Midrushet Ben Gurion to Mador

It got a bit colder than usual during the evening. I did not get to sleep as well as I had hoped.

After back tracking a little to fill up our water bottles at the visitor's center we started our way to the next night camp. Little did we know just how hot it would get today.

About half way through the day N was starting to drag a little. I presume he had used up a lot of his energy in the beginning of the day trying to run around us getting video of us walking. It wasn't even 10 yet and the sun was beating down on us like it had something to prove to our newest group member.

Even though the miles we had to walk today were really flat that also meant that there was absolutely no shade. Literally nowhere. The few shrubs we passed were not tall enough to create any type of useful shadow unless you wanted to climb into the middle of them and become one with the bush. 

I gave N my umbrella which seamed to help him get through the hottest part of the day (which honestly felt like all day). 

In addition to the lack of accessible shade there were also bees everywhere. Especially close to the bushes that could have possibly been utilized as protection from the sun. I wasn't bothered by them because I was used to things flying around my face and just ignoring them. N on the other hand had a rough time with them, especially since they took a special liking to him. 

The heat, lack of shade, increased physical activity and the environment's dryness in general all lead to N drinking all of his water before we got to our next water cache. I shared most of mine with him to make sure he didn't get dehydrated but that also led me to only drinking about half of what I should have.

We were all in pretty rough shape at the end of our hike today. Even though it wasn't even 2 yet we got to our NC and went straight to the water cache. Of course this was the only cache that had a lock on it that I didn't have the code to. I had to scramble around the NC trying to find a place where I had at least 1 bar to contact our water cacher to get the code before one of us passed out. Thankfully he responded right away and we were able to replenish our bottles before we set up our tents.

I've probably said this before but the "only sleep in night camp" rule is very very different from the other backpacking trips I have gone on. Granted there are other rules you have to abide by anywhere you camp but confining camping to only a few mass campsites is counterintuitive to someone who wants an actual wilderness experience. However, rules are rules and they are put in place for a reason. We witnessed other hikers continuing on passed the NC to make tomorrow shorter but we stayed put for the night even if that meant next day's hike would be incredibly challenging.

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Mador to Oron

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Mitzpe Ramon to Midreshet Ben Gurion