If I built it on top of the mountain I climbed last weekend, that is. Take that Sarah Palin!
Seriously though, climbing Mount Hermon was a great adventure. Much better than hiking by myself, we all remember what a disaster that was (actually, I guess I never quite finished blogging about that *bad word*. Nevermind then). Hiking Mount Hermon is not an endeavor that can be undertaken casually, I had to sign up for my trip ten days in advance in order to get clearance from the Lebanese Army. I didn't actually go to the Lebanese army myself, the group I went with took care of all that for me. More on them later.
Why did I need permission? Mount Hermon is in a slightly strategic location, nestled between Syria, Israel, and Lebanon:
The beginning of the day was uneventful, I caught a taxi to Antelias, a district on the outskirts of Beirut where I met up with the rest of Vamos Todos, the ecotourism club who planned the days activities. And then we drove a long way south until we reached the end of the paved road. That's when things got interesting...
Hiking Mount Hermon from the base takes many more hours than we had (another group from the same club began that hike at 6:00 am), so there had been transportation arranged to take us most of the way up. Transportation meant goat trucks (the peace signs are actually 'v' for 'vamos todos'):
The ride up the mountain was about an hour each way, but the view was great. I went up in the first car, here you can see the second one following us up the mountain road:
The road got a little, umm, exciting at times, but it was pretty uneventful. Well, as uneventful as standing in the back of a goat truck riding up the side of mountain in Lebanon can be. After a bit, the other truck took the lead:
One sign that your hiking trip is not like the others, when the lead group has to carry flags so that any observers of your hiking trip can identify your nationality:
Suddenly, our trucks stopped and it was time to hike. Straight up hill for a total elevation gain of 500 m. What fun! Actually, it wasn't so bad, the group stretched out a bit as we went:
There wasn't too much to see along the way besides the debris from a war fought between Syria and Israeli in the ridge we were hiking up. And a shepherd and his sheep:
Once we got to the top of the mountain, we had to locate our Lebanese flags to walk over the ridge as an identifiable nationality, where we learned we couldn't go up to the highest point because that's where the UN border monitoring station is located:
One of the officers from the station came down to deny us permission to tour the facility (this has apparently been allowed in the past, but not this year), and we continued on our way across the summit past an old Syrian helicopter:
A rocket of some sort:
The walk across the summit was not a stroll, it was deliberate and stayed well within the limits of some faded red rocks. Outside the rocks? Land mines.
The whole group on a ridge overlooking Syria:
One of the big attractions of Mount Hermon was the promised view from the top, and it didn't disappointment. You could see Israel, the Golan, Syria, and Lebanon. Looking down one side into Syria:
Before long it was time to head down, a hike that turned out to be a (barely) controlled fall down the side of the mountain. It was a giant field of scree, and I basically skidded down for an hour. It wasn't easy for anyone, at one point I looked up to watch the legs of the man in front of me fly straight out from under him, saw his body hang in the air for a moment, and then he landed on the ground. Hard It would have been comical if I was not headed for that same patch of rocks right after him.
Eventually, and without any serious falls, we all made it down to the road where we piled up in our goat truck and were driven down the mountain. You can see the view from our goat truck above. Our last stop of the day:
It's a place where local women cook and make wares to sell. The dinner they served us was out of this world. Amazing, amazing food, fresh juice, and a very nice man who kept walking around with a jug of water.
My last souvenir from the trip, a few texts from the Syria cellphone company welcoming me and saying farewell:
All in all, it was a great day spent with super friendly, interesting people. Vamos Todos did an excellent job arranging all of the details and made what could have been a harrowing experience nothing but pleasant, I would highly recommend any of their events.
Next up: Some news analysis, Baalbeck, and the animal I want as my next pet.
p.s. If you're dying for more photos, Vamos Todos took plenty and posted them all here.
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