The crater is a remnant of a much more violent period in the geologic history of Saudi Arabia. Some people actually question whether or not it is volcanic or the result of a meteor strike. If you know your rocks, it is obviously volcanic in origin. People in the Pacific Northwest know about cones and craters because of Mt St Helens.
Sunrise over the crater was spectacular.
Here is Alonda and her bodyguards. We had lots of guards because of the British Consulate people. Also, the area is close to the summer capitol of the country and the King and his entourage can show up at any time. They have to have lots of guards all the time, anyway.Notice the guards: They wear white thobes (you can't run in a thobe), sandals (ever been in a hurry over rocks in your sandals?), shoulder holsters (any enemy will be a lot further away than a 9mm pistol can shoot), cigarettes (high stress job) and cell phone (have to talk to your friends, don't you?). They didn't actually do a lot of 'guarding'.
Camping (Saudi style) is not like you remember from the Boy Scouts! Notice the red carpet on the rocks, the truck with the spare Port-a-Pottie and giant tank of water and, of course, the satellite dish. We didn't use the Port-a-Pottie since they permanent buildings in the background had toilets and showers. We are not sure why we slept in a tent.
Here is the "camp" site with the "bodyguards" outside the fence with their own little camp site. They had to walk all the way in to use the toilet. Really roughing it!
We walked down into the crater. That is why we came, isn't it?Walking down doesn't sound that tough, but look at the next couple of pictures. The crater is about 500 meters deep. That isn't much until you realize that is over 1/4 mile straight down! It got quite hot hiking back out.
Here are some of the major features of the crater.
Here is the same picture without the writing on it.
This is the escarpment on the southwest side of the crater. The hole is about a mile across. We aren't sure and haven't found it on GoogleEarth yet.
This is the actual trail down into the crater. If you click on the picture, it is supposed to open in a new window at full size. Can you find the human figures on the trail?
Even though the crater is an extinct volcano and is surrounded by cinder cones, there is life here. We found this Desert Wheatear nesting and eating in this berry bush. Looked like currants, but we didn't taste them! We saw some swifts and Desert Larks, too.
This is what we found in part of the bottom of the crater. The bubbles are formed by soda, salt and water. That is what you put in chocolate chip cookies to make them rise and it works for mud, too! The desert has very little rain, but that doesn't mean NO rain.
These are what are known as "Saudi Diamonds". In reality, it is obsidian and malachite crystals. There are some other varieties which are quartz and polish up nicely, but we prefer the real thing!
Traditional sunset picture. The End.
