In honor of ancient Jews wandering in the desert for 40 years and, more importantly, modern Jews getting some time off for Passover, Marc, Mikey, Ashley, and I decided to do some wandering of our own over the weekend. Ironically, we left our 'Lotan home' in the desert in order to hike through the lush green trails of the north of Israel (and for only 4 days instead of 40 years).
The new incarnation of a ferocious foursome stopped over in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night before heading to Achziv (a town outside of Nahariyya) on Thursday where we planned to start the trail commonly known as 'Yahm LeYahm' (or 'Sea to Sea'). This path goes from the Mediterranean to the Kinneret or vice versa, and is tread by youth groups goers and lone travelers alike.
(Marc and I on our journey north)
(And the 'kids'; Mikey and Ashley)
(After a confusing cab ride we finally made it to Achziv... now if we could only find the trail...)
(Luckily the Mediterranean wasn't too hard to find)
(And there's the trail head)
(Ashley trying out her grip)
(We ran into some busy bees among the fields)
(Mmmmm... honey)
(Walking through the avocado orchards, just past the banana fields)
(At our first campsite we roasted hot dogs over the fire... unrelated to the 'wild dogs' or 'people of the hills' that we heard just hours before we went to bed that night)
(And then for 'evening program' there was bamboo whittling)
(Our campsite...cute tents eh?)
(On the trail again, with Montfort in the background)
(Crossing a brook, pursued by a band of wild young'uns)
(Awww...)
(Stopping for lunch)
(Whippin up some pasta)
(This is where we suspected we were starting to get lost)
(And then we knew we were lost...)
(It turned out we had wandered some kilometers off-track and ended up in Maalot)
After trying to venture back into the forest to meet up with the trail again, we turned back to Maalot when the non-existent trail we were following became too thick and it started to get darker. We ended up taking a taxi to Hurfish, the Druze village which we were recommended to have dinner in and where the trail definitely continued. Some might call this taking of the taxi 'cheating' of Yahm LeYahm tradition, but we reluctantly considered it a 'unique' trail route.
That night, after dining on 'Sambusak'(druze version of a calzone) we set up camp a kilometer or so from the town. We knew we were in the wild again when we heard the coyotes howl as we set up our camp site (hoping in vain to find a rock-free patch of grass).
It was all uphill from there, because our second day of hiking brought us to Mount Meron, and our first views of the Kinneret.
(Marc checking out the area)
(We stopped to explore a small cave on our way up)
(And there we are at the top! From left: Mikey, Ashley, Marc, and Me)
(This is what we saw)
(And then we stopped for lunch overlooking the Kinneret)
(On the road again)
(This is when we ran into a nice arab family and were practically force fed chicken wings and pickles)
(We were impressed by this tree growing out of an ancient well that temporarily protected us from a rain shower)
(Shortly thereafter we chanced upon an ancient tomb)
(Mmmm... fried peanut butter and chocolate quesadillas)
(Morning Chi-kong?)
(The trusty map)
(That's a solid arch)
(...)
(Staying hydrated)
(Roadblock)
(Traffic jam)
(Well we almost made it...)
(Shalom Yisrael)
