Wadi Mujib

Wadi Mujib is a wildlife preservation that consists of canyon lands and rivers. Yesterday I hiked one trail within the Wadi that was incredible. The entire trail consists of hiking up a slot canyon with a river running out of it. Where the trail starts the river is wide and shallow with canyons rising on both sides. As you proceed upriver the canyon narrows into a slot canyon that tower above. Most of the trail is in the shade with the sun breaking through in narrow moments piercing small portions of the river. At various points the water increases in depth up to 4-5 feet and you have to climb over a series of waterfalls until you reach the end of the trail where a 50 foot waterfall is cascading in a sunlit pool. I was able to climb behind the waterfall and dive through it being pushed along with the current. It was incredible to feel the power of the water coming down. The central point where the fall hits is powerful enough that you can't stand directly under it. Those who attempted to walk through were knocked off their feet and pushed out by the rushing water. I enjoyed diving through and letting all of the water continue to push me along the canyon wall downstream a dozen feet. On the way down the group lined up to jump off the falls and slide down the natural rock slides into various pools. We discovered that we could jump in certain areas where the water was deep enough. The deepest we found was only 6 feet deep, but sufficient for the heights from which we were jumping.
At the biggest of the small falls there are two natural slides and a place where you can jump into the pool below the fall. I started a trend I probably shouldn't have by jumping over the rushing water taking a step or two on the opposing wall and pushing off again landing right in the middle of the pool. After that there were others who did it as well. The problem with how we did it is there were some people who weren't as confident in the jump or in their abilities, also there were those who didn't have good shoes and when they tried it they slipped on the wet rock and came off wrong. Luckily they all made it to the pool below, but there were some close calls where people almost hit there heads on rocks as they slipped on the rock when they jumped and almost miss the landing all together. In the end, Mujib was a paradise in the desert which left me feeling tired, but refreshed after our adventure.