Mediocrity is not what I'm here for. A mundane lifestyle in the Holy Land is a waste of time. Tonight was a new experience; one of intensity and conquering adversity. I am skipping my adventure in the desolate wilderness of the Makhtesh ha-Katan; you'll have you talk to me in person for that one. Oh, but this story.. this story is worth telling everybody. Tonight, Craig and I went down the Eastern Hill with one thing in mind: Absolom's Pillar. The picture to the right is one that I took about a week ago. That entrance enticed me; it called my name, taunting me. We arrived at the site at about 21:30, finding absolutely no way to climb into that hole towering above us. We looked around for about a half an hour, even considering finding a tree to climb across in the back (not our best idea, for it would have been a 15 foot stretch over 50 feet above the ground). Instead, we decided to stack limestone blocks on the right side of the pillar. If you look carefully, you can see that there is a ledge above the initial one - it is like that on the side, which is where we stacked about 10 
limestone blocks, including broken tombstone blocks. Limestone is quite heavy, and it was a hike from the top of a hill, maybe 100 yards.. but it was worth it. We stacked them up about 4 feet high, giving us enough leverage to shimy ourselves into the hole. We carved our initials into the side, and placed our initials in rocks at the highest ledge to which we could get. The picture to the left is the stack of rocks... You can see the niches in the wall that aided us in gaining enough leverage to throw ourselves up into that little hole. The picture below is of me hiding out inside the Pillar the next morning. Thanks to Craig's poor photography skills (of which I am pulling the card frequently to make him feel bad), that is the best I got.
On the way back last night, we were stopped by some friendly police who wandered why we were dressed in all black, carrying big sticks, and I had my head lamp around my neck. Good times.
limestone blocks, including broken tombstone blocks. Limestone is quite heavy, and it was a hike from the top of a hill, maybe 100 yards.. but it was worth it. We stacked them up about 4 feet high, giving us enough leverage to shimy ourselves into the hole. We carved our initials into the side, and placed our initials in rocks at the highest ledge to which we could get. The picture to the left is the stack of rocks... You can see the niches in the wall that aided us in gaining enough leverage to throw ourselves up into that little hole. The picture below is of me hiding out inside the Pillar the next morning. Thanks to Craig's poor photography skills (of which I am pulling the card frequently to make him feel bad), that is the best I got. 
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