Petra and Hiking in a Desert

Today was an early morning rise. We wanted to beat the heat and the crowds through Petra, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Our hotel sat right at the entrance and was beautifully decorated in a pure middle eastern style. We got out early but no tour guides were around so we spent some time at one of the vendor stalls and purchased some trinkets for outrageous prices while we waited. But the tour guide that showed up was worth it. He walked us through Petra pointing out ancient carvings, damns, water ways, tombs, unique items, and the coloration differences in the stones due to various minerals (black = magnesium, red = iron, yellow = sulfa, grey = silica, purple = phosphorus, etc). The vibrante colors flowed carefree through the entire landscape, ribbons crossed in every direction. A very interesting feature were the cave ceilings as they looked like colorful mosaics. The morning temperature was perfect, 80°F, breezy and shaded as we hiked through the narrow canyons. Our guide pointed out the millennia of water, sand, and earthquakes that naturally carved out the aisles of Petra. The stark difference in light from the night before provided us an entirely new experience. We traversed gaps as narrow as 3’ and as wide as 20’. Throughout the entire expedition there were carvings, aqueducts, and tombs. But when we reached the most iconic sight, the treasury of Petra, it was perfect. Aside from a few local vendors and camels we had the place to ourselves. The sun had just started to hit the treasury from above and the temperatures slowly started to rise when we arrived. We pondered the massive structure awhile and shot some amazing photos before others started to arrive. Our guide took us further into Petra, which I have to admit I didn’t know existed but Petra is actually 102 square miles, with significantly larger structures than the iconic treasury. As we slowly left the narrow canyons we came out into open areas where the Nabataeans carved their tombs, shrines, and temples directly in to the colorful mountain sides. There were too many to count! Some as small as a breadbox cave to some that were 100s of feet high! By this time we were no longer under the cover of the canyons and the sweltering sun began its siege. The temperature climbed to 99°F and each sweat soaked step was felt. Our guide pointed out several ‘fun’ hiking routes and short cuts. But laugh med openly at us while exclaiming, “Jordan in July!? You’re crazy people!”  Sadly after 2 hours our tour had concluded. He made several recommendations for continuing which we followed. Our first hike was a 1.5 hour hike to the ‘monastery’. It was midday and there was nowhere to hide from the blazing sun. We hiked slow and steady taking frequent water breaks as our clothes and brows were drenched. It felt like hiking through and easy bake oven. Step by step we climbed over sand cover stones and boulders, through narrow canyons, and up redden hillsides until we reached the furthest point for tourists, the monastery. It did not disappoint. This was a mammoth sized temple carved straight from the mountain (look closely at the picture to see Emily standing near a column for scale).  High fiving with sweaty palms we turned around and marched back. Along our long trek back under the midday scorcher we hiked up to and in the royal tombs. Again, massive open rooms with mosaics of red, yellow, black, blue, and grey stone ceilings and walls. The bedouins had made living spaces of many of these tombs and caves. Some were covered wall to wall in carpets and pillows and some had signs of decades of heating fires etc.  Up and down we hiked in the sizzling weather, passing incredible sites after sites. Finally we returned to the treasury and we had a special ‘unlawful’ spot we wanted to hike to for good pictures. The locals were ruthless in their fees for passage but we haggled with the best of them and had an 8 year old take us up the steep goat trail to get a great shot above the treasury. With that complete, we caved and rode horses back to the hotel to save our legs. All together we hiked 9 miles in the sizzling desert!! Once back, we relaxed poolside for a few hours before driving further into the desert to Wadi Rum. 

Wadi Rum was jaw dropping. We were dropped off at this sketchy concrete shack and told to hop in the back of some trucks to be driven to the “luxury camp”…. So there we were, bumping along a true sandy desert in the back of a truck near the border of Saudi Arabia… the views were reminiscent of Joshua tree, and Zion put together. We rolled up on this quaint little camp with dome dwellings and the spectacular-ness started to sink in. No lights, open desert, domed rooms… no words…

Our room was crazy! The domes were covered when we arrived as to not cook the guests, but they moved the covers soon after we arrived! We signed up for hot air ballooning tomorrow morning at sunrise, and camel riding.. we explored the luxury camp and found a hookah bar the has been built out of the red mountain and I sat under a portion of a massive boulder in the most middle eastern styled room I’ve ever been in and smoked apple hookah. In front of us lay massive redrock mountains as the sun started to set. We then had a crazy hair and hiked up (yes, again with jelly legs) to a sunset lookout and it was spectacular. Reminded me of the epic vista in the southwest United States. 

We finished the night with some stargazing. We walked out into the middle of the desert and laid on the soft sand and stared up at the dusting of stars. It was the perfect night cap!