56. Wadi Darga, 1998 - Full moon
In which Eleanor gets a new lease on life.
Eleanor finds sanity and goodness tramping around in the desert.
Eleanor
This is sublime. Utterly sublime.
Rajji and Jamal have called a short break. It’s about 2am now, but the light of the full moon shining off the white rock is so bright we’ve been hiking without the need of our headlights. All around is the stillness of the Judean desert at night. Beyond the bright of the moon are the stars, a canopy of wonder. The only sounds are of the night birds and the tiny squeaks and rustles of desert creatures.
And our merriment and laughter.
We started at Herodian just as dusk started, and from there we hiked to Wadi Sabi, and then on to Wadi Darga1, as night arrived and deepened, and the moon rose.
The desert at night is simply magical. The stillness, the colors, the stars. I lean against a rock now, my backpack a sweaty cushion, and look up into the deepest black of space, limitless and endless, studded with light. I take another sip from my water bottle, savoring the moment, resting my tired legs and weary feet.
Thomas has entertained us all with stories and jokes as we’ve trudged. He seems to have an endless supply, his soft Australia twang adding extra levity. It’s hard to believe he’s a banker. Sometimes he acts more like our resident court jester, with his incisive wit, unflagging good cheer and buoyant spirit. He seems to have the cast and plot of every American sitcom committed to memory. He has the charm and the looks to have anyone he wants, only he (generally) behaves like a gentleman. He’s so like Damien, yet so different too.
Rajji and Jamal are our navigators and guides. Father Jerry’s hikes are great, but this is something else. This is much more like the rugged hikes in the Drakensberg I’ve done with Dad, Tig, and the Mountain Club, bouldering along rock-strew stream beds, pulling up mountain passes. Only of course here we’re heading down, from two and half thousand feet above sea level to one a half thousand feet below sea level. As I look around the wide, rock strewn canyon in the moonlight, it’s hard to believe we’re already below sea level here.
It’s sublime to be out, with great company. My body feels worked, but relaxed from the happiness of tramping along, the scrunch of rock and pebbles underneath my hiking boots, the synchronicity of breath with motion, lungs inhaling deeply, back sweaty beneath the backpack, mind clear and body working. It's like I’m being washed clean, refreshed and rejuvenated by exertion.
There’s a sanity and goodness to mind and spirit that tramping around in mountains with a backpack brings. The world’s petty problems resolve themselves into the stupid vanities that they so often are. One gets a new lease on life, a renewed courage to soldier on.
Bonus Material
The Gang and our many adventures
Deleted Scene: Thomas gets fed-up with Eleanor
Herodian
Wada Darga
Author’s note: More correctly it’s Wadi Murabba’ in Arabic or Nahal Darga in Hebrew. But as the Palestinians I was with called it Wadi Darga, I’ve use that nomenclature.