Qadîsha nd Qannoubine valley: 1500 stairs plus-LMT 7-St. Antonios Qozhaya-Dario Escobar hermitage-Saydet Qannoubine-Mar Aboun

An exquisite and rough hike but definitely worth it and rewarded in the sacred valley of Qannoubine. Great experience and amazing memories were indeed sculpted in our brains.
This valley is a world apart, its beauty and holiness are indescribable. Its called the saints valley for an obvious and good reason, its home for an abundance of churches, sanctuaries, caves and cave-churches, shrines, monasteries, lots of ruins, stone bridges, watermills, and home for many hermits centuries ago and until today where the Hermit Dario Escobar, a Maronite Colombian monk is dwelling at Our Lady of Hawqa Monastery, a centuries old chapel chiseled into the cliffside.
I rated this trail very difficult because its a long one and dangerous at some part where u find yourself on a slippery descend on the edge of a cliff. Just stay fully focused and cautious, you dont need any more skills than that. Plus this trail has lots of mounting up on steep angle slopes and know that from the very first steps u will start climbing the infinite 1300 stairs out of the 1500 total stairs that starts from the hydroelectric power plant to reach a cemented bridge where you catch the LMT section 7 where u go left first to visit Mar Antonios Qozhaya and Mar Bawla, then go back on the same trail to cross this bridge again, but to the other side this time, and venture into Qannoubine valley.
When in Qannoubine valley, we missed the trail that leads to Our Lady Of Hawqa Monastery, where hermit Dario Dwell, but we insisted on going there, so we decided to start mounting up and hoped to catch the upper trail we missed. Luckily we did. This section is so gnarly but it was a great adventure that we all enjoyed. Unfortunately, the hermitage was closed bcz of the pandemic.
Later we visited Saint Marina sanctuary, then Our Lady of Qannoubine Monastery before descending towards Abou Ali river to cross it over a bridge and start going back to close our loop on the other side of the valley, where we also passed by many sightseeing and dramatic panoramas and visited Mar Aboun, a beautiful church built in a huge cave with multiple levels, many tunnels and many rooms inside.
Make sure you have more than 2Liters of water. U can refill at Saydet Qannoubine but be aware of the sign potable water before drinking.
Enjoy ur hike and the splendid effort u spent doing it.