Israel: Dead Sea/ En Gedi

Friends and Family!

About 1 week ago we did a camp-out on the shore of the Dead Sea. This is coming late because since the time we got back from the camp-out until now i, or anyone else, has not had much time to do things like blogs. We got back and took a test and then the next morning went on a 4 day field trip to the Negev. That is the land in the south which is mostly desert, but read the next blog to know more about that one.

The trip was just one night, but the 2nd day of the camp-out was a hike. En Gedi is a little south of halfway down the coast of the Dead Sea on the Israeli side, obviously. It is a little establishment that survives because of a fresh water spring that come out of the mountains right in that area. This spring has always been there and has always supported a community in that area. This also is the start of a route into the hill country from the south-eastern side. En Gedi has two major Nahals (deep cutting canyons) that empty into the Dead Sea. They are Called the Nahal Arugot and the Nahal David. In between these two canyons is the trail/path that goes up the Hill Country and eventually Jerusalem. This is called the Ascent of Ziz. This Ascent is mentioned in the bible in 2 Chronicles 20 when King Jehoshaphat learns that the Edomites are attacking and coming up though En Gedi/ the Ascent of Ziz. He knows that they are stronger than he but calls upon the Lord and God has him go down the Ascent with a choir singing. They did not fight at all but rather the Edomites fled leaving all their belonging, so the men of Israel took all the stuff that they left to Jerusalem. All they had to do was trust God and go pick up their free supplies singing all the way.

The first night we were at En Gedi we got the chance to swim in the Dead Sea. The word "swim" does not describe what we did. We did more floating than swimming because if you would swim the salt would get in your eyes and on your face and sting. The Dead Sea is 30% salt whereas the ocean is about 6% salt. As we all know, because of the salt you float. It was amazing to go into it and find yourself floating without even trying. It reminded me of when i was a kid and took swim lessons and they tried to get you to float on your back. I could never do it no matter how hard i tried. Even when i was the lifeguard instructing kids to float on their back, i could not do it myself. But in the Dead sea it was no problem. It was really a weird feeling just sitting back and lounging in water. The Dead Sea, without the irritation of the salt, could possibly be the ultimate lazy-boy. We also put some of the mud all over ourselves. At first it seemed odd but when we washed it off we all understood why people pay so much for this stuff. It mad your skin very soft. I was impressed.

That night we got a campfire going and enjoyed some singing under the stars before we climbed into bed. We woke up the a sunrise over the Dead Sea. It was a beautiful was to wake up. I grabbed my camera a snapped a couple of pictures, before rolling back over. The air was very clear and watching the sun peak over the steep cutting Jordanian mountains and reflecting orange across the quite Dead Sea was one of those things which makes you praise God. To say that this scene took hundreds of billions of trillion years to perfect and get this way (that is without even discussing the odd of it happening this way) is absurd. God created it in a matter of words and it has been that way since the beginning. The people in the biblical times saw the same thing we did that morning.

As we got up we got ready for our hike. This hike was a tough one because we were to go up the side of the Nahal Arugot and get on top of the plateau before coming down the Nahal David. This was quite the hike. It was a very steep climb up, but as we guessed, another great view from the top. We could see the whole Dead Sea and even in Jordan. We then hiked down the Nahal David and stopped at a few water falls. After that we made our way back to the bus and went back to the Moshav.

That is Nahal Arugot in the distance

A view of the Dead Sea on the shore

Some mud on the faces of Jon and Nathan

Christina and Sammy Jo floating in the Dead sea. No effort needed. hence the thumbs up and smiling faces

A view looking south

Sunset on the Nahal Arugot

Dead Sea

I like waking up to the smell of coffee, but i would take this over coffee anyday.

that is the end of my sleeping bag as a woke up for a picture

Christina watching the sunrise

Us sitting at the sunrise

To the left is the Nahal Arugot and to the Right is the Nahal David. We went up the Nahal arugot and down into the Nahal David. The settlement there Is En Gedi. That is the platform and we were on and that some of the following pictures were taken from.