I've successfully completed the Shvil Yisrael! That doesn't mean the blog is over though. I still have a ton of pictures and a plan for them so hang tight and give me a couple days and I'll have something for you. In the meantime thanks for following this blog! I'm super stoked to have finished!
Three days of hiking left, it's crazy to think about. The north is lush and verdant green, it's covered in wildflowers. Over the past couple days I've been to Tsfat (Safed) and Mt. Meron, it's been a ton of fun but with the finish line right in front of me I'm having trouble keeping pace and not just sprinting for it.
The hills up above the Galilee near Tiberias.
Tons of Cows everywhere!
Rugged mountain path, I forget what the mountain was called but it's beautiful.
On the door of the Bathroom at my trail angels in Tsfat (Safed). They're great people!
This arch is likely older than the U.S. and it's just used as a foot bridge over the river. I love it.
Elijah's seat on Mt. Meron, jewish tradition holds that when the Messiah comes, he will sit on this seat.
More purple flowers on top of the mountain.
View from as close to the top as you're allowed to get of Mt. Meron (the top is a military area).
I've seen a lot more of the book boxes up here in the north.
I'm at the sea of Galilee/ Lake Kinnaret, had a mostly uneventful hike to this point. Currently staying with an awesome trail angel named Micky, he's really knowledgeable on a ton of subjects and friends with the guy who wrote the Israel National Trail guidebook. Previously I ran into an Arab Christian family, Noel and Bshara and everyone were super kind and very concerned that I planned to camp around Nazareth. They let me stay at their place which was great because it dumped buckets of rain and I was pretty much drenched. I'm starting to encounter more hikers going south, this is the season after all. I'll be celebrating my Birthday at a pub in Ginosar today, so I gotta get moving.
Although rare, green tunnels do exist in Israel.
Purple!
More Purple!
This is the Monks Mill, it's an old Grain mill the Vatican rents out to locals.
More Forests!
Mt. Tavor before and after summiting
I'm seeing more and more cattle, plus these calves are adorable, almost makes me feel bad about wanting a cheeseburger, almost.
All that on top of Mt.Tavor
The Galilee!
The rain has been unpleasant but human kindness has outweighed it by a ton. I've ran into several people who bought/offered me food, which could mean I'm looking pretty bad but I choose to believe that they're just nice people. I spent my last day on the beach a couple days ago and I'm chugging along towards the Galilee. I didn't have much luck with trail angels near Isfiya so I got a ride to Haifa and I'm now staying in yet another hostel. I'll be somewhere in between Nazareth and Haifa by the end of day provided I find the right bus out of here.
Got into Caesarea right around sundown, absolutely beautiful.
The aqueduct beach is one of my favorite places. I love that there's just this several thousand year old structure that's not only still standing but basically unprotected. You can climb on top of it and sit under most of the arches. It's wonderful.
You can just make out the beginning of a rainbow there on the left, it was beautiful. Goodbye beach!
Back in the mountains, there's been a couple strenuous uphill hikes after all that flat ground.
Remains of a Byzantine wine press.
Love this terrain.
Seen a ton of cows, this must be cow country.
Yet another dry river bed, I'm getting tired of these even if they are cool, they're no fun to hike up.
Bahá'í Gardens at sunset.
It's been a while, no excuses here, I've just not updated the blog, sorry. I'm chilling in my tent as it rains. Hopefully the waterproofing holds up. The past few days have been a bit nasty, lots of mud and I had to ford a waist high river. The second day out from Jerusalem I walked by some nice people who made me dinner and drove it out to the night camp. There's been a lot of forest hiking and thanks to that I've seen a lot of wildlife including jackals and a couple foxes and a tortoise. A guy I met at the hostel in Jerusalem let me stay with him at his Airbnb yesterday in Tel Aviv. Thanks again Ben! Today was mostly beach hiking so I thought I'd try to make up some time because I'm a day behind schedule. 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) on the beach was brutal but it's over now. I'm currently just a bit south of Hadera and I plan to be in Caesarea tomorrow. I didn't take a ton of pictures because honestly there wasn't much to look at after the forest. It's one of those parts of the trail that is just there to get you somewhere else.
