On Ein Gedi, the Desert Oasis

Early this week, Ari and I decided to go backpacking (huzzah!), but the almighty question of where to go arose. We originally planned on going to this place deep in the Negev, but alas, transportation issues and a general lack of information of the area prevented us from going there. Rats! So we decided to go to Ein Gedi, a place Ari has been once before. Essentially Ein Gedi (wiki link for those who are curious) is a desert oasis on the west bank of the Dead Sea.

I'm having trouble deciding where to start detailing this adventure.

Jacob, the eager Dane, accompanied us on our journey. Jacob spend the year prior traveling through New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand. He's a really cool guy, and was great company. The three of us left Jerusalem at 8:00 AM Friday morning for a bus to Ein Gedi. After driving through the West Bank (fun!), we were dropped off to an incredibly foreign landscape, the likes of which I'd never seen in my life. To boot, we were at the lowest point on Earth (-423m). Some of the peaks of the mountains around us were still below sea level, if you can imagine.

View of Wadi Arugot (goes into the gorge) from the Ein Gedi Kibbutz

We originally planned on camping out on top of some of the mountains there (the one on the right of the valley in the picture above), laying underneath the stars in the open air of the desert, but when we got to the national park (oh yeah, the place is a national park), we were told that we have to leave the premises by 6 PM, to allow all the wildlife their proper space (mountain goats, poisonous snakes and spiders, and the nasties: hyenas, caracals, and wolves), so retrospectively I'm glad we didn't camp among these beasts. Instead, we were told there's free camping on the beach of the dead sea. Awesome.

The Park

After ditching most of our packs in a locker at the park entrance, we set off to explore the Wadi David (wadi is a stream). The place itself is pretty touristy, but to be quite honest, it was too beautiful for me to be put off. We swam, we relaxed, and since we weren't camping out on the mountain, we took our time, something I am all too grateful for, as the stops we made were just incredible. The David climbs up pretty steeply through the gorges and the path follows a series of waterfalls. I'm not sure if you've ever seen a waterfall through a desert, but it is really something else. For a few meters on either side of the water, everything is green, luscious, and alive. And then death. 

Swimming hole on the Wadi David

The heat. It was, at midday, 45˚C, which for you crazy Americans is a hefty 115˚F. It was hot. The water felt so great between hiking I can't even begin to explain.

After exploring the David, we ditched the main path in lieu of one of the hiking paths (peace out tourists), and climbed a fair deal more, and more, and more, until we were on top of a prominence. I say prominence because we were nowhere near the tops of the massive peaks west of us, yet the view from the top of this hill was an incredible panorama. The Wadi David to the north was clearly visible, as was some of the hills on the other side of the gorge. To the west was the Dead Sea in all it's salty glory. To the south, you can see the Ein Gedi Kibbutz, a topic I'll get to in due time, perched on top of a mountain, a la Masada. Words do nothing to describe the views. There was a park ranger killing some time, reading a book on top of this hill. She was friendly.

Me, all dolled up, with the Dead Sea in the background

Ari and Jacob climbing

A bit further on the trail from the hill was the Ein Gedi Spring where we had lunch in the shade and drank water from the spring (no dysentery as far as I can tell). All around the trail were ruins of buildings thousands of years ago. There were ruins of an ancient synagogue, and as our friend from the Kibbutz later told me, the Dead Sea once upon a time was all the way up the hill to the synagogue, but has since been shrinking at an alarming rate.

Ein Gedi Spring with a ranger filling up water

We descended back down the other side of the hill at a leisurely rate, stopping at various ruins, to the Wadi Arugot, which put the David to shame (shame on you, David). This side of the park had a less developed feeling. After about 30 minutes of walking, the path split into a ridge path, following the gorge into the mountains, or a river path, following the river. River it was, and we spent the next 15 minutes jumping from rock to rock up the stream, until we found sweet paradise, my Elysium. A swimming hole ten feet deep, surrounded by high rocks, perfect for cliff jumping. The next hour was pure bliss: rock climbing, back flips, and cool, but not too cool water, not to mention that we were in the middle of a valley with a couple-hundred-meter sandstone cliffs on either side. Of all the places I've been in my life, I can't think of a more perfect, picturesque spot.

