Day 4: Nahal Raham to Timna

Day 4: Nahal Raham to Timna

Day 4, March 3: Longer but still short but talk breaks take lots of time. Bathroom crisis barely averted at end. Ascent to top of cliff covered in stone shards, then harrowing, LONG descent down Grand-Canyon-like cliffs into Timna Valley. Camp: Timna

The descent into Timna was a highlight. The park comprises a semicircular ring of looming, epic cliffs surrounding a rugged valley on three sides. The path slices down a nerve-rattling diagonal trajectory. The sunlight on the cliff face as it went down made me realize why people rhapsodize about the desert, changing the colors of the rocks as the angle of the light changed. Down in the valley, the ground was flat, with rock formations sticking up and tiny little paths winding around - occasionally you could see a speck-sized car moving along.

Moving on from Nahal Raham, we made our way to the plateau above Timna valley, where Solomon

had copper mines

Crossing the plateau, we came into sight of the valley of Timna, beyond it the Arava Valley, and

then, off in the haze, the mountains of Jordan

A slightly clearer look at the Jordanian mountains (biblical Edom)

...and this, a few miles away