Wadi Fayed

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What a trip! Definitely a memorable hike!

It started for me when Shai (Shai Bytner, a great tour guide) messaged me: “Hi Ben, would you like to join a group as rappelling guide to Wadi Fayed?”

Well, duh! Of course I would! Despite the short notice, and despite the fact that I just got back from a hike to the Golan the evening before (see my blog: https://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/North-District/Golan/blog-949438.html).

So I got home from the Golan, unpacked, repacked and Amichai (Amichai Spector http://www.spectours.co.il) brought all the group’s rappelling and cooking equipment directly to my car.

Early the next morning Avi joined me and we started on our way towards Eilat. On the way we picked up Shai and then drove down to the Rabin border crossing, just outside of Eilat. We met the rest of the group there and divided up all the equipment between the group members.

Passports were checked and stamped, backpacks were x-rayed, and we met the Jordanian guide and bus and were on our way.

The bus took us through Akkaba before climbing up into the mountains of Edom. Eventually we arrived at the town of Wadi Mousa, which is near the ancient Nabatean capital Petra. We bought food for the next three days; pita bread, vegetables, tahina, cheese, lentils, rice, salt. These too were divided amongst us.

The bus continued and took us to the start of our trail in the abandoned village of Samach. We got off the bus, collected our gear and were soon on our way. The path started out easy, down a dirt road. After a short while we stopped under some olive trees, where Shai told us the first chapter of the story of Jordan, how the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan came to be.

We continued down a steep slope with no trail. That’s where the Sandal Incident happened.

Anatoli’s sandal tore, and he and Peter tried to glue it back together (good thing Peter had a kit with glue and some other stuff!) The glue barely held the sandal together to the next stop, where we happened to meet a young Jordanian fellow, and while Shai and Yael practiced their Arabic with him, Peter and Anatoli tried zip-ties on the sandal. Betting took place on how long the zip ties would hold, most wagers were between 20 minutes to an hour. The zip ties surprised everyone when they held the sandal together to the end of the trail! 3 days!

During their conversation, Shai let on to the Jordanian guy that we were from Israel, but he did it slowly, in increments, and only told him where we were from after a rapport was formed. So when he asked where we came from the first time, Shai said “From up there”. The next time it was “From Samach”, then “From Akkaba”, and finally he admitted we were from Israel.

After departing our new friend, we continued down the slope, through marine bedrock (limestone, dolomite). Along the way Shai pointed out some travertine (rock made of sediment from a waterfall) and some of the local plants that can’t be found in Israel. Eventually we entered Wadi Samach and the scenery changed from white and tan marine bedrock to red sandstone. Not long after that Wadi Samach met Wadi Fayed. We stopped for a rest at the meeting point of the two ravines, and some of the group climbed up to the holes and caverns in the sandstone.

A little further on, Wadi Fayed channeled us into a narrow crevasse, reminiscent of Wadi Hudeira that flows into the Dead Sea. A fan-toed gecko sat waiting for us on a rock there, posing for pictures. I even managed to catch it, and we had a close look at the gecko’s unique eyes before I let it go.

Some time further downstream we came upon a huge tangle of brush, oleander and reeds that was flattened by a past flood. We couldn’t get through the tangle so we backed up a little and climbed around it on the right bank of the wadi. Shai went ahead to find a good path while we unloaded our packs and had a rest. He soon came back to lead us to our camping spot. He found a great spot, flat, plenty of room for all of us, and easy access to the fresh water flowing in the stream below. There was even enough wood for a fire. Perfect.

We unloaded and unpacked and prepared for the night. Shai made some wonderful lentil soup, we had tea, some snacks and a much needed rest, and then we saw a couple of flashlights coming our way from downstream. It turned out to be two Jordanian guides that were accompanying another group, a little ahead of us. Of course we offered them some tea. They spoke with Shai for a while, quite annoying, trying to sell their services for his next hike to Jordan. So he took their number just to get them to leave, and lost it the moment we got back to Israel.

Soon after that we were all asleep. Thus ended our first day in Wadi Fayed.

We woke up early the next morning. Had tea, coffee, and prepared for a day of rappelling. I gave the group a short instruction of how to rappel and safety instructions and we set off. We soon met the other group. Four young folks, equipped as if they were in a photo shoot for a mountaineering magazine (the latest, brand new equipment). At least three of the four were rappelling instructors, so we figured they would speed ahead and we wouldn’t see them again.

So while we waited for them to set off, Shai gave us the next chapter in the Kingdom of Jordan soap opera.

We headed out soon after. First we climbed up the right bank to bypass the first, small waterfall (plenty of chances to rappel later). We were soon back in the valley, and the landscape changed again. This time from red sandstone to reddish-black magmatic rock; granite, I believe. The stream cuts through the rock, leaving cracks and crevices and lots of waterfalls. We climbed down one of these crevices to return to the valley, and to our left we saw the waterfall we had just bypassed. It was beautiful! A narrow stream of cold, fresh spring water falling into a clear pool. We took off our packs and went to have a look and enjoy the serene beauty of the place.

We continued on our way and soon arrived at the next waterfall, our first rappelling point. But the other group was still there! They work slowly. Really really slowly! We had to wait for them to finish at almost every waterfall that day!

