Distance: 8km
Type: Loop
Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult
Climb: 500 meters
Start this hike early! The park authorities recommend to start no later than 8am (and entry to the trail is prohibited after 10am). You have to be out of the reserve by the time it closes (4pm in the winter and 5pm in the summer).
Start at the Nahal David parking lot. Don’t walk into the reserve. Go back out the parking lot and up the main road until you see a sign on your left for Tel Goren (the location of ancient Ein Gedi).
Take the Black Trail uphill. After about a kilometer of a moderate ascent, you will reach the Ein Gedi spring. A few meters past the spring, the trail passes near the remains of a Chalcolithic temple, dating to 3,500 BC.
This is where the Ein Gedi ascent starts. This is an ancient path that navigates the steep cliff (it gets steeper and rougher as it gets closer to the summit).
Continue on the Black Trail after you reach the summit. It’s a flat landscape (with no shade). Follow the Black Trail for another 1.5km until you reach the Red Trail. Make a short detour on the Red Trail to the Ein Gedi lookout at the edge of the cliff. It will reconnect with the Black Trail.
Continue on the plateau until you reach the top of the Nahal Arugot Canyon (another great lookout). Now starts the descent.
Descend carefully. This was the most difficult part of the trail. The decent is steep with (and there are some narrow ledges at the start of the descent).
Continue down to the bottom where you will meet the Red Trail. (This is where most of the crowd is as it is the classic short loop trail that takes you to the river and waterfalls).
Turn right onto the Red Trail and walk about half a kilometer upstream to the “hidden” waterfall. (Take a dip in the pool).
Then retrace your footsteps and walk back to the park entrance on the Red Trail.
Alternatively, keep walking upstream along the Blue Trail (the trail will probably be crowded by the time you get there and in some sections you have to wade through the water) until it reconnects with the Red Trail, which will take you back to the park entrance.