PESAH 2007 - TIMNA

Participants:

Sergei, Doron Samish, Bella, Issana

Misha1 (Zbz hereafter) , Misha2 (Misha hereafter), Tal (Efros junior.),

Andrei, Stas, Katya,

Vova, Roma,

Yosi, Regina,

Lev, Surd

-------=16 (wow)

Me, Zbz, Samish, C came to Lev on Sunday eve, planning the track for some 5 hours, considering many many options, marking some future tracks to do: Arif-Karkum, Karbolet Haririm - Arava, big and small craters etc. Frustrated from the various logistics aspects, we've gone to Himish for a beer, and resolved with Timna. Yeah, the commercialised, over traveled, families treks Timna. We thought we'll hunt little kids for Cola and Bamba. To compensate, the 3rd day was supposed to be an unmarked Katura fire zone. I even got the forms from the army.
We've arrived in the morning after Seder at 11:30 to Timna gate and left the vehicles there. The ride to Eilat in the morning of the first Hag is very pleasant - there are almost no cars on the road.

We've started going in the red track, about 12:15, carrying some 9 liters water per person. I didn't let Issana to take a Bisli to the trek, but missed many other ppl - Surd carried pineapple and Lichie cans, we had some 3 burners, a tent, 1.5 liters of wine, about half a liter of whisky and cognac, potatoes for boiling (!), clothes change and other luxuries. I don't even mention the marshmallows, pastas, rice and other less scandalous things. I tried to speak the truth to the hearts of the people,but they got angry an almost left me without a coffee.
The Melman ascent was pretty frustrating. It was really hot and it took a lot of time. Lev got it pretty bad, and it took too long to make him to give up the bottles he was carrying. Actually, he almost finished the rise for himself.
We had a launch with a view on the top. The view from the Timna cliffs is very beautiful - raising some 400 meters above the Timna park, which is painted with many colors of red, yellow and black.

We've continued walking the red track along the cliffs end, almost reaching Bereh Mountain observation point (the intersection with the blue jeeps road, it has some antennas on it). We started to look for a place to sleep, and shortly found one in a channel of a wadi. Doron said it's ok, as all the snakes and scorpions are too sleepy in such a cold. Interesting, what Garz would have to say about it (take look at the second post :) ). 4Apparently, near the antennas there are some fortifications 2 meters high, that could be a perfect wind shield, but IMHO, the generator noise would spoil the experience. We had some great evening, the moon was full, food makers had mercy and let me eat a hot and tasty pasta and rice, girls made some salad. Actually, it was so civilized, that a modern cellphone almost turned it into a trance party, but was brutally stopped. It was pretty chill at night - some 4 degrees, but everyone survived.

On the second day we did the Bereh accent (down). Actually, we considered to split in order to do the god's finger, but it seemed to be on the edge of going the ascent down at night. I started to feel my broken ankle, and Issana got some pains in her knee (down the Bereh accent, stigidish).

Luckily enough, we had half the weight to carry on the second day, so the guys helped out, and the girls (me included from now on) hardly carried anything. The accent isn't too hard, but yet interesting, and the view is great. After we got down, we've waited a hour or so for Andrei, Stas and Katya, that had stopped to shoot some pictures and lost their way. When we started to worry some 20 minutes after the last one got down, we called them, and they said they're on the track again. Meanwhile, we had our dinner. After the trio got down, they were too tired, said good bye and gone strait to the cars, heading to Eilat, taking Efros with them.

The rest of us took the blue track to the canyon, turned to the black one towards the mushroom, and the green to the road from there. I must say that Timna is one of the beautiful desert places I've ever been. It's just full of attractions - dunes, red rock canyons, colored stones, the amazing mushroom. If it was not such a commercialised place with tourist buses, roads, not to mention the lake and the night illumination, I would appreciate it even more. But now, I was feeling a bit that I'm going through a lunapark, so I was expecting surprises, and it kind of spoiled it a bit.

At the mushroom we split, Issana got a ride to the entrance, {Vova;Zbz;Misha;Roma} went faster on the blue trail - they wanted to do the geological track on the Timna mountain, and we had a little time. What left of us, intended to do the blue trail to Solomon columns, and get back by the road. For both of the groups, the blue track took longer than expected, So by the time I finished with the columns (once again - spectacular, but the stairs, the lights..), the first group were at the cars. Zbz talked the gate keeper to let them in, so they came in with the cars and picked us up.

After rejoining, having a restroom "shower" at the visitors center, we said good bye to Surd and Lev, that gone home that evening. [Kind of reality show, ppl leaving all the time]. An elder man attended us, introduced himself as the supervisor and said that passing through the park supposed to cost 12 NIS, but as he doesn't expect to get this money, he says Hag Sameah and goes away. I must mention that we talked to the guy on the gate before starting the trek (we wanted to leave the cars inside),and he didn't mention anything about that. Anyhow, I don't see why they deserve 200 NIS from us for using their restroom. They have plenty tourist sight viewers buses for that. We found a place to sleep nearby (just on the way to the night camp - don't see a reason for a group of 10 to stay in a parking camp, outside of the reservation area).

We had another great evening, this time with fire and guitar. On the next morning, we woke up late and did 3 hours of Katura ascent some 20 km to the north. We went it down, as we were late and it was really hot. We saw Hardon Sinai and mountain fox. It's actually a nice short track (a religious family with elders and small kids did it with us). Be sure to go and see the waterfall (unmarked).After rearranging the cars, we've said goodbye to Zbz - I left him on Katura junction, in 2 hours he was in Eilat, waiting on a beach for his ride to Sinai trek. Rest of us (9) continued to Moa restaurant near Faran, just to find that they are out of gas. So we gone to rest tent 1 km up north, that was very nice (I think we had some 2 hours dinner there), which ended our Pesah trip.
Summarizing, despite the people conglomerate we've been (I don't think anyone knew well more than half of the group), we managed very well, finishing with no serious problems, having great time (days and nights). One of the most enjoyable trips I ever had - It's not only about kilometers and heights, but about people.

http://picasaweb.google.com/doron.samish/TimnaKtoraPesach2007




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