Masada and the Dead Sea by Riley G.

After waking up from the Middle of the Negev Desert at 5;00am, we quickly departed for Masada, a large mountain. The hike up started on the western side, just as the sun was rising, and we begin our ascent up the side of the hill. Herod, a King during the first century, built one of his many palaces there. The reason for the numerous palaces was to keep invasions away from him. He would constantly move from one location to another. At the top of his fortress, he had many houses and lookout points. One of his main offices where visitors would stay and meet overlooked the great dead sea. Because of the motion of the tectonic plates, the water flow had stopped. With the immense amount of heat and dessert conditions, the sea started to dry up. The tops of these plateaus looked like the bottom of a river.

After eating breakfast, we desended down the mountian, not an easy task. We went down the east side which was accuratly nammed the snake trail. Many time the railing would be gone and the drop to the bottom of Masada was in front of me. By the time we were at the bottom of Masada, the temperature must have been 100 degrees only at 9:30am. It is a dry desert land where there is no way to stop the heat.

Masada was only the first of many stops along the way. We drove up a ways, after looking at it from a distance, to the Dead Sea. The resession line is very clear as to where the water used to be and where the water is today. A large gap shows the loss of water of many years. One of the countries few industries is collecting the water from the dead sea and manufacturing cleaning and body rejuvination products. This only adds to the water loss the sea is experiencing. The bus drove us to a public watering hole where we swam in the dead sea. Swimming in a sea of sodium and other minerals is a challenging task, your feet fall out from under you. You cannot swim in the dead sea, rather you float! the water burned all of my skin which was open (like a cut), burnt or scratched recently. It also rejuvinates skin and speeds the healing time of sores and pimples.

At the bottom of the area, there is black mud. This mud has many more minerals which when rubbed and smeared over skin will help make it smooth and soft. Just placing my body in the water, my skin felt smooth and silk like. It was amazing.

After the swimming adventure, we left to Qumran the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls for many years. We learned about the people who lived there and toured their ruines from over 2000 years ago. We then left for home. Along the way, a brush fire brok out just outside the city of Jerusalem on our long trek home. It was interesting to see, although scary that there was a fire so close to where we are staying. We are still safe.