That is basically what happened. We arrived to the base of the mountain at about 2am. One thing I did not plan for when coming to Egypt was to be in cold weather. Mountains are very cold, even in Egypt. All I could do was wear all of the clothes I had brought for the three day trip- this included several undershirts, a t-shirt, a thermal shirt, and a cardigan. I did buy a hat from a kid before we went up. He wanted (when converted) $5, I talked him down to $4. The hat barely fit my head and it had a random ‘B’ on it. We began our ascent.
Climbing Mt. Sinai presents you with two options: you can either go up a longer, less-steep path or you can take the 3,750 ‘Steps of Penitence’ (steps carved by a monk, supposed to repent while taking the steps). I do not remember anyone choosing, but we took the less-steep path.
One feature about the trail we chose is that camels are able to walk up the path. This, mixed with the darkness, resulted in many frightening moments were camels would appear seemingly out of nowhere just two or three feet from you. The reason for the camels was that Bedouins were renting them to people not wanting to walk all the way to the top.
Aside from the random camels, the climb was very nice. There were so many stars in the sky! I have never seen a sky that comes remotely close to how many stars there were. This is coming from a person who spent a good portion of his childhood being obsessed with outer space. It was beautiful. In addition to the stars, you could see the silhouettes of the mountains we were climbing through. It was beautiful.
A few hours later, we made it to the top. It was freezing. We rented blankets from a little shack near the peak (the Bedouins are very clever at providing services to tourists) and huddled up while we waited for the sun to rise. At the very top of Mt. Sinai, there is a mosque and a Greek Orthodox Church (I do not recall seeing a mosque, but Wikipedia says it is there). We waited by the church.
The beauty of what I saw cannot be properly explained by me. I will not do it justice. Pictures cannot do it justice. However, this is a blog, so I must try to describe it: When we got to the top, it was still fairly dark out. We could, however, see a great distance. It was apparent the sun was about to come up. The horizon was visible- you could see where dark skies met light skies. You could see where the light skies met the golden radiance of the sun. A few mountain-top-silhouettes were visible in the distance. More came into sight as it got closer to sunrise-time. The only thing missing in all of this was the sun. The skies became lighter and lighter. The gold-radiance became brighter and brighter. And within a few minutes, it was daylight. However, there was still no sun. The crowd at the top was much bigger than when we first got there, and we were all glued to the horizon. At this point, the sky was brilliantly multicolored. Behind us, it was light blue, as it got closer to the horizon, it was a white, and as it got even closer, it was a beautiful blend of yellow, red, and orange, followed by a layer of gray clouds and then mountains.
Suddenly, a strip of bright light appeared in the clouds. Not beyond the clouds, but in the clouds. It was the sun. (cue the Polyphonic Spree music) I had expected it to appear at the very edge of the sky, but it was as though you could find the right angle and see what was behind the sun. The brilliant light broke through the clouds, as it rose higher and higher. Everyone cheered. More mountains came into view- the sun made them a rusty color. They seemed to be endless.
In no way am I an I-like-to-watch-the-sun-rise kind of person, but it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever witnessed. At that point, it did not matter that we were exhausted from climbing a mountain after not barely sleeping for two days (Damn you, Anacondas!), nothing could have ruined it.
I did not put up any pictures of the actual sunrise. The pictures just did not capture it. I did not want to detract from the experience.
Getting-Ready-To-Climb-A-Mountain Face (from Darren):
Taking a break from mountain-scaling (do not remember who I stole this from. Rachel or Jess?):
It was really cold on top of the mountain (also, intense eyes for some reason):
Dan wrapped up in a blanket- it was so cold:
The view from the mountaintop, pre-sunrise:
You can see the trail we took (I think it is the trail - you will have to click on it)
The mountains amidst the rising sun:
Some of the crowd watching:
The church:
Group shot, sun is rising:
Post sunrise mountains:
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