Shvilist

As i described earlier, the day started with me gathering my half torn food stack, and walking sadly to Midreshet Sde Boker to refill my bottles. The way goes through Zin river – the third largest seasonal stream in Israel (the Arava being the second and Paran the first). At a night camp, just by the Midrasha itself, i met an ex-shvilist (that was his definition, for he hiked the INT last year. He came to that place the night before – just to bring up memories) and he invited me for late breakfast ,and gave me some tips for the rest of the journey.The most important one was for Arad region – in this region there are many Bedouin people, and he warned me that they steal whatever they can while you’re asleep (he told me a story about six guys who went to sleep in Tamar fort, and when they woke up they discovered that three of the backpack were missing, as well as two pair of shoes. I have no idea how true this story might be – but there are not many way more miserable to end your hike then to wake up and find you have nothing but a sleeping bag in the middle of the desert….) In order to put his warning in perspective, I should note that i met several bedouin along the way, and they were all nice people. On the other hand, his warning did such a strong impression on me,  that i never gave them a chance to grab my things. He gave me a lift to the Midrasha (http://www.boker.org.il/english/) and then another lift down to the stream – to the same place where I met him.

Then, I climbed the stream bank opposite to the one one which the Midrasha is placed (it’s a green-marked trail, but it has no special name of it’s own). It is a steep  climb, and as soon as i arrived on the top, i saw a bedouin tent placed in front of me, and a woman called me in. well – by the time i got there it was was almost 12:00, so i figured i might as well sit in the tent and enjoy her hospitality. And I must give the credit where it’s due – they are  great hosts.

As I came close to the tent the woman called me in (“tfad’al, tfad’al!” – come in in Arabic). she has a fire pit in the tent, and she immidiately put a tea pot in the fire, and then took out some dough and a metal plate, on which she baked me Pitta bread. Then she took out a small jug, and poured out some goat sheese she made herself. I sat there for an hour, eating and chatting with he – her hebrew is not so good, and my arabic is practically non-existent, and still we manage to communicate – using hebrew, arabic and english words in the same sentence, and completing it with lots of hands movements….. So the woman’s name is Magdalena, and she has two adoreable daughters (They get to have the cheese only once a week. it’s reserved for guests) – and if you happen to be nearby, i would definitely recommend you’d stop by her tent…

After I left her tent i put into words the moto which i tried to live by while on the INT (actually i lived by it long before i put it in words) – כשמשהו אומר לך ‘תפדל’ – אתה מתפדל. The translation of this one is the headline, though the translation is not as graceful as the original sentence…

Anyway, i continue walking on the green unnamed trail, till i reach the Akev spring (which i visited the day before). From the spring i climbed Hod Akev, where you have spactacular view of the Zin wadi. (literal translation of Akev is heel. A hod is point. combine the two and you’ve got ‘ the tip of the heel’ – a name which suits that place very well).

The trail then climb down into the wadi itself, and keeps in it untill it connct to Madur (seasonal) stream – where another night camp is located.

I started this day with another deviation from the trail, and went to the ancient ruins of Sharav (literal translated into heat wave) – which was a great dissapointment – other than scattered stones, this site offers nothing to see. It is marked on the map – but our antiquities authority did nothing with them – not even a sign saying “you’re in an ancient place, don’t mess with it”.

since it really bugged me, i did a little research on the place : it was a settlement from the Arab-caliphate period – meaning it was  built  sometime in  between 634 A.D. to 1099 A.D. nowadays you have nothing to see from this 1000 (or 1500) years old settlement.

I then climbed down Sharav ascent, and went to Sharav fountain – which is the least impressive oasis i saw today. Then i climbed up Nahash tzame asend (literal translation : the thirsty snake ascend. Who thought of that one?!?!?)

