Rubbish / Waste
You will notice when you arrive in Amman that Jordan has a serious waste issue.
Throughout the trail there are areas where people dump their rubbish and waste. It was worse in the more populated sections.
Do not contribute to the rubbish. Leave no Trace.
Its OK to skip a road stage
There were two days that were basically pure road walking. One was close to a city. We skipped these. We did debate whether skipping these bits meant we didn’t “complete the trail” or that we were not proper hikers – but at the end of the day these parts were not what the hike was about and we did not regret it when we were in a taxi watching the road pass by that we would have been trudging along uninspired.
There are some down days
Some days you dont feel like walking. Thats OK.
Some days you feel like quitting. Thats OK too. Take the advice of our insta friend (insta handle alsvider_adventurist) who did the trail a month before us – to paraphrase ‘every day you feel like quitting, get to the end of that stage and reevaluate. More often than not you will want to keep going.’
We cannot stress enough about the wonders, kindness and generosity of the people. We met hundreds of Jordanians and all but 2-3 were the most kind hearted, open and generous people you can imagine. However, we did have 1-2 negative encounters. On one occasion a local operator was quietly threatening to us regarding the safety issues in the area and alluding to things in a sinister tone.
Another operator ripped us off – tip, if a tour operator offers you slightly cheaper prices so you can remove your booking.com booking, don’t do it!
Another low point was an angry teenager whipping and throwing rocks at his pre teen sisters simply because they gave us attention. It really upset us.
And again, these are the exception rather than the rule. Jordan hospitality moved us every single day and it made the experience for us. Just keep your eyes open as you would anywhere in the world.
Camping
You can wild camp in most areas of Jordan. Wadi Rum and Dana Eco Reserve were the only places where it was actively not allowed.
Privacy
As mentioned, we loved the people. They made the trip. But some days you feel like a quiet day and being left alone. Its not always possible.
Dogs
Dogs became annoying rather than scary (some frightening looking dogs were chained up, and we were grateful for that). They would bark the second they were aware of our presence and wouldn’t cease until we had left that area. We don’t blame them, they are dogs after all. It did get annoying (and as mentioned elsewhere, we are aware of two hikers who were bitten).
While wild camping near Wadi Hidan a dog in the valley barked continuously through the night. It didnt make for a happy climb the next morning.
Chai
You will learn to love the tea/chai. Say yes to invitations. They have a heavy sugar hand so it can be a nice energy boost as well as a meaningful interaction with locals.
But its been commented elsewhere – you can’t say yes to all the invitations or you will never make your daily distances!
Trail difficulty ratings
The JTA website is great and we used the information to put together the pdf that is on the website under Resources.
However, it is mentally difficult when a rating is underestimated. For instance, Iraq Al-Amir to Husban is rated Easy when we found it Moderate – Difficult . After an easy start there was a long steady climb as well as a tiny stream crossing. It may have just been that it seemed harder due to our expectations, but when we set out eager for an “Easy” day it was much harder than anticipated. On the positive side, at the 8km mark there are several stores crossing a main highway that we weren’t expecting. We always welcomed the opportunity for a sugar boost.