Soft Sand and Breaking Backs

So now we get to the real adventures, or should I say misadventures once more. We got a relatively early start cause we didn't want to be hiking with heavy packs through open desert in the heat of the day. With our packs full of water (about 12 liters per person to last us the two days) and not much else, we set out for the first few kilometers (klicks, k's, whatever you want to call them) to Lawrence's house (see, I told you everything would be named after T.E. Lawrence). But of course the house was not where the number was on our very vague map. We went about .75 km too far and had to go back in order to see it and let me tell ya, it was not worth the 1.5 km detour. It was nice to see, but nothing all that special especially when we had a long day still ahead of us hiking through super soft sand.

After the detour to Lawrence's house was over, we headed onwards to the first of two inscriptions we would see on the trip. Painted and carved into the stone were images of camel caravans from (if I'm remembering correctly) when the Nabateans lived in the region. The carvings were pretty cool, but the best part about the inscriptions was the fact that there was a little cave in the wall that provided some nice shade to take a little break, eat some food, and rest before what would be the worst part of the hike going over sand dunes. Now if you've never walked in/around/up sand dunes, it is one of the most difficult things ever. Especially when it's upwards of 90 degrees outside, and you have a 30 pound pack on your back that you've been carrying for the last 8 km.

But I survived the sand dunes, and after taking a few little breaks in the very sparse shade we were able to find on the way, we finally made it to Burrah Canyon. We stopped pretty close to the entrance of the 5km long canyon in what was was probably a spring sometime in the past before the water dried up. We had a great lunch thanks to Chef Kristof, and each took a little nap before we were to hike through the rest of the canyon and find a place to camp on the other side. Of course, things couldn't work out that way as we were all awoken from our naps by thunder and Adam saying that a rainstorm was two canyons over and we needed to pack up and find shelter, STAT. Uh oh. We found a little cave that we thought might work out, til we realized that the wind was blowing directly into the cave and we would only be partially sheltered. But there was no time to find another spot before the rain hit so we just covered our packs the best we could and hoped that the rain wouldn't be too bad. The rain storm was quite long though, lasting at least 2 hours with some serious thunder and lightning. Once we realized that the rain was going to be happening for a long time we embraced it, running around in the rain, marveling at the formation of waterfalls on the rocks all around us. Clearly the storm was something as we kept seeing cars presumably full of excited Bedouins, all driving to the canyon to watch the storm.

Luckily one of those Bedouin families saw us trying to find a better shelter where we would be able to stay dry that night, and took pity on us. They told us about a nice, roomy, dry, flat cave that would be just perfect for us that night. And in true Bedouin fashion, they built a fire, brewed us some tea, and left us the extra dry wood they had found so we could have our own fire later after they left. It ended up being a pretty awesome night in the cave, just chilling with the fire and cuddling up in sweatshirts and warm sleeping bags to fight the continuing rain. Luckily we stayed dry and were able to be up and at 'em the next morning with dry things, ready to take on the next day.