Ein Gedi

Like I explained in the previous post, Ein Gedi is in the middle of nowhere.  It is surrounded by the dead sea, sink holes, and massive mountains.  That is exactly where Brook, David, Eric, and I wanted to spend a day and a half.  We woke up bright and early at 7am, ate, and was ready for our adventure ahead at 8am.  Our plan was to go on a two hour hike then swim in the dead sea for a bit then go home.  It took us a while though to find the start of the hike, and we ended up walking about 45 minutes around Ein gedi looking for the trail head.  It was already like 85 degrees at 9am, but we ended up finding the hike. 

It was a very rewarding four hour hike.  We found hidden waterfalls, an oasis, and springs.  These were very neat sites considering that we were in the middle of the desert in about 100 degree weather and there was actual fresh spring water and trees growing in the creeks.  The first picture is one of the springs, and the other is the three friends I went with. 

Then we went into the dead sea, and I had a much more enjoyable experience this year than last year.  It was a blast, and we were able to make it back by 10pm giving us enough time to go out in Tel Aviv.