of photos is the most obvious when you're whizzing along the highway. The flowers are a kind of coral pink and very noticeable. There are also LOTS of these nearly everywhere in the Uvda area in the drainage ditches on both sides of the road. In English, these would probably be called dock, or dock weed:

Here's a more close-up view of a different bunch of them:

Upon closer inspection, one discovers that there are actually several kinds of flowers. Here we see some small purplish white ones:

These are nearly pure white and are VERY small:

I've never seen flowers quite like these before. They are tiny yellow balls, about a centimeter in diameter:

These are also yellow and quite small, but they look something like cornflowers to me:

I took all these photos with the standard camera app on my iPhone 4S. Of course, I did crop them, and I also scaled their size so that the files wouldn't be inordinately large for uploading and viewing. Other than that, they are unedited.

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.