After driving forty minutes from Yeruham, we came to the Ramon Crater, the largest crater in Israel. (See previous posts for views of the large and small craters near Yeruham.) Here is the view from the edge of the crater. The cliffs in the distance are the other side of the crater.
Our next stop was an hour and a half later at the Red Canyon. Here is a photo of a red mountain behind a brown hill rising out of the white desert sand.
Here are three intrepid travellers at the outset of our hike into the Red Canyon.
The three intrepid travellers are followed here by a fourth traveller schlepping water and snacks. The trail here was in a wadi which runs with water when it rains.
At this point, the trail decended into the ground into a channel carved out of the rock by water.
The trail decended lower and lower beneath the desert floor.
We decended using foot/hand holds in the rock.
As we decended, the walls of the canyon became deeper and narrower.
After reaching the bottom, the trail ascended and led back along the edge of the canyon.
This is a view looking back as we ascended out of the canyon.
And here is the return path at a point where the trail follows a ledge along the canyon wall. You can see Rachel, Medad, and Margalit huddled on the path some distance away. There are metal rails driven into the rock leading from the three of them to where the photo is taken from, where Asher and I were sitting.
Having survided the Red Canyon, we drove further south. Here is a photo of the view descending from the mountains into Eilat, which is on the Gulf of Aqaba.
The next day we went to the Eilat Aquarium, part of which is under the sea in this offshore building.
Here's the view from under water.
On day three, we climbed Mount Zefahot, pictured here in the background. This photo was taken from the trailhead just across from the beach in Eilat.
The trail climbed rapidly, and followed along a series of ridges.
After a while, the climb entailed scrambling up rocks.
As you can see, the landscape was quite barren. Quite a contrast with Eilat below.
Here is a determined little climber.
This was a view three-quarters of the way up to the summit.
And here's the final ascent.
Here we are at the summit.
This is the view southeast from the summit toward Eilat in the distance and Jordan beyond.
This is the view north into the Negev.
This is the view west into Egypt.
And this was the trail down the other side which wound around back to Eilat.
On day four, we visited Timna, the site of ancient copper mines developed by the ancient Egyptians and Midianites.
Among the spectacles of Timna is this natural rock formation known as the "mushroom."
Another attraction at Timna was a full-scale replica of the Tabernacle described in the Book of Exodus, a mobile temple that the Children of Israel carried with them during their forty years of wandering in the desert. Here you can see the curtain surrounding the courtyard around the Tabernacle.
Here's the Tabernacle itself, with the laver in the foreground.
Here's the large altar for animal sacrifices.
Inside the Tabernacle, in the first chamber were several ritual objects. Here is the lamp (menorah) with a priest and the high priest in the background.
Here is the table upon which bread was placed.
Here is the small altar for incense sacrifices.
Here is the high priest.
Here is the Ark of the Covenant housed in the inner chamber of the Tabenacle, on top of which are two angels,
and inside of which were kept the two tablets of the law, a container of manna, and the Aaron's staff.
On our last day, as we returned home, we stopped in the Hai Bar nature reserve and saw many animals native to the Negev, including these two.