A couple foggy days, it's hard to capture how otherworldly it looks.
The B'nai B'rith Holocaust Memorial is a cave deep in the planted forest outside Jerusalem. It's a really solemn place even without the memorial.
Sunrise! I kinda wish it was sunny right now.
This s is Tel Afek, Herod built a fort here and the the Ottomans built on top of it. There's also a bunch of British Mandate buildings inside. Definitely a journey through history.
British Mandate water building.
The top end of Tel Afek, not much there.
Nasty River I had to ford.
Little turtle!
Art Deco style light house in Tel Aviv, only in use for one year before it was made obsolete.
The Mediterranean!
Amazing hidden beach, you have to hike through a nature reserve to get to it.
I can't get over that Mediterranean blue-green, it's absolutely unique.
There's Netanya!
Had a relaxing zero day in Jerusalem yesterday and despite a free beer tasting and shakshuka included in the complimentary breakfast: The Post Hostel just wasn't as good as the Abraham Hostel. I ended up doing a few things I've never done in Jerusalem, you'll see them in the pictures. Right now I'm 22 kilometres outside Jerusalem, back to camping after my brief stint with the luxury of a bed two nights in a row. I'll be hiking the Burma road tomorrow and pass by the Trappist Monastery Latrun, I've heard from multiple sources that their wine is really good so I might do a mid hike tasting. Anyways here's what you're really here for 😜
On my way to the Old City!
I've never been on the Temple Mount before so I stood in line for an hour at one of the two times a day Non-Muslims are allowed to visit. It's an interesting place.
Old Ottoman ticket counter or something?
The Old City market. Travel pro-tip: if you aren't good at haggling, don't buy things here.
Ate at the Armenian Tavern, it was good but a little spendy.
I've also never walked through Mahane Yehudah market at night (think Pikes Place but Israeli and probably twice the size.) After the shops close, you can see this artwork on a bunch of the security doors. A lot of it is portraits of people with historical significance to the Jewish people or the land of Israel.
They're really intricate.
Back on the road again, climbed hundreds of these steps but is was beautiful the entire way. Almond blossoms everywhere!
Gorgeous sunset today.
And then there's a picture of me, gotta indulge my narcissism from time to time. Later.
I've been chewing up the miles for the past few days, I still can't get the desert mindset of filling up several extra liters of water out of my head, it's quite heavy. I've been having bad luck with trail angels, a couple cancelled on me and still more are on the list but don't do it anymore. At Netiv Ha'Lamed'He I ran into a private school group who convinced me to stay with them just outside the kibbutz. Apparently part of their classes involves hiking parts of the trail, super cool. I'm sitting in the Abraham Hostel in Jerusalem right now, it's pretty chill. Super clean place and the nicest hostel I've been to so far. I'll be heading over to The Post Hostel later so I'll let you know which one is better. Gotta wrap this guy up so here's some pics.
This little guy woke me up at 4 A.M. and tried to come with me. He was adorable but there's no way I could take him with me. Thankfully someone in Beit Guvrin took him home.
Gorgeous hiking weather these past few days.
More flowers, I forget what they're called but they're beautiful.
What do you think that is?
It's a fire lookout, weird right?
Just a carpet of spring in the vineyard, pretty amazing.
Ruins all along the way.
More Almond Trees!
Off on my lonesome for a bit, sorry about the gap between updates, I'll be sure to spam your inbox when I get to Jerusalem to make up for it. Anyways I've been privileged enough to be able to stay at two awesome kibbutzim (think small towns/communes when I say that). Har Amasa and Sansanna were especially awesome because you can just roll on up and they let you stay in a guest cabin for hikers. Really cool. Right now the Anemones are blooming: the flower not the sea creature. Thanks to that there were a ton of people out this past weekend. One of them gave me banana bread which was great. A final note, I'M HALF WAY THROUGH!!! There's the short summary of what's up, here's some pictures:
Trees, beautiful, glorious trees! How I've missed you.
