We left Dahab at 11pm and drove for a couple of hours. It took some extra time, as there were several military checks we had to get through. We started the hike at 1am in the morning to reach the peak in good time before sunrise. It was pitch dark, so we did not really see any of the surroundings until we were hiking back down again!
Mt. Sinai is 2285 meters high, but the climb is not difficult. You can rent a camel if you are too lazy to walk, and this will take you to the last stop before the final steps to the peak.
We started not far from the St. Catherine's monastry at around 1500 meter, and walked slowly towards the peak with several stops on our way. We reach the last stop before the peak a couple of hours before sunrise, so we went into one of the stone huts there to wait. It was quite cold, around 3-4 degrees, and a lot of people were not properly dressed for these temperatures. I had brought my sleepingbag (oh what a surprise!!) and was comfortably sleeping on one of the benches. Afterwards, a fellow hiker told me that everyone had been shivering with cold while they were listening to me snoring away in my bag (*embarrassed*).
The sunrise and hike back down in the warming sun was BEAUTIFUL!!
Afterwards, we did a bit of sightseeing at St. Catherine, which is where the burning bush from the Bible is supposed to be located. However, this is closed off for the public to see (along with a lot of other parts of the area).
No comments:
Post a Comment