The Hike that Heals or the Hikers that Need Healing? :)

We woke up nice and early once again for a terrific smorgasbord breakfast and traveled to the foot of Mt. Hermon. Our hike started at Nebe Hazouri, a holy site for the Druze people. We received an explanation from a local Druze man about the history of the location which according to Yishai was factually incorrect on pretty much every point. Nothing like a local perspective.

From here our paths diverged.

A report from Zach
Some of us descended into Nachal Hazouri, hiking along the dry river bed until we reached the foot of Nimrod’s fortress. Unlike yesterday’s foray along the Zavitan river, the Hazouri dips below ground for most of the stretch of river that we hiked. This made for a much easier hike than the Zavitan as the lack of water resulted in noticeably thinner vegetation and few if any stagnant pools of water blocking our path.

The thinner canopy of vegetation granted us another pleasant bonus: an unobstructed view of the canyon walls. Yishai was the first to spot a small family group of hyraxes ambling up the sheer rock wall of the canyon.

The last part of the Hazouri led us to the foot of al-Subayba, known as Nimrod’s Fortress. Built in the early 1200s as a bulwalk to protect the Muslim population of Damascus from the invading Crusaders approaching from the coast of the Mediterranean, it sits on a ridge that rises approximately 800 feet off the Hazouri floor.

As has been the case throughout most of the hiking to date, Rachel zipped up the steep, 45+ degree incline leaving the rest of the group to huff and puff it up the hill one step at a time. 18 minutes into the ascent, the rest of the group arrived to find Rachel lounging causally at the foot of our bus. Clearly she beat the rest of us by more than just a few strides.

With the first half of the hike over and the group reunited, Yishai led us on a tour of Nimrod’s Fortress.

The last part of the day saw us ambling down Nimrod’s Fortress to the Banias below. Unlike the climb, the descent was done at a leisurely stroll with an easy 5-10 degree decline for most of the way. It took approximately 90 minutes, and with the weather under 90 degrees for the first time this week we needed only a handful of water breaks before making it to the bottom.

A report from Ronnie
We started on the Hike for the Handicapped in Tel Dan and looked into the wheelchair accessible trails in the area. We visited the Winnie the Pooh tree on our way to search for Gan Eden. We put our badly beat up feet in the wading pool and brrrr, the water was cold! We did see an ancient flour mill but we didn’t bother stopping there. I mean how many mills can you see in 3 days? We met a cow but didn’t stop to milk it. The gradient was approximately .0001 degrees but there was a lot of water … in our camelbacks. The bathrooms were really nice and the store was great. We watched teens clearing out the brush from last year’s fire and we gave them great chizuk as we watched attentively. All in all a particularly stressful morning.

All in all a wonderful day. The terrain in the morning as we climbed boulders, was fun, challenging and gave us some fantastic images. The majestic flora against the backdrop of the Golan region was simply breathtaking.

The brilliant idea of the day was of course taking our beautifully swollen feet in search of new shoes at the Teva Naot factory. We came back for dinner and then celebrated Ronnie’s birthday a few days early. Another superb day, care of Emunah. We are just so sad that there is only one day more.

Awards
Most Issssssssues – Rozi
Feet Don’t Fail Me Now Award – Penny
Crocodile Dundee Award – Zach