Returning from the desert

I spent this past weekend hiking in the Negev desert in Israel and in Eilat. I believe a quote by an unknown author best explains my feeling on this recent adventure:

“I’ve learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”
-- Unknown

We started early in the morning the first day and hiked until the early evening at which point we made dinner under the shadow of a mountain. A blanket of stars filled the sky and filled our hearts with satisfaction, we had just completed our first adventure of the weekend. We had made it to base camp and now nature was covering us with her curtain of night. That night we played our instruments and listened to the crackle of the fire, the distant noises of the desert creating harmony in a barren land where life is found in the smallest and most insignificant places. The beauty of the desert is its ability to take a person and break him/her down and then build him/her up. You spend hours hiking along flat ground with no shade, only a few sparse trees, then suddenly there is a rise and you are at the top of a mountain, the conqueror of human endurance. The second day of the hike went just like that. We hiked for many kilometers, the sun beating down on us like an oven. The intensity of the heat never abated, sweat streamed down our faces and backs. Our backpacks were swollen with food, tools, and water. We would stop for seven sips of water under a tiny tree, offering only the slightest amount of shade. As a group we developed different bonds, meeting some people for the very first time and learning more about others we thought we knew. The third day of hiking was optional with only a small group taking on the challenge of another day under the desert sun. We hiked, and hiked, and hiked and reached the summit of a small mountain and looked out. Below us, Eilat, to our front Aqaba, Jordan, behind us the Sinai of Egypt, and in the distance to our right, the very northern tip of Saudi Arabia. The blue of the Red Sea was the most vibrant blue I have ever seen in water and the lighter blue areas revealed the hidden reefs that are common in the Red Sea.

To fully appreciate life and better understand your own abilities, a walk in the desert can be a revealing and powerful process. Our minds wander, our legs ache from the tenuous movement up and down hills and mountains, on rocks and sand, we discover ourselves and our ability to conquer even the highest mountains.

"Climb High, Climb Far, Your Aim the Sky, Your Goal the Star" (Louise Lieberman)