We rappelled down the first waterfall, about a 20 meter drop and immediately after it a smaller one. In this part of the gulch the waterfalls are close together and we hopped from one to the next, with very short distances between them. 20 meters, 15, 30…

We stopped for a rest at the bottom of two adjacent falls with a pool between them. I lowered the group down the first and Shai lowered them down the second. That way the members of our group didn’t have long to wait in the cold water between the two. When I got to the bottom, soaking wet, I got a pleasant surprise. Haggai built a fire and tea was almost boiling. While we warmed ourselves near the fire Avi made Tahina, and soon there were bread rolls, pita, and vegetables, and we declared it officially brunch.

I helped Shai lower his pack and pull the ropes down and he joined the meal. We spent about an hour there, eating, warming up, and listening to the next chapter of the Jordanian story.

The rest of the day we continued downstream (not that there was a choice in the narrow crevasse that was Wadi Fayed), walking, sometimes crossing pools, rappelling down waterfalls, sometimes with the water flowing over our feet on the descent. Sometimes the descents ended on dry land and sometimes in deep pools. We had to swim quite a bit with heavy packs on our backs, climbing out of the pools over wet, slippery rock with backpacks full of water, much heavier than they were when we entered the pools.

Some time later that afternoon we were delayed, again, by the group of youngsters. Their Jordanian guide told us that this was the tall waterfall, 60 meters. So when the youngsters finally got to the bottom I connected both of our long ropes and built an anchor. The rappel starts off a bit difficultly, down a very narrow crack in the rock with water flowing over our shoes, but it soon opens up and gets easier. It was quite a tall rappel, but not 60 meters! More like 35.

Soon after that we got to a 30 meter fall and again had to wait for the youngsters to finish their descent. This time we descended down the left side of the fall, and, an added bonus, landed on dry land! The fall itself flowed into a beautiful pool, and some of the group members swam and jumped in it.

One more small descent and at about 4 PM we arrived at a flat spot between our last fall and the next that was suitable for a camp. Next to this spot were the next drops; two small falls (about 10 and 4 meters) ending in a long, curved pool that we would have to swim around, and past that was the big, 60 meter waterfall. Our original plan was to descend the big fall that day and camp below it, but, surprise surprise, we had to wait for the youngster’s group to finish first. So to avoid rappelling in the dark we stopped to camp where we were.

So we collected firewood (past floods had left plenty of it there for us), built a fire and had a much needed rest. As it got dark Shai made his traditional lentil soup. There was also rice, vegetable salad and later hot tea, good conversation and good company before we all drifted off to sleep.

The next day was our last day on this hiking trip. We didn’t have many more falls to rappel. Just the two short ones, the 60 meter, and another 40 meter fall with an extra, short drop at its end. We packed up our gear and I set up an anchor for the short, 10 meter fall. Shai went down first and with some help from a few of the other members of the group went ahead to build an anchor for the tall fall.

I descended the short fall and lowered the remaining group members down the short, 4 meter drop. I lowered my pack and the rope to them and they swam with it all around the curved pool. Then I jumped down the short drop into the pool. Not the safest thing to do, especially since you need to land in precisely the right spot in the water because there’s a rock submerged next to it, but I landed safely in deep water.

The tall waterfall is not only tall, it is beautiful! A narrow stream of water flowing down the middle of a green band of algae into a deep, clear pool, surrounded by the red-black rock cliff face. All this surrounded by huge red-black cliffs forcing themselves out of the earth, as if trying to escape the depths of the earth and reach heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised if J.R.R Tolkien got his inspiration for The Lord of the Rings here.

And at the bottom of the fall was a good camping spot, with lots of firewood. Haggai was one of the first ones down, and again built a fire for the rest of us. Our ropes got stuck when we tried to pull them down, probably slipped into a crack, but we did eventually manage to tug them down.

The anchor point for the next fall is inconvenient, you have to climb down a steep step right on the edge of the cliff. I built an anchor and secured each of the group members before they climbed down the step to the anchor.

Shai went down first to set up ropes for the last little drop, and Haggai stayed with me and helped me pull up the backup rope after each group member descended. It’s always good to have young, strong people in the group! Very helpful!

Finally it was my turn (as rappelling instructor I’m always the last to descend). I got to the bottom of the 40 meter drop and continued on my rope down the last 15 meter drop. Shai pulled the ropes down and Haggai and I folded them up for the last time.

We clambered through a difficult pass, a narrow crevasse squeezing between some rocks with a short fall into a pool, and soon after that stopped for a final rest and breakfast (both because we needed to eat and we wanted to get rid of the extra food). So there was lots of tahina, cheese, vegetables, and pita.

One final clean-up and we were on our way to the exit of the ravine. Not an easy trail, especially after two intensive days of hiking, rappelling, swimming, but a beautiful one. We clambered over, under and around boulders and tree branches, from side to side of the ravine, through tangles of vegetation, sometimes walking in water. Along the way we met one of the drivers sent to collect us. They started getting worried when we finished the trail later than planned, so he came upstream to search for us.

Shortly after that we met our Jordanian guide, who met us at the border crossing so long ago, at the beginning of the trip.

We continued climbing and clambering and eventually the stream opened up and it was easier to walk. We met a herd of goats there, but they paid us little heed. I guess they were used to strange people coming out of the mountains.

We finally met up with the vehicles that would take us out of the hills to the bus. After a bumpy half-hour drive we met the bus under a tree by the road. Another hour-and-a-half in the bus (I slept most of the way), and a short stop in Akkaba for ice cream and we made it back to the border crossing.

Passport control, back-packs were x-rayed and we were back in Israel. Shai concluded the trip and I collected all the rappelling and cooking gear to my car, and we all went home.



Thank God tomorrow is a vacation!

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