We just got back to our hotel room and flopped into bed exhausted. We have been up all night and have hiked to the top of Mt. Sinai and down again. Thus we traveled from sea level to 2,285 meters (7,541 feet) in about 5 hours. The last 4,500 feet we hiked.

The journey began last night when we tried to get some sleep around 7:00, but neither of us could really fall asleep. We got up around 9:45 and started to get ready. We were told to bring warm clothing, good hiking shoes, water, food and most important, a flashlight. Turns out the flashlight was the only thing we really didn't need since the moon was almost full and it was like hiking in daylight.

We first drove around Dahab picking up other passengers for the trip. Around 11:30 we began the 2.5 hour drive. This probably was only a 1-1/2 hour drive, but the 6 check-points along the way slowed us down a bit. We had to show passports, have dogs sniff the car, mirrors poked underneath and all this was on the way to the place. Security really tightened up when we got closer. Every bag was searched and we had to go through metal detectors that actually worked and they made you go back through if you set it off. This was a first for Egypt!

We were told we would have to pay 5 Egyptian Pounds each for our guide. This is about $1. Along the way, a couple from England told us that a guide was not required and they weren't going to use it. When we arrived a small argument ensued. This is typical for Egypt as you might have guessed from our last posting:) When the English couple said they didn't want the guide, they were told that they had to have one by law. So they wandered off to speak to the Tourist Police. The Tourist Police played dumb, not hard, and acted like they suddenly didn't understand English. Finally, all of us were convinced that not only was a guide unnecessary, but that the man had already lied to us about it being required. So Val and I quietly slipped away from the group and went through the security check-point and started the climb without a guide. Within a few minutes, the rest of the group caught up to us sans guide!

We began the climb around 2:00 am along a gentle path that winds through a desert valley. After about 30 minutes it begins to climb by means of long gradual switch-backs. We climbed for another hour, being constantly asked if we wanted a camel ride up the mountain. The smell of these beasts alone would keep me off of them, but we had already been warned about how nasty the ride up or down on one is, and some of the scams the owners use to extract more money from tourists after they have an agreed upon price. So we politely begged off and kept walking.

After an couple of hours, we reached the shear wall of the mountain and assumed this was as high as we would be able to go. But NO! The path actually cuts thru a small crevice and circles around the back side where there is an amazing stairway built into the rock that is at least 1000 steps. It climbs the last 1,000 feet almost straight up.

We were both exhausted when we arrived at the summit, and quickly laid out a couple of sulus we had brought and tried to get some sleep before we watched the sunrise. This wasn't easy because of the dozens of locals hawking blankets and mattresses for people to sleep on, and other tourists shouting to each other, shining flashlights in our eyes, and generally being as rude as possible. Kind of reminded us of the parking lot at a Dead Show when you were sleeping in line for Priority Tickets for New Year's Eve shows:)

The sun finally came up and it was a bit anticlimactic since the air has so much dust in it, you can't see the sun until it is quite a bit above the horizon. After taking a few obligatory photos, we headed back down.

The hike down was much quicker, but no less tiring. I was able to get some spectacular photos of the mountain and the valley below. Val likes photos without people in them, but I like to have some scale, and this place needed scale to be appreciated. After an hour, we reached the bottom where St. Katherine's Monastery is located. A group of people were milling around so Val and I wandered inside. What we didn't realize was that we had wandered in a rear entry and that the monastery wasn't open yet. Several people inside saw us and didn't chase us out. In fact a few of them told us where the special 'bush' was located. Yes, contrary to widely held beliefs, the "BURNING BUSH" did survive and is doing quite well even today.

It was a very eeire hike, and I kept expecting to see Charlton Heston, er, uhm, Moses come walking down the mountain carrying slabs of stone with him. No, all we saw were camels and tourists. Even so, it was a very memorable night and now it's time to get some sleep.

Until next time,

Eric