Neot Smadar to Paran Night Camp on Israel National Trail: Day 6

Cold and windy weather for a somewhat monotonous walk today, many people skip this section.

Most of the hike was on a track parallel to a tarmac road and a line of electricity pylons. It seemed to be associated with a pipeline beneath, rubble was banked up on either side of a wide thoroughfare and there were various valves and pipes coming out of the ground. Frequent signs in Hebrew seemed to be repeating the same message. However, it was flat or gently undulating so I made good time.

I looked out for things of interest. There was a military base with tanks placed beside the entrance road. A rusting storage tank had "Veni, Vidi, Vici", I came, I saw, I conquered, painted on the side of it which did not seem the right motto for a defence force. A mound of trees on the right was Shitim Khan, a desert retreat, being the Sabbath I did not think they would have welcomed me if I tried to buy some lunch there. I also found a fossil, a bullet and a sheet of paper with concentric circles on it used for target practice. All the land each side of the trail is used by the defense force. Among the stones and dust there was some patches of vegetation, scrubby bushes and a variety of flowers, yellow, red and purple. One bush had purple flows, no leaves just a lattice of stems and thorns gray-green but tinged with purple. 

The long straight track, note the waymark painted below the sign

Thorny desert flower

The weather had turned cold and windy, overcast with black clouds. Flash floods concerned me but the Israeli Meteorological Service issued no flood warnings. Despite the threatening skies, no rain was forecast and no more than a few drops fell. On occasions vivid blue sky was visible in a gap in the clouds. My fleece stayed on all day.

As I approached and crossed Road 40 the landscape became more hilly with some varied rock types, faults and a small cave. From Road 40 the trail went up Nahal Zihor, a valley wide at first before narrowing to a pretty, if not dramatic, canyon, which ended in Paran Night Camp where I pitched my tent. This was the first time I have arranged for water to be cached for me. A WhatsApp message with a video was sent to me which filmed the way from the campsite sign to the chest of water bottles. However as the day was so cool I have a surfeit of water and only took one of the three bottles I ordered from the cache.

Being somewhat remote I had to climb to a nearby summit to phone my wife and check the latest weather forecast (no flood warnings but windy).

A long day at 35.4 kilometres, but pretty flat.