A Waste of Time in the Desert

One of the main reasons why we haven't blogged so much in the last month is that we've been busy going on trips that were largely organized by Lynn. Perhaps the most intense trip we took was one that Lynn found through the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). It featured rappelling down dry waterfalls. Rappelling is a technique of lowering yourself down the side of cliffs and other rock surfaces using ropes. It's known in Israel as "snapelling," and we had never done it before, even though we come from canyon country in the American Southwest.

When we got the directions for the trip from SPNI, in Hebrew of course, Lynn ran them through Google Translator. Although this translation engine has been extremely useful for us, it does come up with some doozies. In this case, the title of the directions popped up as "A Waste of Time in the Desert." It turns out Israelis use the idiom "khaval al hazman" to refer to any extreme situation, good or bad. Literally, it translates into English as "a waste of time." The trip turned out to be anything but.

After meeting up with our trip leader at a gas station in Dimona, driving for a few hours into the desert, and going for a guided nature hike, we came to the edge of a dry river canyon where guides were set up to teach us to rappel. Since the group instructions were in Hebrew, we decided to hang back a bit and watch the others, just in case something was lost in translation. Here's Rebekah getting roped up for her first rappelling lesson.

Here she is lowering herself down onto the canyon wall. Note how she's pushing out more rope which will give her the play to lower herself down further.

Here's another shot of Rebekah lowering herself down. Lynn recalls that the guides told us the cliffs were 10 to 15 meters high.

Here she is kicking off the flat section of the rock.

She survives, with just a few scrapes to show off.

Next, it's Lynn's turn. Here she is getting roped up and then lowering herself down.




After Lynn makes it to the dry river below, it's Miriam's turn. She's all smiles, especially when she reaches the bottom.


Even I take a few turns.


Here you can see Rebekah getting ready for another run. Miriam watches. By the way, the guides did a fabulous job. It turned out that they spoke English and were eager to offer us individual instruction.


Here's Miriam lowering herself down again on a flat rock face.


All of us survive our first rappelling experience. Here we are, dirt marks on our hands, to prove we actually did it.


That night we camp out with our 70 trip-mates in the desert.


The next morning we head off into the ravine of the Nahal Rahaf.



Here are Miriam and Rebekah getting roped up for a climb down a steep rock wall that featured lots of good hand and foot holds.

Next, we rappel down our first dry waterfall of the day.

Here's a shot of Lynn going down the next dry waterfall.

Here's a shot of a guide taking his dog down the same dry waterfall.

We then zipline across a ravine to the head of a huge dry waterfall. In this picture Miriam is ziplining with Rebekah watching.

Next, Lynn and Rebekah get roped up for our last rappel of the day.

A few minutes later Miriam gets roped in.

The last drop is huge. I seem to recall the guides telling us it was 40 meters. Once I'm down I turn around and snap this picture.

What an adventure. We hike back to the car and drive home, grateful for the opportunity to see a dramatic canyon and learn a new sport.