The trail continues to another fountain – Shaviv fountain – one of the few places where you have populus trees growing in the desert. really nice place, very different from it’s surroundings. ont the way there i encoutered a familly of camals – the female had her legs tied up, meaning she belongs to some beduinian tribe. The tail goes into Akev (heel) river, which has in it two more fountains : the upper and the lower Akev fountains. the original plan was to go to Ovdat to resupply from the upper fountain – but since i resupplied the day before and i’ve been to Ovdat several times in the past, i decided to carry on and reached Akev night camp by nightfall.

In the camp there were a travelling familly (a couple with their two children and a 4×4) and three girls which hikes this area.  I placed my sleeping bag between the vehicle and the girl’s tent, and fast fell asleep. i woke up several times in the night, because i heard noises from the direction of the tent – but since i was tired, i didn’t bother to check ‘em out.

In the following morning i discovered that the upper compartment of my bag was open, and all the food i had there is scattered on the camp. the nises i heard was because a fox opened up my backpack and stole food. well, I always carry an emergency supplies with me, and i know that in two more days i have another stash of supplies, so i wasn’t worried.

Usually I don’t tend to compare, nor to assign titles such as “the most ___ place”. One of the great things about Israel is the amazing variety this tiny country has, and most of the hike I walked through two entirely different landscapes each day.

And yet – I can say that I like the desert more than I like the northern part, and for me, today was the highlight of the desert.

The day started in Mitzpe ramon, with storm clouds looming low, reminding me just how small and insignificant a man is compared to the mights of nature. The trail itself goes north-eastward, along the edges of the makhtesh, giving you a breath-taking spectacle of the eastern part of the makhtesh. while on the edge, the storm clouds gave away – and for an hour and a half i had a shower (which really was nice, even though i had a warm shower the night before)

The trail leaves the edges of the makhtesh, and starts heading north again, and i expanded the trail to include Machmal fort – another Nabatean building, which controlled the incense route from chan shayarut northward, having a nice view of the eastern side of the makhtesh. I then returned to the trail  – which goes to a first glimps of Zin river – one of the biggest in the Negev – and then I went to the most beautiful river in the Negev, and maybe even in the entire INT – Hava river, which has in it a small fountain, as well as a nice water filled cistern. The canyon in which the river flows is a combination of the pure white lime , yellowish sand stone and the black magmatic rocks, and the fountain draws in many of the desert creatures. I saw two or three different ibex families (with many cute youngsters) and as i approached the night camp, a full herd of them (almost 40 of them, i’d guess) crossed my path.

I hid water& food suuplies in the night camp, which enabled me expand the trail in the following days – but i’m getting ahead of myself

The day started by climbing the walls of Ramon makhtesh – mount saharonim – and then climbing down, to gwanim night camp – where i originally planned to stay the night.

I even had a supplies hidden there – but upon arrival (about 8:00), i met five people (i’d guess – in their forties-fifties) having breakfast – to which i immidiately was invited (“hello there! how would you like your huevos?”). They were really nice people, and it turns out that they usually set out in that time of the year to see the desert bloom – only they do it with 4×4 cars, and not by foot…. which does allow them to travel more comfortly (and have better meals ). After an hour or so i began walking again – a bit heavier than originally planned.

The trail goes from the night camp through Gwanim river (the literal translation is shades – for the sand in that reagion has many different colours and shades to it) then carries on to the outer wall of the makhtesh – and you climb the wall again (mount Triz – which is wedge in hebrew. Again – suitable name ) only to climb it down on the other side and see the famous wall of the amonites.

The amonites are outside the makhtesh, and so you climb the walls onces again (Shen Ramon, which translates into Ramon’s tooth, where you have fantastic view of the machtesh) and down on the other side – and finally you’re in the makhtesh.

from there, the trail crosses the makhtesh through an unnamed wadi (veru uncharacteristic – usually each and every stone in Israel has a name. even some of the trees have name – near kibbutz Lahav, for example, stand a tree which marks what used to be the border of Israel up to 67. as a matter of fact, the way that border was set in 1948 was – drawin a streight line on the map from that tree to Ein Gedi… but i’m getting ahead of myself. wait till day25 )

The trail reaches the prisms, which are magmatic rocks which cooled down to form a typical hexagon-shaped columns, and from there it climbs the makhtesh walls one last time to Mitzpe Ramon – but i deviated ones again from the trail, and went east, to  see the saw -mill – another volcanic formation. Only then i turned back and climbed – for the last time for this day – the walls of the makhtesh.

