Meitzad Tamar to Road 227 (Maktesh HaKatan)
Section 33 December 23, 2015
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity.” John Muir, 1923.
We were fourteen over-civilized people on this desert hike. “Fourteen?” a friend of mine asked in disbelief. She couldn’t understand how such a large group of adults could simply escape from life to hike. We are not yet retirees; we are not post-army adventurers; and we are not kids out on a school trip.
We are people who appreciate the benefits of leaving behind the noise of the man-made world, of ‘going home to the mountains’ and returning to the majesty of nature. We like to challenge ourselves physically, clear our minds and reconnect. I wonder if this would happen were we all ensconced in our North American lifestyles. Previously, most of us were tied to desk jobs sitting for hours in small cubicles, striving to meet pressing deadlines and trying to stay afloat in a competitive dog-eat-dog world. 
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Many Israelis do live like this, but our crowd of olim find themselves living a more flexible lifestyle. Some are self-employed, while others work hard overseas and then come home to Israel to energize. And as the level of stress in Israel intensifies daily, who could say no to a stroll through the peaceful, meditative desert? In these dark, violent times, the wildness of the desert does seem to become a necessity. We all met up at 4:00 am in Ra’anana and drove to the Negev in three cars. Maya, a friend from Meitar, met us at a ranch and we were driven to the starting point at the side of Highway 25. (More on the ranch later). The planning of placing cars and pick up points and getting rides becomes more complex the further we go into the desert, but Debbie, our logistics maestro had it all figured out. 
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We started hiking at Meitzad Tamar at 7:15, walking along a craggy path. Sunny yet chilly, we started off with hats and gloves, yet peeled them off as the air warmed up. We soon came to the rim of the Machtesh HaKatan (small crater). This unique geological formation is found only in the Negev and Sinai and was created by erosion some five million years ago. Seven kilometers long and four kilometers wide, it is surrounded by steep cliffs and has a small opening at the east end.
Our steep path twisted and turned past ochre and mustard colored sandstone. Like children in a sandbox, we would stop to stuff our pockets with small rocks and fill bags with this dusty desert gold. We ran into a group of Australian teenagers on an Israel trip and within minutes, Jewish geography scored a few points. Where else but Israel could you find your college roommate’s daughter’s cousin walking though a desert?
We reached the bottom and walked across a dry riverbed, making our way across the crater floor. Ahead of us loomed towering cliffs. We looked up and, like ants climbing a blade of grass, we saw people slowly moving along a ridge above. As we got closer, we saw it was a group of teens on a school trip hiking down the path.
We reached the bottom and walked across a dry riverbed, making our way across the crater floor. Ahead of us loomed towering cliffs. We looked up and, like ants climbing a blade of grass, we saw people slowly moving along a ridge above. As we got closer, we saw it was a group of teens on a school trip hiking down the path.
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They moved on and we moved up. It was a relief to leave their chatter and plunge back into the silence of the desert, to focus on our steps and on our breath. We have each developed our own way of climbing steep paths and we went to work, poles clicking, soles of boots creaking, breath heaving.
I hoisted my knees onto jutting rocks and pulled up my body, thankful for having practiced yoga over the years. As we climbed, we would stop to see our progress, watching those teens become ants crawling in a line across the crater floor. It was liberating, invigorating. 
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The views were spectacular and as we all met at the top to survey our work, we had our traditional moment of silence to appreciate the beauty of this tranquil place.
We hiked out to Road 227 where we were picked up. The day hikers returned home while the overnighters were taken Cameland, our pit stop for the night. We were grateful for the hot shower at the end of this 20-kilometre hike. We all drove to nearby Dimona for a hot and satisfying dinner. 
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Ariel, our Cameland host, put out his cigarette and leaned back in his chair regally. Wearing a thick embroidered coat lined with sheep’s wool, he looked as if he had always been a part of this landscape, yet he left city life to come to the desert.
Fast forward thirty years and he is now a specialist in camel husbandry and teaches his skills internationally. He has developed a specialized camel saddle and, together with his Bedouin staff, he offers camel tours. He has several simple rooms that he rents out and offers hikers transportation to and from the trailheads. We eagerly retired to our simple cots in our tiny rooms on this remote camel farm. After a full day out in the Negev, we felt intensely satisfied: grateful for life’s simple pleasures, thankful for the strength in our own legs and in our ability to reconnect to a place that takes us home to ‘inner peace.’ Link to Map Details in Wikiloc
Previous Day - Section 32 Arad Next Day - Section 33/34 Maktesh Hakatan to Oron |
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