The day started at 4:30am, which sounds fairly awful… except it was kind of a rough night of sleep, with the desert temperatures dropping pretty seriously and us all sleeping in thin sleep sacks, separated from the rocky ground by one or two blankets. Lars and Luke managed to sleep, supposedly, but then again the last time they had really slept was well over 24 hours before, when they left the west coast. So we were pretty much ready for the alarm to go off.
After a tasty breakfast of bread and Bedouin tea, which we’re all fast becoming addicted to, we headed off for the first serious day of hiking. We had camped at the foot of Jebel El-Tih, a large plateau in the center of Sinai desert. So the first order of business was hiking over to the plateau’s edge and then making our way up switchback trails to the top. It was a brisk hike; we set out around 5:30am and made it to the first rest stop, on top of Jebel El-Tih, around 8:00am.
After a brief rest, we continued on foot for another couple of hours, getting deeper and deeper into Sinai. We’ll post tons of pictures later, since there was so much incredible scenery that all of us were constantly taking pictures. Except Luke, of course. But the rest of us took plenty.
Around 11:30, we stopped to rest again, and had a tasty lunch of watermelon, bread, and cheese. Good stuff, and the rest was very welcome since it was definitely getting hot. And then, to our delight (well, Anna’s apprehension and delight, perhaps), we found that we’d do the next segment riding on camels. Riding on camels is great fun, it turns out, as long as you’re wearing pants and are on a camel with nice soft blankets in front of the saddle, as opposed to coarse burlap bags or camel skin. Anna, unfortunately, was wearing a dress and drew the camel with the burlap bags. Still, she did great, and was doing a fair amount of grinning.
Around 12:30, we stopped at a Bedouin camp to rest through the hottest part of the day. By “camp”, we mean basically three tents with a couple of women, some children, and a bunch of goats, pigeons, and chickens. True to their reputation, they offered us fantastic hospitality, and we watched the women make the bread we would eat for lunch. We all desperately wished we spoke more Arabic than the rudimentary phrases we have, because it would have been a great chance to get more cultural exchange. As it was, it was a cordial and enlightening visit, and a few hours in shade away from the pretty intense heat of midday.
After resting, we set off on foot again around 3:30pm. We hiked a couple more hours and saw, among other things, a spring and miniature oasis with palm trees, some incredible landscapes, and even more Bedouin. Towards the end of the day we went on a “short” side hike to a pool where we were expecting to be able to swim, but it turns out it was too shallow. The return hike turned kind of brutal, with Lars and Anna running out of water, and Luke and I both coming close. The last few miles were a bit of a slog, but we did finally make it to tonight’s resting spot, another Bedouin camp.
It looks to be another incredible night for stars, and I’m hopeful that we’ll all sleep well. Tomorrow’s supposed to be an easier day, and should include a spring that we can swim in, or at least sit in and enjoy cool water.