After 12 days of continuasly walking, i took two and a half days to rest. I spent Thursday’s night in Midreshet Sde Boker (http://www.boker.org.il/english/) which is located near the grave of our first prime minister – David Ben Gurion. The next two nights i spent in Mitzpe Ramon itself, in a guest-tent (it wasn’t really a house… but it did have showers, which i totally considered as luxturies at that point)

The trail goes up mount Yahav, giving you a nice lookout towards Nekarot river – one of the three rivers which created Ramon machtech (no, it’s not a crater). Someone told me that this lookout is considered the most beautiful place between Sapir and Ramon – but personally i think that Tsvira mountain was more impressive.

Next, you climb down and walk in the river itself. The river connects to Geled river, and in the connection you have a night camp, in which the guides of the society for the protection of nature in Israel (in Hebrew their name is much shorter…) place bottles of water for the hikers walking the INT. Since i filled up my bottles in Sapir (and again in the night camp) I didn’t need any more – but I sure am glad that you can count on them in emergencies (and i personally know of several people who, in their original plan, counted on finding water there – something i found a bit risky at the time)

You walk along Geled river (the literal translation of geled is scab. have no idea why they chose this name for that river – but it’s not the first, nor the last place where i wonder about it’s name and the people who named it that. then again – what’s in a name? after all -  a rose, in any other name would smell as sweet….)

After a short walk up Geled river, you cross to Maok (translation : deep gorge) river. Here you start seeing the geological layers standing in various angles, getting ready to their job as the walls of the machtesh. The trail climb one of this walls – Karbolet haririm mountain (karbolet is chicken’s crest – and the shape of the mountain does remind you of that. Haririm are plural of Harir, which is a small hole – and i am totally clueless as to what has that to do with anything, except that we have mount Karbolet, and so they had to destinguish somehow between the two)

The trail goes doen into Nekarot river, and you walk the first part of the river outside Machtech, which is Parsat Nekarot (Nekarot’s horseshoe) – a really nice place.

My original plan was to reach Gevanim night camp, which required climing up the machtesh walls up and down again – but the sun was setting as i entered Parsat Nekarot, so i headed to a day camp – chan Saharonim instead, figuring it’s better to sleep in a daycamp that in a no camp at all. besides, chan Saharonim was a Nabatean station, part of the incense route, due to a small fountain which flowed nearby. So this place knew of human presence long before i arrived…

The day started with a tour of the ancient city of Moa. The Nabateans ruled this land about 2000 years ago (third-first century B.C., if i’m not mistaken). They were nomadic people, and they knew the secrets of the desert – how and where one could find water. They were merchants and thieves, raiding and killing all those who didn’t pay for the right of passage through the land. their kngdom reached it’s peak by the time the Hasmonean built their kingdom in Israel, and in this period they started to settle down, building cities (such as Ovdat, Mamshit and Petra, to name a few) . Eventually those cities would be their downfall – as long as they didn’t have them, no rulling power could have overcome them in the desert, but once stationary targets were placed in the scene, the roman army captured and destroyed them one by one – for the roman didn’t like the idea of other people taxing the merchants.

