Day 144 Wednesday 24/03/2010

We set off hiking under the summit of Jebel Sannine (2628m), trying to follow part of the Lebanese Mountain Trail (LMT).  We had heard about the difficulty route finding on the LMT, but we managed to traverse under the cliffs to descend down to the town of Baskinta.  Once here, we picked up the Baskinta Literary Trail, although had difficulty locating the start of the path.  Reluctant to walk on the road, like the two hikers we saw in the morning who we suspect could not find the path, we kept searching and eventually found the path which led us down into the gorge below.  We passed the Cave of Sauf el Dawla, but due to the light left and the distance still to walk, we did not have time to climb down the side of the gorge and back up to the cave which was across the valley.  We eventually reached the car at 6pm, just before it started getting dark.

(The LMT is aimed at supporting the mountain communities in Lebanon and hikers are expected to use local guides and stay in local accommodation.  For this reason, there are very few signs to indicate the route and route-finding is not straightforward, even with maps).