31 Mar Masada and Me
If you are adventurous and looking for a once in a lifetime experience, one thing you must do when in Israel is go to Masada.
For over 2000 years there has been conflicting stories of what happened atop Masada and events leading up to the death of the residents of the mountain top village. Masada is an ancient fort sitting atop a mountain in the Southern District of Israel in the Judean desert. The historical significance of the fortress is truly great and quite incredible. The sheer manpower and general vision it took to build such a place is amazing. 2000 years later there are people making pilgrimages to the holy site that symbolizes the bravery and self-sacrifice of an exiled nation.
There are different ways to reach the top of this mountain, one is with the tram that zips you up in a couple of minutes, and the other is to hike up the steep trail. Of course I decided on the latter and to add another element of excitement, I chose to do the sunrise hike which entails getting up at three in the morning to be at the base of the mountain and hike up the Snake Path in the dark giving you just enough time to make it to the top to watch the sun rise over the Dead Sea. It takes quite the adventurous bunny to conquer this hike in the dark solo. But I wanted to experience Masada in all its glory and literally walk in the steps of so many that had come before me.
Doing any type of traveling on your own involves some chutzpah, and making this kind of trek in the dark with no companion can certainly be a challenge, but the appeal of Masada attracts people from all over the world, so there is never a shortage of fellow climbers to engage with and get to know their reason for partaking in such a physically grueling but rewarding experience. I met a few different people on my journey up the mountain. One was an old lady who has been doing to climb for every year she has lived in Israel, she must have been about seventy years old, and her determination and dedication to the journey was inspirational. There is a Snake Path that starts from the base of the mountain all the way to the top that crosses the great stone walls that were built to keep the Masada locals from leaving and not getting access to the outside world for any food or water. These walls now broken are so massive and thick, it boggles your mind to know that the fortress sitting atop 1500 feet in the air was a self sustaining community built with water a reservoir collected from the winter rains and store houses filled with long lasting foods like grains, dates, and flour. That Herod was on to something…
It wasn’t until I had reached the summit when I looked over the Dead Sea and saw the magnificent sun piercing over the horizon kissing everything it touched. During those few seconds as the sun made her way from the other half of the world to ours, looking over the incredible hike I had made, I felt the ancient significance of the fortress I was standing in and it really brought overwhelming feelings of warmth, sadness and a deep connection to humanity. There’s beauty in everything, and so was the world that was still during the next twenty-five minutes I sat staring into the vast desert where so many before me had been under different circumstances. This place was special and I can’t wait for my next visit.
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