Moa is placed near a well. you can see that by the type of vegetation in the area – there are actually dried up typha (קני סוף) over there. so why dried up? I don’t really know. Maybe we are pumping the well dry, but i heard another theory blaming a recent earthquake, which caused the fountain to stop flowing. Doesn’t really makes sense to my opinion, since this is a layered fountain – so if one end of the fountain ‘was sealed up, then the water would find a different path…. But perhaps i’m mistaken.

anyway, the trail goes north along the ancient fountains route (today it serves as a bicicle route for the people of Tzofar). There is another well, which is completely pumped up, near Tzofar. Then we go north all the way to the settlement of Sapir. There, after a thorogh search for a sunscreen lotion (eventually i had to go to a nearby gas station, which only had this feminine use-it-after-you-had-a-facial thingy… but i figured it’s better to use that than get myself sun burnt)

i met another highschool trip, which were going the same way as i did – so I practically joined them. The road leaves the Arava and go up  – through Eshborn river to Tsvira (literal translated into accumulation) mountain – from which a spactacular view (on of the best in the Negev, to my opinions) could be viewed. On this mountain the map marks two cracks, and i found that fact really funny , until I got to see those cracks : the entire mountain shifted 1-1.5 meters, creating a 100 meters deep crack. very impressive.

Then, I climbed down to Tzvira night camp, where the school trip cought up with me…. So i had company, as well as supper

The day started with a 10 km hike to Barak night camp, where i buried another pack of supplies. I didn’t need them, actually, since each pack had water for two days, and food for about a week – but the pack was there, due to my conservative planning, so i figured i might as well take the water….

The Barak river, on which i was hiking, is a land of roaming camels, and i did spot a family (three males and a white female) on the way. So now i can honestly say that i walk as fast as a camel . well, at least as fast as a i’m-not-in-a-hurry, it’s-too-hot-so-what’s-the-rush camel

I reached the night camp at about 10, resupplied and headed back to the trail, which travel through the ancient (approx 2500 years old) road which was part of the Nabateans road system – it is called fountain roads(though most fountains have been long dried up, or currently are being pumped for the precious water – and so the many oasis along the trail are currently, and sadly, drying up – making life for the wild animals harder than they’re already are. The road meets Tzofar river, which in turn connects to Ashosh river. The river lies in a relatively wide canyon (about 500 meters across), with pretty steep cliffs in both sides . There are areas in which the sand was ground to powder by heavy vehicles driving on the way – a very important fact (the powder, not the vehicles) as i was about to discover.

It started with a ten minutes drizzle, which got dried up in minutes. I didn’t even bother to get my cammera inside the backpack…. and then the wind started. i looked back, and a saw scene which was taken from a full budget holliwoodean film: a wall of sand was approaching (remember the airplane scene from “the mummy”? it was actually not that imaginary afterall). In about 15 minutes i was in the storm, not able to see any further than 20 meters. I was tired from the previous two days of hard march, and i already covered about 22 km when the storm began – but i figured that i shouldn’t stay in it – I should try to get out of the river, where the winds won’t be that strong and the sand won’t be that powder-like. Only later did i discovered that the storm was in the entire region – and it was so strong that power lines collapsed, and the traffic was ceased due to zero visibility. But i didn’t know that at the time, and so, believing that i must get out of this river, i quickened my pace – as much as i could, considering the fact that i was tired, and i knew that i have another 8 km to the end of the canyon.

In the strong winds I lost my compass (it was hangong from my backpack and simply flew away). since i couldn’t see the sun, i navigated by the cliff to my right, assessing my position by the angle between the road and the cliffs. I made it by last light to the night camp near Moa – The first stop in Israel of the Inscene route – the route on which the merchants would transfer incense from Oman to Gaza’s port  and from there – to Europe. check the following presentation for more details (this is an official presentation, which was made by the Israel nature and park authorities)

http://www.parks.org.il/files/Incense_Route_for_internet.ppt

anyway, Moa is located about 2 km from a settlement named Tzofar, and since i knew storm clouds are still waiting to pour down their contents, i decided to go and try my luck there. But it was last light – walking to the settlement would be carried out in the darkness (and with the sand storm, it’s going to be pitch black) – and i have never been to Moa before. Since i do love history, i couldn’t pass the chance to visit the ancient city, and as i approached, i found a small and shallow cave (my guess is that it had been used for storage) – where i immidiately setteled down for the night.

