My faithful electronic assistant got sick, threw a fit, and suffered from sclerosis, which is why this post got lost. Now it will be restored from the annals of my slimy and confused biological memory, which turned out to be more reliable anyway than the magnetic memory of my PC.
Thanks to Mike and his friends, I already had a plan, a route, and valuable pointers. As for the resolve to ride the long version, I acquired that all by myself.
Makhtesh Ramon — that is, the Ramon erosion crater — was formed when water washed away soft rocks. It washed away so much that the crater became the largest of its kind in the world — 9 by 40 kilometers, and half a kilo(meter) deep. While googling, it quickly caught my attention with its sheer scale, and became to some extent the goal of my trip. As I have repeated more than once, we assign goals and tasks in life to ourselves; there's no super-meaning in them, but having them is pleasant, understandable, and convenient for our buggy brains, which cannot live without constant dopamine injections. Or, for those who like simpler expressions: "IT'S MORE FUN THIS WAY!".
Two thousand years ago, camels scurried through the crater in a line, carrying incense, so it makes sense that they discovered the ruins of a motel under the sign of Khan Saharonim, where Khan means caravanserai in Arabic. Afterward, the crater wasn't famous for anything special, and they mined sand and clay here. Then in the nineties, riding the eco-boom wave, people figured out that a nature reserve would be much more relevant here, especially since hiking and cycling tourism in the country were on the rise.
Of course, the crater has unique flora and fauna, ecology and geology, blah blah blah.
I hit the route, which is part of the National Bike Trail, which will eventually go through the whole country. Only two sections are open so far, but the prospects are encouraging. In the crater, the route is laid out quite cleverly — it's downhill almost the entire time, no need to strain yourself.
In honor of the best friend of children and athletes the Israeli military, some sponsor from Australia, they set up a little rock
The birds were mincing their little legs funnily, but I didn't manage to shoot a video
The blue sign of the National Bike Trail — a biker in a circle. A circle with an arrow pointing where to go next
They advise taking a minimum of 5 liters of water a day, and for good reason — even on a winter day, I chugged almost that much
Ducks and cairns mutate in different countries, taking on the most bizarre forms
A curve of the gray road leading to the resort paradise of Eilat
Why there are bricks inside is a mystery
The Mitzpe I left behind, that is, the observation point
Curious
The foggy haze doesn't let you enjoy the scale
The path, aka singletrack, is easy to ride, tosses you up a bit, but without anything extreme
A bit trickier in some places
We've seen this kind of thing before, and there was even more than one of them here
There's a cliff right next to it, but hey, it's picturesque
Holes
Mike suggested swinging by for the view
The view isn't bad, but it's been like this for the last twenty kilometers
But on the plus side, fort remains
There's a gazillion different tracks around here; how they connect is marked in color on the rocks
Now it's wide open
Now it's narrow
Now it's narrow in the wide open
And here it is — the long-awaited descent
The descent is incredibly steep, but comfortable — provided you have disc brakes, of course. A few minutes, wet panties - and I'm already way down below.
Surprisingly rocky here
Could it be a sandworm kicking up dust, rushing to devour me?
No, just ATV riders having fun
They face the difficult task of penetrating a tight hole between two rocks
As for me - I'm heading the other way
The intermediate destination is near
Ta-da! A campground!
At the campground, I wanted to eat a hearty meal, like crazy. Unfortunately, they only sell ice cream and lemonades. Chatted up some biker bros, asked for a screwdriver, otherwise my rack almost fell off from the shaking. They promised a screwdriver for half a buck, to which I parried that in Israel I expected a bigger scam.
Those same biker bros, already up there in years
When I pedaled out onto the highway, a chopper rolled up
What's blissful about the campground is that there's enough water to drown in
Now here Mike helped a lot with his advice — he strictly ordered me to take this colorful road
Practically an autobahn, smooth and spacious
Oftentimes observation points with railings
I have a feeling this is a relic from the times of building material mining
Zig-zag
Here, finally, is that same gray ribbon that leads to the top
The Ramon River, as usual in Israel, without a drop of water
An old hand looks at you like you're a couch-potato amoeba
From here begins the long road up - three hundred meters of climbing along a steep serpentine
The day is leaning towards sunset, the desert is colored in tender girlish colors
It gets cold fast, I shiver, and continue to push on the pedals even more intensely
Hippity-hop, and they ran off; how they grip the rocks so deftly with their hooves is beyond me
A Masonic eye and a pedestrian bridge
The three hundred meters didn't come easy, but I've seen worse.
Nature is falling asleep
And the electric fireflies are waking up
Positive family graffiti
There are two electric ovens in the house — guess what for?
An absolutely magical tasting brynza, or something close to it
A product of the local vineyards
The fridge contents, the cucumbers have withered completely
Israel does not live by wine alone
Results of the day. The track isn't hard, and even though I had to sweat a little bit at the end, almost the whole day was a breeze. I rolled 59 km with an elevation gain of almost 900 meters — maybe not a personal record, but considering the heat and the surface, it's quite decent. The crater is worthy, diverse enough to keep you from getting bored. If the daylight hours had been longer, I could have easily conquered eighty kilometers. It's pleasing that cycle tourism is gaining popularity in the world, and the concept of national trails is going mainstream. I hope that someday a single bike trail will pass through all three Baltic countries, serving as that very unifying thread we've been talking about so much since the very beginning of independence.
P.S. For dessert — an entertaining article about aviation security in Israel.