ALYN's Heels of Love

Heels of Love is challenging. We cover around 16 kilometers/day with many steep ascents and descents.  There are often “ladders” — steel bars set in the rocks that we climb up or down along the trail. You should be in reasonably good shape before coming. You will be thoroughly exhausted when we reach our campsite.

That being said, we do not require you to be an Iron Man to participate. Our staff and guide are there to assist you. If someone is having difficulty, we will escort them out of the mountains and have our jeep pick them up as close as possible. We care deeply about safety and want everyone to have an amazing time.

After a long day’s hiking, nothing is more welcoming to the eyes than a beautiful campsite that has already been set up by our staff. Every hiker gets his or her own tent and mattress (couples can share of course.) Tents are set up around a campfire, surrounded by comfortable futons where we can sit back and relax and share adventure stories of the day’s hike.

Our hot dinners are delicious and accompanied by your choice of beverages. As we sit around the campfire, our special guests will inspire you with their stories of the miracles that happen at ALYN every day. 

The Winter is the perfect time of year for hiking in the desert. The daytime temperatures are usually around 18-25 degrees. It does get very cold at night, with temperatures moving toward the freezing point. We strongly recommend that you bring a sleeping bag designed for colder weather.

Our campsites have toilets and a place for washing hands/face and brushing teeth. We will have hot showers at the conclusion of the hike on Thursday.

With over 20 years experience guiding groups, Assaf Priel will once again be our guide. Assaf spends at least 50 days/year in the Negev and has led groups from all over the world, including the US, Canada, and the UK. He is an expert in the region, including the geo-history, flaura, and fauna of the paths we will be taking.

3 Day Hike: We will meet you at Sde Dov airport in Tel Aviv and fly you to Eilat on Tuesday, February 18. The flight is very early in the morning. A bus will pick us up at the airport and with 20 minutes we will be at the start of the trail. We are designing the route to be about 5-6 hours, around 15-18 kilometers per day. We will have a hot breakfast and hot dinner every day and sandwiches, fruit, nuts and other fun camp things for lunch.

2 Day Hike: A staff member will meet you at the airport and fly with you to Eilat on Wednesday, February 19. While our routes will be separate than the ones taken by the three day hikers, we will join together on Wednesday night at the campsite.   

On Thursday, we will finish the hike together in Eilat. Our tentative plan is to take you to the Dolphin Reef  where you can take a hot shower, relax in the massage pools, and we will have a wonderful farewell dinner together.

Each participant will receive:

• 3 deluxe trekking dry-fit shirts 
• Transportation to Eilat from Ben Gurian Airport and back
• Hot food for breakfast and dinner at the campsites. Lunch will be sandwiches, fruit, and snacks. All meals are certified kosher.
• Tents and all camp needs. Camping mattress/ground cover. We will set up the tents (one per hiker) each night together.  Hikers must bring warm sleeping bags.
• Showers, dinner, and relaxation pools at Dolphin Reef Beach

• We will be accompanied each day by a professional guide, paramedic, and ALYN staff

Essentials

• Comfortable hiking shoes — not sneakers, running shoes, or sandals! This is one of the two most important things. Your whole hiking experience will be affected by your shoes. You will be walking around 15 km/day in your shoes, that’s 45 kilometers for the three day hikers!
• WARM sleeping bag. While the days should be pleasant, it can be very cold in the Negev at night. Bring a sleeping bag rated to keep you warm down to freezing temperature. You do not have to carry the sleeping bag on the hike, you should put it in your duffel bag. (See below).

Day Pack: (A medium backpack that you will carry with you on the hike):

We will give you food and bottles of water. You may prefer to have a hydration bag within your pack that you fill up from the bottles and sip while walking.

• Hat against the sun
• Sunscreen
• Toilet Paper (We will provide and you should put it in your pack)
• Small Plastic Bag (for garbage, damp clothing, etc)
• Pocket Knife (optional)
• Light jacket against wind or rain
• Band-aides, anti-chafing cream (we will have a paramedic, but it is useful to be have these on hand)
• Personal Snacks (If there is a trail mix you just can’t live without!)
• Alpine walking sticks (optional — If you use them on hikes)
• Phone/Camera (We will have electricity to charge at the campsites)
• Sunglasses
• Ear Plugs. Some people snore and noises carry in the desert.
• Lip balm. Lips can get sunburned from the dry heat and wind if not protected.

Duffel Bag (Duffel Bags are much more convenient than suitcases for the hike. It is better that you put everything you will need for the campsites in the bag, including your sleeping bag). These bags will be waiting for us at the campsites.)

• Walking clothes for each day on the trail. We will be providing hiking shirts, but you should bring shorts/pants, extra T-shirts. If it is cold, you will want a base layer to go under the hiking shirt. 
• Warm clothes for the evenings/sitting around the fire. (Warm jacket, hat, coat, socks, etc)
• Comfortable footwear for after the hike
• Blanket
• Plastic bag for laundry
• Swimsuit
• Personal Toiletries (We will have access to showers only on Thursday at the Dolphin Reef Beach)
• Personal medicines
• Extra batteries for flashlight, charger for phone, etc.

The cost of participation is a nominal $200 registration fee and a minimum fundraising requirement or donation of $3,000 for the ALYN’s Children’s Hospital ($2,000 if you would like the 2 day option.)   All contributions are tax deductible in Israeli, American, Canadian, and UK currency.

Registration fees are as follows:

• Early: $200. Register by July 1, 2019
• Regular: $250 — Register by November 1, 2019
• Late: $300 — Register by January 25, 2020
• Last Minute: $400 — Register by February 10. No registration after February 10.

Minimum Fundraising for ALYN: $3,000 for 3 day hikers and $2,000 for 2 day hikers.

We ask that everyone raise the minimum required amount by February 18 (one week before the hike.) We will keep your pages open for another week so you can raise even more by telling your friends how amazing it was! We will ask you to commit to covering any fundraising gaps before the hike starts. 

Besides online donations, the American and Canadian Friends of ALYN office can accept US and Canadian checks and bank transfers and issue American tax receipts. To get in touch with them , email Maayan. We will post all these donations to your page and add the amounts to your totals.

The more you know about ALYN, the easier you will be able to raise donations. Read more about ALYN.