Ari mid-flight

*Tarzan yell*

Phew. Our mission on the Arugot was not finished, however. The map cited a Hidden Waterfall an hour up the trail, so we set out again, a bit wet, in search of this waterfall. We took the river path again, this time following it for a good half an hour, until we found a 10m fall set back in a very isolated gorge. Incredible. Also, I almost killed myself climbing into a cave next to the falls, but like the boss I am, I'm alive and well. Jokes.

Jacob relaxing under the Hidden Waterfall

Why the waterfall is hidden

The Kibbutz

We got to the beach after a fair deal of walking back from the Arugot at around 4:30PM and set up a small camp underneath a giant beach umbrella. All of us agreed that we should go the kibbutz (for those that don't know, Wikipedia) that night, as there's a bar there and we wanted to meet some locals. The man staffing the concession stand at the beach, Ido, I believe, offered to give us all a ride up to the kibbutz at 6:30, so we had a few hours to kill. Mac and cheese for dinner, yum. And then there's the Dead Sea...what the fuck, God. That is all.

Making dinner, avoiding heat

Ido introduced us to Gal, a man of about 22. His hair was awesome. Gal gave all of us a ride to the Kibutz and let us put our bags in his apartment. The four of us got to know each other a bit over a hookah session with Shpongle in the background. One thing I've noticed about Israelis is the depth of conversation—we never really talked about the weather, or celebrities, or television. We traded stories and talked about the state of affairs in the area. He told us about his time he spent in Oceania and Indochina. He told us about his stint in Gaza as a tank operator, and how he pressed the trigger on his tank and took down a three story building that was providing refuge for terrorists.

Gal showed us around the kibbutz, which doubles as a resort for wealthy tourists. As such, the entire kibbutz is brilliantly landscaped, with the most exotic slew of trees and other greenery I've ever seen.

Some of the exotic plants around the kibbutz

He brought us to the bar and we bought him a drink and talked for another hour or two. Exhausted, we walked back to the beach around 10PM (a 45 minute walk), and I collapsed upon setting up my mattress pad. I wish I had enough energy for that night, I really do. There were about thirty other people camping out under the trees by the beach, drinking, smoking hookah, and socializing. It was a beach party in the middle of the desert, on Sabbath no less. I'll definitely be back with a group of people at some point to do the beach party properly.

The Beach

First and foremost, fuck every insect with wings that has every existed and will ever exist. I now know why everyone else there brought a tent. We woke up with flies everywhere, landing on every exposed bit of skin available, and pissing the hell out of us. We grudgingly got up, made eggs, and tried to figure out what to do with our day (the bus to Jerusalem wasn't until 7pm because of Sabbath). So we just lounged around the beach for a few hours, listened to some music, climbed a few trees. We ditched our bags with the Ido, chatted with a few Israelis, and went down to the sea.

Dead Sea mud is famous worldwide for its healing properties and whatnot, and goes for outrages prices in the states. We found a bucket of it for free at the beach. After blacking ourselves in mud (a really awesome feeling), we floated around the sea for a while. Dropping trow in a super-salinated body of water is recommended. The word great does not do the feeling justice.

People floating on the Dead Sea, Jordanian Mountains in the background

Anyway, we ditched the sea in fear of getting burnt and hung out with Ido and a few other people that came to hang out with him. We decided to spend the rest of our time (about 5 hours) at the kibbutz, so we walked there in the heat of day, trying to hitch a ride the whole time to no avail

Doing our best to hitch a ride

And we just lounged around for a while. We played ping pong with a group of Israelis. The arrogant one decided the loser of each round of ping pong had to do 30 push ups and 30 squats. I'm a pretty good ping pong player, but one of them was just a bit better. I love doing push ups...

All in all, it was really an incredible adventure, and I can't wait until traveling next weekend.

Ari and Jacob at the Kibbtutz, B'nei Havonamsheim in the background

Levitation Nation - Shpongle