HIKING the Jordan Trail - Petra to Wadi Rum 🇯🇴

We're about to hike 90 kilometers across one of the harshest deserts on earth from the ancient city of Petra to the red sands of Wadi Rum. But this isn't just any trail. We're following the path of the King's Highway, a trade route used for over 2,000 years where ancient traders once led caravans of camels through unforgiving terrain and will be walking in their footsteps. For us, this is more than an adventure. It's a personal challenge and pushing our limits Good morning from Petra. We have just begun our hike for the next five days covering over 87 kilometers. I'm feeling a little bit nervous because I'm so unprepared. I've not kind of been hiking in preparation. I don't really know about wild camping. I don't really know about anything to do with it. So we're just going for it. But the weather today is not looking great. Yesterday it was full sun when we arrived but today it is cloudy. We started our hike through the Siq, a narrow canyon leading up to the ancient city of Petra. And here we are, we are at the treasury. Walking into a wonder of the world, you never really know if it will live up to expectations. But Petra really did. Beyond the famous treasury, it's actually an ancient city where 30,000 people once lived. And to start our hike in the dramatic landscape where civilizations thrived over 2,000 years ago was surreal. We have just begun our first ascent of day one. We have I think 22, 26 kilometers to cover just today. I'm already feeling a bit nervous because this is going to be the toughest day and I feel like it's just going to tire me out and I'm already tired. I'm already tired. So down here we are looking over the old city, the old civilization and that's what all these caves are. This is where people used to live, over 30,000 people. It was pretty incredible. I think we're going up like a thousand steps, I think you said. Are we actually? Are you counting the steps? No, have you started counting? No, but it's definitely, we can't be over a hundred. Wow, it's like red, blue, yellow. I think we have reached the last flight of stairs. Well, I hope so anyway. Hi. Hello, little puppy. He likes you. This last bit's a bit more rocky than steps, but we made it, just about. We have made it up to the high place of sacrifice and don't worry, they didn't do any human sacrifices here. They did animal sacrifices and left it out for the gods. Looking over these mountains, it just looks like such a harsh environment. I have no idea how people used to live out here thousands of years ago, let alone today, and we're going to be traversing all these mountains which surround us, which is a little bit, feels a little bit challenging. This surely is not going to be the easiest hike. No, definitely not. So I think we're heading down there and then around that mountain and then it's only halfway. Oh, that's a big drop. Yeah, don't look down. You're all right with heights though, aren't you? Not too bad, although I don't really want to fall. Walking through the quieter parts of the Petra Reserve, we continue to pass through incredible stone carvings heading further away from civilization. We're about 10 kilometers in now and I'm definitely feeling some tiredness because yesterday we walked like 18 kilometers. Probably not the best thing to do the day before the hike, but we had to see Petra in a way. The landscapes around us keep changing and we've just come into this like massive canyon. This bit really does look like something out of the US. We're doing this hike with Treks Adventures. They're a company who basically do treks all around the world, not just here in Jordan, and they basically organized everything and made this possible because you can't really be out here on your own because you'll just run out of water. As you can probably guess, there's no water out here. We're part of a big group, but we've also got our own guide so we can kind of go off different paths and stuff when we want to. We've reached our lunch spot for today and it is actually a theater, like an amphitheater. Look at this. We are over halfway of our hike today. This is probably going to be the longest I've ever walked in one day. Yeah, same. I'm so excited for lunchtime. Time to take these shoes off. I've got sand in them. Me too. That's what you get from walking through a desert. Apparently, what you have to do is dry out your feet and it stops you getting blisters. Well, they do stink though. Yeah. Got myself this little cucumber. It's very refreshing. Let me get mine. Mine's way bigger than yours. I'm almost in a carton. I've never seen that before. We are in the Middle East. After lunch, we descended into this moonscape valley with towering mountains to our left, which led us to our next challenge. I think soon we will be heading up to the side of the canyon. We've just got to find the right bit to climb. But apparently, some of it has fallen from flash floods. Obviously, that's not going to happen today, hopefully. So this is our guide, Zade. He is the person who's making sure we don't get lost out here amongst all the wilderness and the dry heat. He's from Tracked Adventures. Climbing skills aren't the best. Take your time. We have reached the top of this ridgeline now and the views are ridiculous. There's probably a 100-metre, potentially more, drop-off right into the wadi down there, which circles down. I think we're going to have one of the best views of the hike so far. It looks like it just drops off into the canyon down here. It could be from like thousands of years ago. 3,000. 