Mount Ardon

Mount Ardon (Har Ardon) can be attacked in any season, it requires planning and precision timing, it is moderately challenging. All Israeli hiking aficionados know about Har Ardon but there is a good chance that you will not meet another soul on this three-hour hike

(for the shortest loop; you can extend it to a full day hike) and by the time you get to the end of this post you will understand why.

To do this hike in the summer, you have to start early morning in order to be done by 9-10 in the morning. 

Late afternoon is not as good as you will have the sun in your face.

From the guesthouse it takes a good hour and a bit to get to Mt. Ardon which stands in the southern east part of the crater (by far the most beautiful part if you ask me). It means driving to Mitzpe Ramon (half an hour), going down into the Makhtesh for about ten minutes. Turn left at the sign for Beerot Camp and Ein Saharonim

and drive slowly on a dirt road for about half an hour (suitable for all vehicles).

This part is already very much part of your excursion as the drive is becoming more and more beautiful as you go deeper into the crater.

You see the mountain towering in front of you but follow the signposts closely. Leave the red mark to follow the black one indicating Noah’s Ascent.

Don’t be discouraged by this 4×4 only sign. It is only once you have reached the parking for Mount Ardon that the Noah’s Ascent becomes impracticable for regular cars.

Once you park your car, you’ll be greeted by a sign discouraging you from taking up the hike if you are not fit.

A first look at the climb awaiting you will be self-explanatory.  The 45 minutes climb is nothing a normally fit person can’t handle, no special climbing skills needed, although I would discourage you to take children under the age of 10 for this hike.

Going up and down the mountain, you will be following a blue path.

Another advantage of tackling it first thing in the morning in the summer is that you will be in the shade the whole time.

You can pause for breath every ten minutes and look at the walls of makhtesh behind you turn from pale grey to vermillion pink.  Traversing the summit (there is a second summit, mountains do that) is another 30 minutes…

…with the sun now casting long shadows on the walkers.  There is a point at which the ground markers fail: on the first summit there are two markers close together and then nothing…

…so walk straight in the line of the two markers until you get to the edge of the summit.  You literally have to peer over the edge to find the next marker. 

This 30-minute stroll along the top of Mt Ardon in the dawn’s early light is just perfection.  You pass terrifying gaps in the cliff wall revealing the drop (I suffer from mild vertigo, it feels like a scene in Game of Thrones)…

 …and the vista of the burnt floor of the makhtesh 300 meters below is spread out to your right for the duration.  If you have binoculars and patience you will see the shadow of gazelles moving below.

You now have a 45-minute descent before you.  It is pretty steep but not scary. 

The view from down below never disappoints.

As you get closer to the bottom, you realize a soft golden sand is awaiting you. You could be in Juan Les Pins.