Mitzpe Ramon & Ramon crater

Mitzpe Ramon general info

The city of Mitzpe Ramon was originally created in the late 60’s as a middle point in the road between Tel Aviv and the city of Eilat, a trip that took about 5 hours, BUT after the making of road #90, Mitzpe Ramon lost his strategic position. Still, “Mitzpe Ramon” lies on the bank of the cliff of the “Ramon crater”, the world’s biggest crater of its kind. Its surreal desert feel and the beauty of the crater makes it a worldwide known mind blowing attraction. The crater was also awarded by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2017, and night stars spectators come from all over the globe to appreciate its unique clear sky no clouds conditions 300 days a year with NO artificial lights (cars, houses etc’). At Ramon there is also the Israeli biggest astronomy observatory which is maintained and conducted by Tel Aviv university astronomy department, BUT is open to the general public only once in 2 year on a given open-door night. (check for opportunity schedule online). The crater has several track trails that can last between 15 minutes walk and up to a 6 hours journey. Obviously, it is NOT recommended in the summer high season between June-July-August to pick one of these long walking courses, when temperatures can reach up to 45 Celsius degrees in the shadow, even though humidity can be extremely low thanks to the fact that it is a desert surrounding.

Ramon Crater walking trails

The following are the potential Ramon Crater walking trails, with differences in length, time and difficulty:
“Saharonim” – 5 km. about 3 hours walk.
“Harut (cone)hill” – 3km. about 2 hours walk.
“Carpentry(sawmill) hill” – 1 km. about 20 minutes.

The creating of the Ramon Crater

Because of a small crack in the rock it is sometimes formed in the structure of an arch.
The rainwater penetrated into cracks and widened them. In the limestone the crack depends on the melting of the limestone and grows slowly, but when the water reaches the sandstone layer they easily sweep away the sand.

This creates a situation where the layer of chalk is still standing on a pile, but the sand beneath it is no longer there. When the chalk can no longer carry its weight it collapses and enlarges the crack that has meanwhile become a crater. For a period of millions years the weathering process will continue and enlarge the crater even further. This process creates this unique crater structure, that has equivalent also in the “Big” and the “Small” crater in Israel, but is extremely unique worldwide.