3,000 years ago. Yeah. This is even before, like, having the Arabic letters. Wow. Also here you can see more, but not the good condition. There is another animal with a leg, another leg, and the tail is... and the head. It does blow me away that people were living out here 3,000 years ago, you know, in these dry desert mountain areas. It is just incredible. How are you feeling? Tired. It's really getting to me, but we've still got 5km to go. And we've done over 20km today already. As the afternoon drew in, we had to pick up our pace as it turned out we had an extra 5km to walk on top of the 24km we initially thought. We've hit our first road, but there's no one on it. We both went quiet for the last couple of hours, using up the last energy we had to make it to camp before dark. We must be close to camp now. Over 27km. 28km. Here we go. We have reached camp. Well, the last 300m, as you can see in the distance. I'm so exhausted from today. We just had a big dinner and now I'm just going to crash here and sleep. I'm sure I'm going to sleep like a rock because I'm genuinely tired. How are you feeling? My neck's a sore. I need some sleep. Let's see you in the morning. Good morning, guys. From the middle of the Jordanian desert. There is nothing around apart from our little camp here. It's a lovely, positive start of the day. There's no wind. The sun is out. I'm in a t-shirt. How are your legs feeling this morning? They were really sore when I got up. I'm not going to lie. They felt like heavy and my calves were a bit tight. I think as we've started to walk, I'm loosening up a bit. And I actually feel surprisingly OK considering we did over 40,000 steps yesterday. Over 28km. 28km. Today, we're only going to be covering 14km, I think, so. Literally half the amount. Although day two was technically a lot easier than the previous day, we were definitely feeling day one's effect on our legs and feet. So we took it at our own pace and started to settle in to our hiking routine. Yes! You're high-five. You're so off. I think we've got about two hours left of hiking. But my legs are feeling a bit tired from yesterday, so I'm glad to have an easier day today because I think we've still got three more days after this. And I've never done this before. We have made it. We have reached camp. There it is. Not far at all. It's definitely shorter because it's only about 2pm in the afternoon now. We're literally here five hours earlier than yesterday. Welcome, guys, to our little tent. It is getting a bit grey and cloudy now and the wind has picked up and our guide kind of gave us a warning that there could be some rain. So we packed everything in our tent and we want to show you inside. Right, guys, let's bring you inside and basically show you around this very small tent. Obviously, behind us here, we've got all our stuff just laid out because of the rain warning. We wanted to bring everything inside so we won't get anything wet, whereas yesterday we could just leave it outside. And then we have these mattresses, which are actually... So comfortable, right? ...pretty comfy, like they're quite thick instead of just a regular camping mat. And we also have some really, really thick sleeping bags, which have been very useful. The evening came and out here with no internet connection, we got to know the rest of our treks group, enjoying a homemade meal together and ended up singing and dancing into the night. It's time to start day three of hiking through Jordan. We have just left camp and I think today is a little bit longer than yesterday, but shouldn't be too much climbing. My legs are definitely feeling so much better from resting a bit yesterday, which I'm very grateful for because we've still got like three days. Up on the rock over there, there was inscriptions and it was basically showing camels carrying lots of stuff. And along this route, along all of the Jordan Trail, also known as the King's Highway, you'd have massive camel caravans who would carry carry stuff long distances. And that's where the Jordan Trail kind of originates from. It's been used for thousands of years. It looks like we have some dogs who are protecting and letting their Bedouin owners know that there's some humans walking past. There's a Bedouin camp just here. This bag does weigh quite a bit because I've got all my cameras in here, like what, two and a half litres of water. It gets pretty heavy and that over the last couple of days, the most achiest part of my body is not my legs, but like here. I feel like I need a deep shoulder trapezius massage when we get back. I'll try and learn how to do that for you later. That's your job. I obviously have a bit of a smaller backpack. I do have also like two and a half litres of water in here. I feel a bit bad I'm not carrying more. Oh, I've probably crushed my eggs. I've got a hard-boiled egg in my bag. There's so much sand in these shoes. Oh, my socks. My nice white socks. Yeah, they're not too good now, are they? We just stopped off to eat our lunch and right behind us, these camels appeared out of nowhere. And you have to be careful because these camels might want your hummus as well. We've got an incoming camel. He's after my hummus. No. Bow to me. That is a very close camel. I'm very close to a camel right now. Looks like the Grand Canyon. The Jordanian Grand Canyon. Yeehaw! We have finally made it. We can see camp just in the distance. And I really need to rest my feet from here. It's a good day. As-salamu alaykum. What? The nicest thing is that Treks Adventures set up all our tents so we can literally just collapse in there once we've done our hike every day. Like, it is the most ideal, beautiful thing. It's like we've got, you know, trekking and hiking on easy mode with all these guys supporting us. I think the amazing Bedouin staff are just setting up the shower tent over there. Oh, my hero. Over here is the ladies-only shower. So they're just going to bring water over in a second. But the view from my shower is amazing. Pretty cool. Oh, here comes the water. On donkey. This is inside the shower. So we have a little pump. And this is where I can stand. It's pretty spacious. Bit tired. It's kind of crazy when you finish like a long day of walking and then you realise you still have more days to do. But we're getting there. I think tomorrow is supposed to be a good day. I'm supposed to have some of the best scenery. So I'm looking forward to that. Did you hear that? Amelia has a weird back which clicks really oddly if you push it. Especially after a long day of hiking. It is day four and it's supposed to be the most beautiful day today. Let's begin. How are you this morning? I'm good. I've had two coffees. One Arabic, one normal. Had a good night's sleep. I'm ready to see some views. First climb of the day. Wake ourselves up. Ready for the good