Mt Sinai

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Mt Sinai, the mountain of Moses and the ten commandments, is an optional bolt on for those adventures enough to do it. The tour for a Mt Sinai sunrise began at 10:30pm, jumping on the bus for a 2 hour bus ride to the base at St Catherine's Monastery. Thus begun a hike from 1500m to 2400m around 1:00am ish which concluded around 4:00am ish. The hike is broken up into roughly four sections, the first three very similar, medium level semi rocky incline path. The last, 700+ steps , reasonably steep, to the mountain top. Camels taxi are available for those not so willing to walk, and regular coffee stalls are also available at many points. The hike was tougher than expected, one due to the irregular time, (normally sleeping) and two, very cold, 2-3 degrees. I like many didn't have the right gear for such conditions, and froze/sweated our way up the mountain, not really knowing if we where hot, cold, tired or how far to go. After regrouping at stop 3 and then climbing the majority of the 700 steps we rested in a coffee shop with hot tea before hiring “blanket, mattress” from the local bedouins. We ascended the last rounds of steps to be greeted with various areas of concrete to make bed for the evening. We were warned that it would be cold cold and very cold, and it was freezing, all the clothes I was wearing, sleeping bad, and two Bedouin blankets where not enough to keep out the cold. Trying to ignore the cold and settling down for an hour or so sleep we were greeted by a continuum of further hawking cries of “blanket, mattress”, touch light inspections, various discussions of where to sleep in a variety of languages. As later groups arrived, who had no intention of catching any kip, setup position and begun to sing in chorus. At 5:30am, the idea of sleep was abandoned, and positions where gathered for the impending sunrise. The sunrise, hard to say, looked spectacular, but fatigue and sleep deprivation overshadowed it all. The walk down was a further 2.5 hours down, with quick consumption of a breakfast box. A tour of St Catherine's monastery, some pictures of the burning bush and onto the bus for sleep and then more sleep at the hotel. Summary, gruelling, needed the right gear to deal with the cold, and I would leave later, to arrive around 5:30am and not intend to sleep.

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Comments

[shell]

Mt Sinai
The things we do to be a tourist

[Sam]

Ah the memories are all that matters :-)

[Deborah A. Reeder]

thank you
Thank you so much for your effort. The photos are wonderful. I love the sunrise with the red finger of light pointing to this magnificent place.