This photo was not taken by me (you can find it and several other nice Wadi Mujib pictures on Flickr or by doing a Google image search for "Wadi Mujib") but I think it'll help you get an idea of why I'm so in love with this place. We didn't actually climb the waterfall depicted (you need a guide and equipment for that) but we did hike to it.
There were four of us (we were supposed to be joined by some other friends, but they got a super late start so we hiked separately. We were expecting to see them at some point on our hike back, but we were almost to the end by the time we passed them) and we hired a taxi from Amman for the day (only 30 dinar = about $10 apiece!). According to new RSCN rules, you have to wear a life jacket on your hike, kindly included in the price of admission.
We took the Siq trail, which is about two and a half hours round trip hiking through an incredible canyon. You walk in the river (shockingly clean, especially for Jordan) essentially the entire time. Almost all of the pictures you'll see of the canyon will be of the beginning of the hike or the end at the waterfall, for the reason that it would be very difficult keep a camera dry and in your hand for most of the rest of it.
Not too far into the hike, you have to climb your first waterfall. This one is short and easy to get over, but as you continue the falls get higher and more difficult to climb. In some places, you have to haul yourself along a rope just to get close enough to scramble up the falls. You clamber across wet rocks and through torrents of water, with the walls of the canyon rising up around you and occasionally overlapping above you until you finally arrive at your destination, a gorgeous waterfall. You walk through it, the water pounding your head, and there is a small hollow. There are fish in the calmer water back here, and they nibbled at your legs until you wedge yourself between two rocks. Don't try to talk too much, because you won't be able to avoid getting the spray from the falls in your mouth and the noise will drown out your voice anyway.
The walk back is easier (and cooler) if you give up on walking. You can float almost all the way back (occasional climbing down rocks is still required where the falls are dangerous, and at some points you do have to roll from one side of the river to the other) with only a few bumps, enjoying the view of the canyon as you go.
As if the hike itself wasn't awesome enough, on our taxi ride back to Amman we passed a large fleet of motorcycles. Now, in Jordan, not many people have motorcycles and there are pretty strict limits on the amount of horsepower you can have. So when you see a bunch of massive bikes coming down the road followed by a string of black cars with tinted windows, you know something's up. As the motorcycles went by, our taxi driver indicated the last, largest, shiniest motorcycle and told us, "That's the king." So, so, so cool.
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