views. Listen to this echo. Zaki! Okay, it's just stopped. Zaki means hungry, by the way, in Arabic. Just disintegrates. A lot of sand walking today, is there? Yes. Nice. At some point today we will have to go on sand dunes. But I don't think it's quite yet. Apparently we have to walk up them to get to the camp later on. So that could be some effort. This is amazing. This is insane. There's literally no one here as well. It's so silent. I'm ready for a rest. I need some water. We've been walking on this stupid sand for like a kilometre or two. I thought you liked the sand. It's nice sand, but it just drains the energy out of you so much. Look how much sand I've got in my foot. In my shoe, not my foot. Eight metres in my foot. Salaam alaikum. This is our support. The landscapes have changed so much. I feel like we've just entered the planet Mars. You ready for the new challenge? Time to face the dunes. Blimey, I've walked about 10 metres and it's tough. Really tough. How's that tripod working as a walking stick? It's actually working quite well. Obviously, it's not like a pole, but it kind of lifts body off the floor. I really feel like I'm in the desert now. Yeah, well, we are. A lot of hard work, isn't it? Two steps up, one step back. I think also the sun feels so strong. It drains you a bit. It is the last two kilometres and they are directly up a sand dune. And that's what we've got to do to get to our camp. In this boiling heat. Today's last challenge. Every step, you just fall back a little bit more. We've been just about at sea camp. We're not too far. We've done it. We've made it up the dunes. I feel proud. I feel energised. That evening, we headed up to a viewpoint where the view stretched for miles, revealing how remote we really were. And the sun set on another beautiful day in the desert. That evening, dinner was cooked with a zarb, a traditional underground oven which has been used for centuries by Bedouin tribes. And after a hearty meal, we headed to bed. And the next morning, we had to get up before sunrise, ready for a long day ahead. Good morning. It is finally day five, the last day of our hike. And one of the hardest days. We have about 22 kilometres to go and we've already done 90 this week, which is just crazy to me because I've never done that before. This is the last push until we've finally walked from Petra to Wadi Rum. And we've begun walking through this beautiful sandstone canyon this morning. We've got more ascending than any other day on this hike. We're ascending about 700 metres. It's going to be tough on the legs. They're already tired. We're already blowing and we've just begun. How are you feeling? Yeah, fine. We've ticked off 5km. Another, what, 15, 17 to go. Lovely. Still got some energy. We've got a lot of, you know, power up bars, haven't we? Yeah. Give us some sugar rush when we need it. We've found a river and it's actually flowing. It is flowing, right? This is probably the largest water source we've seen in the last five days. It actually doesn't look too dirty despite the little bit of camel poo I see over there. I feel like if you had a filter you could try and scoop some of this up. I only got about five hours sleep last night, which is not enough for me. I need like eight to nine. Yeah, I'm quite tired. But we're over halfway. Yeah, we are over halfway. So that's a little bit motivating and I just keep thinking sleep is this way. Let's go that way then. Basically because the sandstone meets the granite, apparently it kind of collects the water and it doesn't seep in. So you get more greenery around here. I know your feet hurt. My feet hurt too. No energy. The pace has significantly dropped. It is tough work out here. We've just started entering the really small, like narrow canyon. And it looks incredible. It's like that famous place in the US. Do you know what it is? In Arizona. Arizona, I think it is. Hello! Look, it goes like all the way. Whoa. Lovely red rocks. I think they call it a seek here in the Middle East. Afternoon section. This is our last leg really. What have we got? Like five kilometres to go. Maybe six. And apparently this is going to be a really beautiful section up a dready run. There might be a bit of an incline at the beginning. It's supposed to be really steep and it's kind of what we've been dreading the whole day. Just knowing that at the end of all of this hiking, we've got two kilometres of incline. You're gonna be the one that saves me. I couldn't leave you without a soul. It's so hot now in between these white rocks. I think they're like reflecting it onto us. Obviously it doesn't count that it's now the middle of the day. But not too long to go. We are just starting the incline and already I'm a bit sweaty and out of breath. I can't believe it's almost over. Five days of trekking and we're here in the last final two kilometres of this ascent. Going right on top of this mountain and then I think it's flat at the top. Two thirds of the way. Keep going. Not good. We are closing in on the top on this plateau which we've been promised above these mountains. We're nearly there. This is the first time we've walked on a slight downhill slope today and it feels funny on our feet. It feels too easy, right? Feels like I'm on a treadmill. I can see it. We're not far. 200 metres to go and we've completed the hike of the Jordan Trail from Petra to Wadi Rum. We have completed over 100 kilometres of hiking through this Jordanian desert. It's been full on. It's been tough, hasn't it? It's not been easy, I'm not gonna lie. Especially the first day and then you were feeling like second, third. You're like, can I do this? No time to rest. And here we are. We've done it. I'm so proud of us. You know what? I could use a shower. We haven't had a shower, a proper shower in five days so we stink. At least it hasn't been too hot otherwise I don't think I'd share a tent with you. I think you do too. And a big thanks to Treks Adventures who have gifted us this incredible adventure. We highly recommend doing it. What an experience we've had and if you do want to find out about all the treks they do, not only here in Jordan but all across the world, then I'll leave links in the description.