We turned left onto the black trail, toward Abirim Fort. This may have been a mistake but we cannot be sure. The trail was so rocky and began with a steep incline. This incline did not end. My muscles were working hard because I was losing steam by this point. Rafi kept up a very fast pace despite the pain because he kept thinking about the fact that we had to beat the sunset and we had no idea where we would end up. I had to keep reminding him to slow down so he would not leave me behind. After a while of this rocky incline while the sun continued to get lower on the horizon and start passing behind the hills, I began to freak out mentally. I kept trying to calm myself down but I was so tired and had hit my breaking point for the day. I ended up sobbing uncontrollably and basically hyperventilating. Rafi heard cars up ahead at this point and told me so. This made my sobs disappear quickly and I began to hear the cars myself. My breakdown only lasted a minute or so and I was so relieved to hear signs of the road (the end of the path!). By this point, there were only twenty minutes until sundown.
We reached the end of the path only a few minutes before the sun set. We snapped a quick and tired picture (above) right after we reached the road. However, we still were not in Abirim where we had planned to stay for the night. This town was fifteen or twenty minutes down the road. We had to decide whether to walk there or to camp illegally. After deliberating for a moment or two, we decided to camp illegally right inside the nature reserve. We were right on the edge of the reserve, next to the road, but hidden behind some trees and shrubs. We quickly set up our tent and our sleeping/cooking equipment while we had a little light. Our ability to camp here hinged on the fact that we had conserved water, having consumed only 4 out of our 6 liters. According to the map, we would pass through the small town of Elkosh about 5 kilometers down the road, and we were banking on refilling our water there.
After setting up camp I discreetly cooked dinner so that no one passing by would see the flame. I made couscous with salami slices which was gobbled up in a flash! We also ate some dried fruit which was proving to be a great food choice to bring on this hike. For the rest of the night we relaxed in the tent and tended to our aches and pains. My ankle (which has chronic pain) hurt from the hike, as well as our feet and backs. While in the tent, we heard coyotes howling in the distance. We also began to hear a helicopter beginning to fly overhead. It seemed to come right over us, then passed, then returned, circling round and round. We were actually nervous because our worst-case scenario was that the people in the helicopter were searching the reserve for people like us. After a while, the helicopter stopped and we never heard it again. The only thing we heard aside from the coyotes were the cars every now and then, and the far-away "pow pow" of soldiers' guns, most likely at a shooting range. The full moon gave us ample light through the night. It was a very helpful thing because it helped quell any fears we had about camping in an area we did not know. We fell asleep at 9:00 and set the alarm for 6:00am. Thus ended our first day.
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