mukhaires canyon

Quick info:

Location:
Dead Sea, Madaba.
Across the street from Hilton Dead sea resort and spa.
Approximately 40 minutes from Amman. (7th circle)
GPS coordinates: Wadi Mukhaires.

Length and Duration:
3 km's one way. (6 Km's total)
Thats what we only hiked, you can do another 4 km's roughly.
It took us 2 hours to go in, 1 hour to go out. (total: around 3 hours)

Difficulty :
Easy; Nothing difficult you have to worry about.

Kids friendly:
Yes.

Minimum recommended age: Suitable for kids 6+ with swimming ability, as there are few deep ponds. (1.6 m deep)
In the first part of the canyon, you should scramble a few big rocks from the left side to continue.
We found it very easy as adults, and we believe that it is easily doable if the adults took care of the kid to scramble the rocks.
(check the photo below)

Name:
Mukhaires Canyon (lower part)
وادي مخيرس الجزء السفلي

This Canoyn has has 2 entries to start from. The upper part is done by ropes as there are 3 rappels, and should be done with a certified adventure guide that has experience with rope access.

The lower part is what we will cover here, and it is family friendly canyon, and has an easy car access too.

Best time to visit:
Spring, Summer, early Autumn.
(Always check forecast for possible rain)
Never go to canyons during winter!

We went 3 times to this canyon, we found it the best to go mid afternoon and go out of the canyon by sunset, as the shades will be spread around the canyon and make it easier to hike.

Dress Code & Gear:
Quick-dry clothes, sturdy water shoes or hiking sandals with grip, sun hat.

For modesty (recommended in Jordan): Consider wearing shorts over leggings or knee-length swimwear.

Notes: We didn’t use dry bag for electronics and it was completely fine.
We had extra clothes and shoes in the car to change after the hike as we were completely wet.

Food and Drinks:
We packed 2 litres of water, 100 grams of mixed nuts, an apple. (for each person)

Highlights:
Wild mountain goat.
Big crabs.
Ponds for dipping in and relax.

Safety:
Always Tell someone your plan: Share the canyon location, starting time, and expected return time with a friend, hotel.

Check the weather: Avoid canyons during winter season.

Carry essentials: First aid kit, enough water, snacks.

getting inside the canyon:

The opposite side of the Hilton Dead Sea resort and spa, you will find a small street to your right. Drive there and park anywhere.
You will find a small office with guards belongs to a solar system cells comapny.

We always greet them and tell them about our plan as a kind of safety.

Start walking next to the cells until the path leads you to the opening of the canyon and then walk for 10 minutes to get to few big rocks with a waterfall where you need to climb or scramble them.

As we mentioned earlier, its very easy and could be done by kids but under supervision and help from adults.

After this you walk for another 10 minutes for the real beauty of this canyon.
The water streams start to get wider and nicer, you will walk surrounded by trees and birds chirping.

Nothing hard to climb in this canyon, and you will have the option to walk in the water streams, or beside them and keep jumping over them to avoid your shoes being wet.

The more you walk inside the canyon, the more you will see more small waterfalls and ponds.

You will notice how many crabs there are, some are big, others are small, but as for frogs, there are only small ones inside still ponds.

At some points, you will have to use your hands to get over a small rock or scramble around medium water streams.

After around 1 hour you will reach a big waterfall compared to previous ones with a shallow clear pond, where you can take a long break, enjoy yourself under the water fall, or just grab an apple.

To continue from there, you will need to climb a slippery wet rock similar in shape to a slide, but its not dangerous at all, and very easy to do.

Or just go the the left side of the waterfall and climb few small dry rocks to get on top of the waterfall.

Both choices are fun and easy to do!

10-15 minutes from there you will reach a very nice and deep pond (1.6 m deep) connected to a water stream.

There you can dip yourself and sit on the rocks in the middle of the pond to relax and enjoy a drink for example!

After that, the canyon will offer more small waterfalls, water streams and bigger trees.

You can walk deeper as much as you like, but for us, after walking for three Km's, we decided to walk back before sunset as we didnt have our headlights.

This canyon is one of our favourites for many reasons.

Its less than one hour from Amman, perfect escape even during working days.
Easy to hike and full of water and deep ponds to chill and relax especially in hot days.

It is also perfect for Family adventure with kids, or even beginners who are new to outdoor activities.

Here are more photos of this beautiful canyon:

Instagram

Feel free to contact us to help you organize your trip to Jordan and have unforgettable memories!