The Hike that Heals

2009-05-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Day Four - The Grand Finale

Well we finally made it to the end, that much wiser, and that much more adept at traversing the challenging terrain of the Golan. Day four was a breeze after the first 3 days. Though we are now hearing the clicking of hiking poles in our sleep and seeing visions of thistles in our dreams, we figure we are doing alright considering we weren’t the ones in the tank that landed upside down at the bottom of the Banias.

After gaining a deep appreciation for nature, we returned to Jerusalem and some even managed to “go green” on the bus ride home.

It’s hard to believe that the trip is over. Time really flies when you wake up at 6, hike for 8 hours, and laugh the evenings away with new friends.

A Detailed Report from Zach
Once again we woke up and loaded the van with our possessions at the ungodly hour of 6 am. As this was the very last day in the Golan, we all needed to pack up, check out and pay our last wishes to the hotel staff at Kfar Giladi. The consensus was that the meals at the hotel out shined the drab dark rooms on floor 5, but what the heck, no one's complaining in this group. After all, if we can hike the Zavitan, we can surely put up with dark carpeting and A/Cs that pretended to be desk fans.

We started the hike where we left off yesterday, at the mouth of the temple to Pan, in Banias Park. A local spring fed into the Banias River, otherwise known as Nachal Hermon. Yishai explained to us that the Hermon River rushes into the Dan River and the two then flow as one forming the Jordan River.

We walked along Nachal Hermon, in an old aqueduct that ran above but parallel to the river. Along the way we had a chance to see a number of old flour mills. One of them was well maintained to the point that it actually worked! The local Druze caretaker turned it on for us, and Yishai told us that farmers in the Golan actually used the flour mill commercially up until the late 1980s.

After a number of photo ops, including an overturned Syrian tank and a beautiful waterfall, Yishai attempted to navigate us around a hill and towards the entrance of the Hermon Field School. Unfortunately the path was not marked and it took some enterprising and patience to find or way to the main road where we were able to meet the bus.

At the field school, Rozi prepared a short final ceremony, presenting certificates to all of the participants and a nice short speech about each one of us. Then Rozi sprung the surprise of the day - a farewell rafting trip down Nachal Hermon as it empties into the Jordan!

Three boats were commissioned. Yishai led Ronnie and Penny in the leisurely cruise boat, while Rachel, Rhonda, Fran and Zach led the paddlers. Rafe, Roberta and Rozi enjoyed a mix of styles while serenading us. All three boats traversed the rapids and made it to the finish line. Not even a late stage inter-boat fracas involving mutual splashing could derail what was the highlight of many on today's final trek through the Golan!!

And now a word from our sponsor
Deep thoughts from Fran

When we started this journey, we were mostly strangers, coming together to support a common goal. 4 days and a few bumps, bruises and scratches later, we emerged as friends with great stories, great pictures, great laughs and most of all, great memories.

Thank you so much to each and every one of you for joining us on this incredible journey. Your humor, helping hands and hiking heels made this a very special adventure. Most of all, thank you for being a part of the lives of the thousands of people who are healed every day thanks to the incredible work of Emunah! A special thank you to Rozi, Yishai, Aner and Arik for keeping us well fed, well hydrated, well educated, well medicated, and well traveled.

See you all soon, start packing your bags for next year and stay tuned for Emunah’s Hike that Heals Blog 2010! (spread the word, this is the place to be!)

Garmin Award – Yishai
Botany Award – Aner
Obsessive Flower Picture Taking Award – (We have a 2 way tie) Rhonda and Fran
Roller Coaster Award – Arik
Best Vocals – Rafe, Roberta and Rozi
Best Kayak Headgear and McGuyver Award – Zach
Best Kayak Paddlers – Penny and Ronnie
Best Blogger and Camel Award - Rachel

2009-05-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

The official route
This morning we departed for the Central Golan Heights and began the hike with the hexagonal pools, one of the finest examples of this kind of geological phenomena in the world.

After a steep descent to the pools we crossed over to Nachal Zavitan, with its abundant foliage.

We walked along the riverbed to the natural spring of Ein Netef and climbed up to the car park of the Yehudiya.

The unofficial route
First we walked all the way down, then we walked all the way up, then we walked all the way down, then we walked all the way up, then we walked straight for a while (and it wasn’t so much cooler than yesterday like it was supposed to be). Where in Israel exactly did they find rocks that were taller than all of us and how does this country produce thorns that are sharper than the barbed wire behind them? After walking the stairway to heaven and receiving scintillating pearls of wisdom from Rozi, our eternal optimist Yishai miraculously managed to convince us that we only had 2 kilometers left for the last 3 hours of the hike.

From there we traveled to our new hotel, Kfar Giladi, in the pan handle/etzbah of the Golan.

We were honored at dinner by 2 very important guests, Yehuda and Rikki Kohn. Yehuda gave us a very moving, 15 minute description of the incredible work taking place at Bet Elazraki.

Comments from the peanut gallery

Penny: Thank goodness for the very strong Turkish coffee that our medic Aner made. It was my rocket fuel for the rest of the day and it was seriously needed. Emunah is an organization that does seriously good work and also runs serious hikes. This is no walk in the park!

Rhonda: After meeting some of our bovine friends along the route, we are all the more convinced of the power of Emooooonah!

Arik HaNahag: Do you think we can arrange to be at a hotel that has the rooms from Ein Gev and the food from Kfar Giladi?