Judean hills with a trail marker, pretty cool pic I think.
Sunrise from my kibbutz cabin.
Country roads: not just in America.
Pretty red flowers everywhere.
Old Turkish railway bridge.
Close up of that bridge.
How many trails have signs like these: Firing Area Entering Is Prohibited All Days Of The Week
Verdant green grass and an tawny old farm road.
Almond Blossoms!!!
Leaving the desert behind and working my way towards Jerusalem. Unfortunately I had to say goodbye to one of my traveling companions in Arad as he had something come up; a bit of a bummer that. The desert was beautiful but not needing to worry about having enough water is also beautiful in a sense. I'm chilling in a Kibbutz right now near Arad, it's very green here and the spring flowers are beginning to bloom: It's absolutely stunning and a complete 180° from just a couple days ago.
Our campsite, inside a concrete shell of some forgotten structure. There's something poetic about seting up a tent inside an abandoned building.
Dead Sea minerals conveyer, pretty cool.
View from inside my tent, last night in the desert.
Big ol footprint, despite what a local guide told us, I think it's a hyena, it's just too big to be a wolf.
Took a different route from the Israel Trail on the advice of our trail angel. I'm glad we did because Nahal Kina was amazing.
Semi-dry waterfall at the end of Nahal Kina. Decent swimming hole I've heard, second hand. Also it's really cold.
Muza in Arad: Awesome bar and grill. If you go to Arad, eat here.
Like I said, the flowers were blooming.
Sweet view from the top of Mount Amasa.
Cheers Chaim, best of luck to yah! Glad we could hike the desert!
I'm in the middle of the hardest stretch of the hike. Six days of food on my back and some of the sharpest inclines of the trail. It's remote, desolate and absolutely stunning. Also I just had bubble gum flavored marshmallows. Very strange.
There she is, a long sharp edge of a crater. It's supposed to be the hardest day but it wasn't so bad. Bit of a climb though.
Some of the climb up to Karbolet, Josh and Chaim there.
Pictures really don't do it justice, it's jaw dropping.
Unit symbol of a special forces branch of the militia that fought for Israeli Independence. They climbed 30+ feet up the wall here using only their rifles.
Old Roman guard tower.
The 'small' crater.
The small crater's gap aka Satan's Throat.
Been a beautiful day, three more days and I'll be in Arad.
There's a geological phenomenon that only exists in the Negev and Sinai deserts called a Maktesh. They're craters but not caused by an asteroid, instead they are formed by erosion of softer rocks leaving behind these outstanding ridges of hard rock. The biggest one is near Mitzpe Ramon and we hiked nearly all the way through it. On our way to the last night camp before Mitzpe Ramon we were told we needed to evacuate the area as a once a year military exercise was being held in the area. So we crammed into a National Parks truck and hitched a ride with them to the city. Every day out here is an adventure, that's for sure. Right now we're heading out for the Karbolet which is supposed to be the hardest day. I'll try to update before we get to Arad but no promises.
The Karbolet Harerim, not the Karbolet but still a difficult and beautiful hike.
Mitzpe Ramon has a really neat artist area called the spice road quarter.
View from Mitzpe Ramon into the crater.
The Hava pits are absolutely radical.
First legitimate oasis I've seen.
Water in the desert, what's more beautiful?
This was a bit sketchy.
View from the top of Hod Akev.
Cool solar rays over Midrashet Ben Gurion.
Caught this guy at sunrise this morning.
It's been a whirlwind couple of days, passed the hundredth mile and moving onward. Had a wonderful Erev Shabbat meal with a family in Tsofar who saw us camping out on the soccer field having our own Erev Shabbat meal. Very cool of them and delicious. Been hiking through a bunch of canyons and really enjoying the Negev in all its glory.
