Hiking memo : Petra by the secret back way…

Summary:

• Lenght: 10 kms back and forth.
• Duration:  approx. 2 hours (one way) with kids. 
• track of the Hike (.gpx.format) gpx: https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=21379206
• Elevation gain: 800m +. Beginning at 993m,  maxi altitude: 1173m, the Monastery at 1050m.
• Difficulty : easy to moderate, slighlty exposed to some places- caution with young kids;
• Round trip : NO, the same way back and forth. But variants will be released soon !…
•  Variants : 
  • more difficult : departure from Little Petra instead (then  2 more kilometres and + 45 minutes one way)
  • easier: by walking back to the main entrance of Petra complex from the Monastery (through the Siq and passing by the Treasury – both must-see): shorter and easier…Evenf if someone would still have to walk to the starting point of this hike to get the car back..unless you get dropped by a taxi ! 

The debrief: 

This hike offers the major advantage of bypassing the tourist crowd of Petra to join the famous « Monastery » (ad-deir in arabic), and also to avoid the hard 800ish steps to climb up to ad-deir from the valley of Petra…even if you’ll still have to climb a little bit with this proposed route.

Hmmm…By the way, for those who had no idea, the Monastery looks like this:

Way to go : navigation is easy. Once you leave the Petra-Beidah main road, we have to walk Souh-eastward toward wadi Ghurab, and localize a sign like this one, which you’ll easily find after approx. 500 meters  walking:

Then it become easy (at least as navigation is concerned). The signs show up each 300-400ish meters, and you have to follow an obvious 4WD track (see the pic), until you reach a small ready built building (2kms after the starting point) : this is actually the cashier house for the entrance of Petra complex. You’ll have to present your ticket, and it’s useless to bargain. That is why I strongly  recommend you to buy your tickets the day before at the main entrance gate (no worries if you have a jordan pass). There is NO possibilty to buy tickets here.

After the entrance, the 4WD « road » soon becomes a trail, and you’ll have to descend stone stairs, then to climb stone stairs…They are secured with a stone low wall, so you don’t have  to about to worry about the kids , at least as long they don’t try to climb on the low wall.:-) After a climb (100m ish meters), you’ll soon arrive at  a « shop »led by a bedooin woman, who will « invite » you for a tea….Persumong you have an easier life than her (at least as far as money is concerned) ,I’ll suggest you to give her a souvenir for her hospitality. 🙂 . Having said that, the view up there , and the loneliness also, have no price :

Do you see the small 2 figures up there? look more closely…here you are ! This is actually the place you will reach within 20 minutes. This is the best part of the trail, except the moment when you’ll discover the Monastery. This track is OK with 5 or 6 years-old kids, as long as they follow your guidances and they don’t run everywhere….

When you stand there, youhave walked for 4 kilometers, and within less than 1000 meters, you’ll deserve the right to observe the magnificent shade of « ad deir », with an awesome view on wadi araba 1000 meters below, between Jordan and Israel, and between the Dead sea and the Red sea.

Except the stallholder, we may have met like 6 people in 2 hours..To get the trackdetails (gpx format), please visit the page on wikiloc dedicated to this hike (https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=21379206) , or even to ask me with a comment.

Enjoy, Share, and feel free to ask questions !