Award of the day
Chivalry award – Zach
Best Masseuse – Olga the Giant

2009-05-18T11:27:00.001-07:00

Well, we got off to a great start picking up the first group on Brenner Street, the second group at the Inbal and the final group at Ben Gurion Airport. We embarked on our journey laden with hiking poles, hiking boots, water bottles and thanks to Penny’s refrigerator, lots of grapes and milk. We immediately found that almost everyone’s name started with the letter R, making those whose name started otherwise feeling a little left out.

We arrived at Kibbutz Ein Gev for a great dinner but more importantly a beautiful introduction and briefing from Rozi and Yishai. The rooms in the kibbutz hotel were amazingly Israeli. Simple in style in every way except for of course the flat screen televisions! No shampoo, but flat screen televisions.

Wake up came at the un-Godly hour of 6:00 am but the group arrived at breakfast with smiles and eager excitement.

As we arrived at the start of the hike Rozi led us in the official opening ceremony which easily could have put China to shame. Newly clad in our Emunah “The Hike that Heals” t-shirts we marked the start with our first of many group pictures.

And now a word from our brilliant guide Yishai:

“Today, we boldly hiked the Gilbon riverbed in the central Golan from top to bottom; from where it begins, all the way down to the Hula Valley. Water flowing, bushes blooming, birds flying and an amazing amount of heat surrounded by insects made this day a truly unforgettable experience. Walking along beautiful water we reached the Gilbon Waterfall (the 2nd highest waterfall in Israel) continuing until we reached the destroyed Syrian stronghold of Jelabina.”

“We hiked, we swam, we showered in the cold water. We met thorns, bugs and cows. We even managed to get into a ruin of an ancient Jewish village called Devorah. We spoke about the Mishna and Talmud period when people lived here and even stood at the entrance of Rabbi Eliezer Hakapar’s Bet Midrash. Like a pearl in the middle of the ocean, we found a pool built by the Syrians filled with crystal water meant only for Syrian officers. From there we descended into the prickly bushes along a water pipe between two minefields. We made our way to an ancient flour mill and then on to a destroyed aqueduct that provided a much needed shower for us all. Finally we trekked the last stretch to reach our bus, never happier to see Arik our nahag.”

All in all it was a terrific day and a wonderful experience to understand the deepest meaning of the word Emunah.

After finishing our hike we took a short visit to Aniam, a really cute artist village which probably would have been even nicer had anything other than the coffee shop been open. If the stores had to close due to the heat, imagine how crazy we were to be hiking.

In their own words:
Rhonda: Today got a perfect score of 100, oh wait. Was that the temperature?

Awards of the day:
Best hat – Rhonda
Best coordinated outfit – Rozi
Hero of the Day – Zach!

with love from Fran

2009-05-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Even though most of us have never
Met, we anticipate a
Uniquely spectacular hike in the
North while helping
A most worthy cause!
Hope you all travel safely and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Fran

The Emunah of America Office in Jerusalem

2009-05-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

5 days to go....and the Emunah team is busy!

The Pope may be in Jerusalem, the roads may be blocked, policemen are posted on every street corner...but nothing prevents Debbie Simantov from reaching the office. The coffee may be cold...but her heart is warm: and the computer keys are HOT from her furious typing! All so that you guys will receive a comprehensive program and there'll be no excuses for oversleeping and making everyone wait for you in the morning!!!

Arik, our bus driver, popped into the office today; I assured him that everyone coming is SOooo nice and no-one will stick chewing gum on his gleaming minbus seats!

Weather? quite cool ---would be PERFECT if we were hiking this week...and will probably be freezing when it's my turn to look after grade 3 girls at their Lag BaOmer bonfire this evening (why I always get the latest turn I don't know...one year I promise that Iwill insist on the first turn - that way I get the hot dogs and french fries - and no responsibility for ensuring the fire is properly extinguished!)

Happy Lag BaOmer to you all!

Preparations

2009-05-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today Yishai and I drove (or rather I drove and Yishai navigated, sang songs, ate, drank...and slept) over 500km....all to finalise plans for the Hike that Heals 2009. We checked out the trails (OK - we didn't actually hike them!), visited Ein Gev and Kfar Giladi - and took care of various technical details.

The Golan is absolutely glorious at this time of the year; everything is blooming, birds are migrating (we saw so many storks!!) the riverbeds still have water flowing...it's just beautiful.

So - it's all up to you now! Haul out those hiking boots (it's REAL hiking , not just a country walk!), stretch those muscles (I'm planning on losing at least 20 pounds in the next 10 days too!!) - and start packing

Rachel's First Post

2009-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

13 days until my first Emunah mission and the excitement is building (or is that my to do list). This is my first organized mission (ok, the first one I’m not running) and I gotta say, this is sooo much easier. Why didn’t anyone tell me to go traveling with Fran/Emunah before? I’ve gotta do this more often.

I’ve already asked the following questions so if you have similar concerns feel free to check with me.

What color should my sandals be?
Will there be any trees on the hikes?
Can I bring 4 suitcase if the total weight equals what one bag would be?
If there is water, exactly how deep will the water be?
You mention there is hiking. Will I be required to sweat?
Can I request a Jacuzzi in my room? If not, I will need extra sponga thingees to mop up the water

Looking forward to meeting the group and not forgetting anything on the gear list.

Rachel

Two weeks to go

2009-05-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

Ok fellow hikers; 2 weeks to go to !
Emunah of America hikers are preparing for the 2009 "Hike that Heals" -4 days of hiking in Golan Heights , whilst raising funds for Emunah projects in Israel.
Yishai Avital has set out the trail maps...and Rozi Florsheim, the Director of Emunah of America in Israel will be joining him this week for a day in the north of Israel in order to finalise all details.
So - stretch those muscles - and get in training!