Upon returning to the hostel, I encountered two young ladies putting dark brown stuff on their bread. I thought it was Vegimite so I asked them if they were from Australia. It turns out that they were from the Netherlands so I mentioned that I had recently been in Amsterdam and we chatted for a few minutes. I soon found out that they were intending on taking a hike but weren't clear where things were. One of the volunteers at the hostel started explaining to them about their hiking options and suggested the very path I had thought looked good. I invited myself to be their guide and off we went.
The hike was about 3 hours long and included a peak of a small mountain with great views over the city, sea, and Aqaba—the Jordanian city next to Eilat.Most of the trail was through extremely barren desert--there was not a tree or even a bush in sight most of the time. There were a couple of birds but no other signs of life. I think of hiking as primarily exercise but being in the wilderness can bring a deep relaxation that doesn't seem to be available in a city or suburb. The aesthetic appeal of the route is a bonus. I felt no particular awe at this desert scenery but the view from the peak was nice. We saw into Jordan and may have seen into Saudi Arabia and were a few kilometers from Egypt.
After the view from the peak, we were soon in a wadi--a dry river bed. The aforementioned wife of the hostel director had said that it hadn't rained all winter. There were finally trees and the run-off had shaped the banks in an interesting enough way. While still desert, the variety was certainly appreciated.
After the hike we went to the beach. It was warm enough and most people escaping the snow in Jerusalem probably thought of the beach as the main attraction but a couple minutes in the water and twenty on a beach chair and I was done. Perhaps if I had brought a watermelon, newspaper, book, and volleyball as I had when was a teenager the beach would have kept me content longer. I have said on other occasions that, having moved from California to Utah, I prefer the mountains to the beach and this day certainly confirmed that.
The next morning I woke up and did the same hike with a young man from Switzerland, Mattias, and a young man from Poland. I would have rested for a day but Mattias had a couple of friends who had other plans for other days so he really wanted to get some hiking in and I relented and we followed the same trek. I often hike the same paths many times so I didn't mind. Different features stood out and the conversation was different so I returned content but insistent that I would take a day off the next day.
Legs well rested, I mapped out what turned out to be a seven hour hike. The hiking map had featured areas, one of which was the Black Canyon which became the objective. This is part of the Israel Trail--a trail from the north to the south of the small country. On the designated day, while it was scheduled to snow in Jerusalem, it was a bit cloudy and around 60 degrees (14 C) in Eilat. Mattias' buddies decided that the beach wouldn't be so pleasant so they were willing to hike. Along with that group of three guys, Teresa, one of the hostel volunteers joined in. The hike went smoothly--no wrong turns and the only surprise being a small mountain after the canyon--I hadn't taken much note of topography but no complaints: more good views over the region. The Black Canyon itself was nice--a slot canyon but nothing like The Narrows in Zion's National Park. We saw a small mountain goat and a few birds. More wadis, a few more of the same type of trees, very quiet except we talked a lot. Our stories seem to be more interesting to fellow travelers from different corners of the world but common issues like immigration seemed to be on the agenda of both the U.S. and Switzerland.
We arrived back at the hostel thoroughly worn out and ready for a shower. One of the sojourners complimented my having been an effective navigator, I turned down an invitation to the brazilian meat buffet and went to sleep around eight.
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