Sunrise from Mt. Sinai

It's one of those things that one just MUST do when one is in Sinai - climb Mt Moses (aka Mt Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments) to see the sun rise. Now, I'm all in favor of a good hike but there were three things that worried me about this little excursion. First, we would have to start climbing around 2:30 am in order to be at the summit for sunrise. If you've read my journal entries about early morning flights, you know what I think about participating in activities at that time of the day - I am strongly opposed to them! \r

\r

Second, I would be making the ascent with several hundred other people. Several large buses had driven out to St. Catherine the afternoon before and filled the hotel with scores of Japanese, German, Italian, French and Russian tour groups. (St Catherine's monastery is very popular with the Russians due to it's being the site of an Orthodox monastery.) I couldn't imagine a very serene experience at the top if I had to jostle with the hoards for a good vantage point.\r

\r

Third, it's cold in the desert at night and even colder at 3000 meters up (about 9000 feet). My last experience with a cold mountain summit had nearly cost me some fingers and toes (at least, it certainly seemed that way at the time) and I was still a little reluctant to face anything like that again. Of course, there's a big difference between 9000 feet above sea level and 19,000 feet above sea level and I figured that all those tourists won't be making the hike if it were really cold at the top.\r

\r

So I set my alarm for 2:15 am (Yikes! Why even go to bed???) and hoped for a good climb. Of course, I needn't have bothered with the alarm because I kept waking up every 20 minutes, afraid that I had overslept. At 2 am, I was in the hotel lobby, dressed for Chicago in January and ready to go. After a short drive, we reached the trail head about 2:45. The tour buses had already arrived and the trail was already illuminated over halfway to the top with the flashlights of the climbers. In addition to all the tourists, there were enough camels and camel drivers to take every last one of us to the top if we chose. Even 10 feet I would be asked again if I wanted a camel and every 5 minutes I had to move to the side of the trail to allow camels to pass. For some reason, perhaps it's their size, camels have right-of-way on that trail.\r

\r

Despite these inconveniences, it is a very pleasant hike. The trail is well maintained and there are little tea shacks every 15-20 minutes along the route. And, although it was quite cold when we started, by the time I warmed up it was only a little chilly. My guide and I set a leisurely pace and reached the summit in about 5:30. \r

\r

It was packed. With tourists and with vendors. The vendors were selling tea and coffee and all sorts of souvenirs from Mt Moses, along with renting blankets to keep warm and renting cushions to make the wait more comfortable. It felt like standing on a crowded sidewalk, waiting for a parade to go by.\r

\r

By this time, the sky had lightened to a pale blue. The mountains below were glowing a faint red from the copper in the rock. It didn't seem that it would be a very spectacular sunrise since there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it's usually the clouds that make a sunrise or sunset spectacular. Nonetheless, I faced East along with the rest of the crowd (like a field of human sunflowers) and waited for the show to start.\r

\r

It didn't 'start' so much as 'explode'. With the clear, dry sky, the sun flared into being between two lower peaks. One moment it was twilight, the next moment the mountains were on fire and the sky turned a brilliant blue. I forgot about the crowds around me and the camels and the 2:15 alarm clock and just enjoyed a perfect, uncluttered sunrise. \r

\r

In about 5 minutes, the sun cleared the horizon and the crowds turned to start the descent. My guide and I stayed behind and talked about Moses and Exodus and the history of the place while the trailed cleared out. About 45 minutes after sunrise, it was a bright, warm day and we started down. By 9 o'clock, we were back at the hotel and having breakfast. I wouldn't want to do it very often but it was an incredible way to start the day.\r

\r

(Postscript: Later that day, I watched the sun set into the Red Sea from the Western coast of the Sinai peninsula. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun both rise and set on a single day.)\r

\r

\r

Photo Album: Lower Egypt (part 2)\r

\r

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=c931oof.71gmmkaf&x=0&y=368wkj