Aliyah Blog 98: Winter River in The Judean Hills

Introduction

Though hard to believe, I’ve read it and heard it enough times to believe that during most all of the year, this place is completely dry:

Does that look dry to you? What about this:

They say only drive through with a 4×4. Agreed. My yuppie mobile isn’t attempting this.

Where is this?

This is Nahal Ref’aim, in the Judean hills, accessible by walking from Begin Park – which is the trail head for many trails, just outside of Beitar Illit:

Getting there is half the fun, past Ikea in Beit Shemesh, driving up and up and up, past the stalactite cave found while clearing a mountain for stone (very worth seeing), and more up until reaching the park which is sometimes paved and occasionally marked with directional signs. Occasionally.

Follow the signs for Nahal Ref’aim, take a green trail and then a red trail and then your sense of direction as sometimes the trail is marked well, sometimes it becomes non-existent, and sometimes the trail is through a river streaming down a mountain and given the once a year it’s flowing hard after great rainstorms, you have to found your own trail through the woods around the river. On flat places, just walk through the river and mind the thick, deep, sinking you into it, mud that looks like solid ground:

Getting Your Feet Wet

I brought my waterproof socks:

Those things are magic. (They’re over my pants for the picture only – though they only come in crazy colors at the time.) Way to go American consumerism … bought them on Amazon before I made Aliyah for $30. Made the hike so much more enjoyable while my friend relied on his umbrella for balance and to keep is sneakers and socks dry. “Nah, I’m just walking straight through this thing”, thought I.

(My extended family mocks the waterproof socks to their own loss.)

Speaking of, I met up with a friend from college who made aliyah right after graduating. Previously, we also met up with another such friend – having not been together for 23 years, we were all wearing slip on mesh sneaker / shoe things and khakis.

Spending time with them is like picking up exactly where we left off. You made your lifetime friends in your 20s and then it gets harder.

Let’s Play Find the Trail

Level 1: Where’s the trail?

Level 2: Where’s the trail?

Level 3: Where’s the trail?

Boss level: Where’s the trail?

After hiking down through a narrow mountain trail around a river, we came to this form in the road. Which way do you go?

We went left and took a very long, circuitous, though easy road down to the bottom. On our way back up, taking a trail and coming out over here it turned out the best answer was “straight through the middle between the bushes.” If you look carefully, there is actually a trail marker.

Check out Winter

Didn’t know they had these in Israel – they’re all over here:

Ancient Cisterns and Houses

There’s no shortage of stone walls – seems this was a very terraced and large inhabited village:

Note my friend with an umbrella – it was raining hard when we got there and then slowly cleared up with some drizzle here and there. (I preferred a waterproof jacket with hood and … waterproof socks.)

Underneath that structure you found this:

Which brings you to this:

. . . as well as other above-ground cisterns nearby. Having trouble finding on the internet to when this village dated, though it seems it’s bronze age … 2500 years old-ish! Unreal.

This hike took us about three hours – though there’s a reason that “conspiracy to commit a crime” is also a crime by itself. When more than one person join together, they’re more likely to commit a longer and more elaborate crime. By myself, it is very doubtful I would have hiked this long. While very tired afterwards and missing my first day of Duolingo in many months, it was very worth it. I hope to go back when it’s dry just so I can see the difference.

Sataf Hike

Sataf is nearby (see above map). This hike was this past December 5, though I didn’t give it its own blog article – though I did reference it.

Sataf is just beautiful:

Much of the trail serpentines back and forth over the ancient terraces:

… and it has its own ruins and still working water collection:

Feeling like a kid discovering the world, I just keep asking myself – I lived in Israel for almost a year and half and visited many times … why did I never know these places existed? With thanks to the Hiking the Holyland blog which is a huge source of hiking information.