Road to Massada

Photo Notes.
1. 5Am and we have finished the road to massada.
2. One of the Roman camps still visible
3. Chris pondering the Roman perspective on getting up to where he is
4. Judean wilderness
5. Crows circling a promintory
6. Judean wilderness
7. En Gedi
8. Floating On
9. Dead Sea mud in use
10. Confused
11. The En Gedi Hostel
12. Life camping by the Dead Sea - that guy was really good at guitar
13. Starting into the canyon at En Gedi
14. It really was incredible
15. Lush Oasis
16. Because of the war, the place was full of people from Haifa and that region on holiday
17. David's Waterfall
18. The lagoon at David's fall
19. Starting the hike up
20. Rehydrating
21. Jordan is just on the other side
22. A dry waterfall - runs during floods
23. A natural shower
24. Dodum's Cave
25. Steps up to a pool
26. Streams in the desert

Shalom.

As Randy already noted, this weekend we finally had the chance to travel to Massada as part of one of Hebrew U's student trips. We met the group at 230 am on friday and were out of Jerusalem by 3. Massada is around an hour and fifteen minutes southeast drive from Jerusalem, and so by the time the sun had just began to wake we were already in the desert. The desert in the south is the desert that most people think of when they think of the Judean wilderness- monolithic rock canyons, sand drifts up the side of boulders strewn throughout the landscape, tracks of animals zigzagging back and forth across the dunes. The sunrise came while we negotiated the insanely sharp curves of the only road that runs through that part of the desert.
By 530 or so we had disembarked and began the easier of the two hikes up Massada. Massada is really impressive, it is a distinctive mountain that stands out of the rest of the wilderness around it by its sheer features and hight. Driving up I couldn't help but think of how frustrated the Romans must have been... they trecked across an extremely difficult wasteland only to find an unapproachable stronghold.
We had a rather energetic tourguide who gave us the flash tour of the stronghold, starting with the incredible cisterns below and culminating in the roman bathouse that Herod built himself. The story of Massada is even more affecting when sitting the actual room that the elders drew lots in to see who would be the last person left alive. Our guide talked us through the whole dilemma the jews faced - should they kill thier own people who were enslaved by the romans to build the ramp that would eventually lead to the downfall of the fortress. Thier decisions still reverberates through the Jewish national consciousness. The troops are sworn in there, and I have actually seen several tshirts that read: Massada will not fall again.
The view from Massada was incredible, some of the photos do a halfway decent job of conveying it. We then rode the cable car down, and the took the bus along the Dead Sea to En Gedi. The contrast of the Judean wilderness with this entire body of unpotable water is really intersting, it looks so refreshing even though you know that it is not. The tour then took a quick dip into the En Gedi park before finishing at the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is really wild. There really isn't a beach to speak of, all there are is salt encrusted rocks stained crazy colors. And you really do float. The entire thing is surreal. I had just shaved a day ago, and so had a little unpleasant stingin sensation, not to mention the salt in the cuts on my legs, but after a bit it felt fine.
The Dead Sea is so saline you can just stand in the water and not go anywhere, either up or down. It just suspends you at chest level. On the whole, floating in the Dead Sea is one of the most relaxing things I have ever done. Randy and I talked about floating over to Jordan, but as ten miles would take a long time when you really can't move fast, we decided to just hang by the shore. For those who sting thier eyes, there are showers right on the water, which I saw several screaming children rush over to in the space of the afternoon.
Randy and I broke off of the group and stayed at the Dead Sea for most of the afternoon. The crazy part is that your skin doesn't absorb the water, so you aren't waterlogged even after several hours of floating in the sea.
The beach we were at is only a fiftenn minute walk from En Gedi and the Hostel there, so we walked up and got a room that afternoon. This lady apologized profusely for the supposedly
'pathetic' room, but it ended up being better than our apartment at Hebrew U. The hostel itself was amazing, with beautiful bushes of flowers everywhere and an amazing view of the Dead Sea and the Jordanian mountains beyond. The room even came with meals, and so we had a really pleasant sabat dinner. We watched the moon and search flares over the Dead Sea that night.
The next morning we had breakfast with a really funny british couple and then packed for En Gedi. They require you to take at least five liters of water per person if you intend to hike, and so our pack was pretty heavy. The En Gedi park is a series of oasiss (im note sure what the pluarl of oasis is) in canyons in the desert. Supposedly David rested there, and also once met Saul there.
The Judean desert really is a desert. It was around 110 or so with dry heat that parched you immediatly. Entering the park you start a hike up the canyon. Overhead are incredible rock formation and caves spot the canyon walls. After a while, its suddenly green and lush. There is just pool after pool of beautiful aqua water, each fed by a cascading waterfall and surrounded by rushes and palm trees.
At the end of the canyone is David's waterfall, which is a fantastic eighty or so foot fall that had carved out a lagoon at the base of it. We cooled off a bit, and then began the challenging hike out of the canyone to an old Chalcodite temple. The hike was intense, up straight rock faces with metal ladders. The view at the top was really incredible though. The temple was just a pile of bricks, but from there we hiked to Dodums cave, right above the falls.
Dodum's cave was without exageration one of the neatest places I have ever seen. Right in the cleft of the canyon is a cave, open on one side,with a lagoon and a waterfall directly outside. Green moss hangs off of the ceiling, and from the lagoon you can see out over the canyon and to the Dead Sea below.
Hiking back down, we spent most of the day lounging around in the pools. It was really wild... the pools were kind of cold, but two minutes after getting out you were hot, dry, and parched again. The air is just so hot and dry. We met some soldiers while hanging out there, got to hear about thier lives. It was really interesting to try and explain why we aren't interested in joining the military when talking to people from a culture where it's mandatory.
Towards the end of the day I saw several mountain goats running up and down the mountains and couldn't help but think of scripture. The image of making our feet like mountain goats on high places is really powerful when you see what the goats actually can do. Really something.
One of the thoughts I took away from En Gedi is an better understanding of what the scriptural image of streams in the desert is referring to. I could just imageine finding something like En Gedi after days of thirst wandering through the wilderness. It would seem to be heaven on earth, the most refereshing thing imaginable.