Couple of these guys in Barak Canyon, a bit difficult with 50 lbs on your back to be honest. Still beautiful.
These canyon walls are awe-inspiring.
Moa, an ancient Nabetean trading post, I'll trim my finger out later but you guys get to see it ☺.
This is a book box for thru hikers, neat idea but right now they only do Hebrew so I'm out of luck there.
Loving the Acacias, they're just so photogenic.
Means "cool", Chaim and Josh have been teaching me a couple Hebrew words here and there. We just stayed in this very interesting Kibbutz (commune) called Neot Samadar. Super nice of them to give us a place to crash outside and dinner. Been through Timna park and just passed the Kasui sand dune. I don't have Wi-Fi so you won't be getting as many pictures this time.
Top of Mount Timna, quite the view up there.
Had a nce little fire at our night camp, it's weird how much a small fire can lift your spirits
Ammonite fossils, the book said they'd be huge, I'm guessing huge is a relative term, still cool though.
Beautiful scenery on these cliffs, saw a bunch of those huge round rocks you see in the foreground.
Self cooling tower on the kibbutz, they're a little granola here but super hospitable.
First couple days have been rough going, a ton of ups and downs on very rocky terrain. Thankfully at the end of the first day I caught up to a couple guys who are also thru-hiking the Shivl (Trail). Josh and Chaim are awesome to hike with and yesterday would have been rough without them. We ended pulling 23 mile yesterday and had to hike into Be'er Ora which is a gorgeous little village. Staying the night in this authentic Bedouin Tent outside the guy called Zohar's house. It cost about 50 shekels a person but after the last two days it was so worth it to get a shower and a pad to sleep on. Anyways here's some pictures:
INT sign, read right to left it's white for mountains, blue for the Mediterranean and Orange for the Negev. White on the right means we're heading North.
Goshen Ascent was beautiful, if you look to the left, that "road" is the border with Egypt.
These awesome hills have a name, I just can't remember it 😕 .
Only one of these ladders in the Wadi yesterday, more to come though and they aren't easy with weight on your back.
Did I mention the Negev is beautiful?
Josh and Chaim there, climbing through a super narrow path in the rock.
Shehoret Canyon!
View from the Amram Ascent and what a view it is.
Sunset in the Wadi
Got my bag!!! I've never been so happy to see a backpack. Right now I'm just chilling waiting for my bus to Eilat where I'll be spending the night at the Shelter Hostel. Spent a second night at the Florentine Hostel which was great. A Russian guy invited me out to this neat hole in the wall 80s music bar run by this neat couple. The bartender offered me his bag from his IDF days if mine didn't show which was super cool of him. Anyways, I've got some pics for y'all:
The Florentine neighborhood is an urban artsy area so graffiti is everywhere, some of it is pretty elaborate. I'll definitely get a couple more pics on my way out in February.
It's a pigeon, what can I say? I'm at the station for a couple hours.
So I made it to Tel Aviv, my bag didn't so that kind of sucks. I'll call in the morning and see where it's at but I'm hoping it'll show up sooner rather than later. My flight to Amsterdam was delayed so I missed the direct flight to Israel and got routed through Frankfurt so 28 hours flying and no backpack is how things currently stand. I'm gonna get some food to keep my spirits up. Ttyl8r.
Getting my thoughts composed and testing out my subscription email at the same time! I'm planning on giving myself a couple days to get on Israel time before actually hiking, also there aren't that many buses going to Eilat so I'm stuck with the lesser of two evils here. Full disclosure: I really want to see Eilat so I'm spending a not so necessary day there.
Israel Hike Rough Itinerary:
Personal website of Joshua Askren: Hikes, books, pictures and self indulgent rambling. What's not to love?
See where I'm at on the Shvil Yisrael!