And indeed – it was stormy in the night, the rain clearing the air from the sand. as for me, I woke up once or twice, moved my sleeping bag a little further down the cave, and went back to sleep

unlike most of the trail, the path between Neot Smadar and Zihor junction is a streight line – regardless of the topography, which is not flat as you might think by a first glance in the map. There are many low hills and shallow  streams along the way – causing you to constantly climb up and down along the path. I reached the end of this road by 11 a.m., and it took me another half an hour to find the water i buried before I started the trail…. but the water (and food) was there, and so i was able to carry on.

From there, the INT goes into Zihor river, which connects to Paran river (the Paran desert, which is mentioned in the bible, is the beginning of this river, which lies in Sinai peninsula. Actually, the Sinai mountain, where the israelites recieved the ten commandments, marks one edge of this desert)

The day was one of the hottests days in my journey, with the temprature at high noon reaching 42 degrees – and so i stopped to rest under a tree. (my clock has a thermometer in it. I find it nice to wake up in the middle of the night and know exactly how cold am I )

Then i carried on to Vardit river, which goes into Vardit canyon – which i rank third most beautiful place in the entire trail. (It was a very close match between it and Amir river).

Then the trail carries on to Barak canyon – This really is a nice place, too bad that it’s goegraphically close to Vardit canyon, which is just way more cool a  place to visit.

The original plan was to reach the night camp by the end of Barak river, about 10 km from the canyon. But I climb down the canyon in the twilight, and the dark came soon after – and i decided that i was just too tired to go on. Besides – you don’t see the views in the night…

The day started early, and with less-than-usual amount of water (4.5 litters – since i knew i’ll have places to have some more along the way), which, along with the fact that most of today’s path was a very easy one, account for the impressive milage – i covered about 35 km today (way more than i originally planned). The trail begins with Shaharut river (not a very impressive one, but nice), a sand dune – and then you pretty much go along the road all the way to Ne’ot smadar (walking underneath the powerlines…. i wonder weather someone bothered to check for radiation on the path.)

Two things are worth mentioning on the way – an ancient temple, dedicated to leopards (Mikdash Hanemera), just after the river – The most impressive ruins in the Negev, other than Yotveta, to my opinion. Throughout the trail there are many ancient ruins. Unfortunately, most of them are in a very bad shape – basically you see a few rocks surounded by a 40 years old fence with small sign saying – “you’re standing near an ancient site, preserve it” and nothing more.  As a history lover – it really bugged me. i mean – we do have the Israel Antiquities Authorities – what has it been doing all these years???
but as i was saying – this temple was really a cute one. all those on the way to Ovda – should stop and have a look.

The other site worth mentioning is a small grove, planted and maintained by JNF (http://www.kkl.org.il/kkl/kklmain_blue_eng.aspx) – a feeble attempt to have an oasis in the desert. Having seen the natural, existing oasises we have (and which we are practically killing by extracting all the water for human consumption,and thus drying up the wells) I truely don’t get it – why do we kill the natural ones and waste water on artifitial ones. There’s a general  lack of plan-ahead policies in Israel, and i think this is but a tiny example for it.

I reached Neot smadar by one o’clock, waited till two so they would open up, then went back to the trail – along a wide unpaved path ment for tanks. Nothing you can do about it – the I.D.F. is an integral part of Israel, and so it makes a perfect sense to include it in the trail (besides, you really cant go anywhere else in this area. if you want to go north, you will either go on the marked roads – or enter a firing zones….) most of the way was ok, except for several , small, section in which the road was grind to powder. speaking of water wasting – in the middle of that road, there an open water pipe, which created a small pond.

I kept on walking until it was dark and then stopped for the night – on the road (it’s not a nature reserve, so you can sleep wherever you’d like – as long as you’re not in the firing zone). Judging from the lights, i figured i’m parralel to Shittim settelment. And so, since i didn’t bother to visit them, i probably missed the new-age experience of the trail…. to bad, it might have been hilarious (just look at their website -http://www.desertashram.co.il/Default.aspx?tabid=36. i found the captions truely amuzing. ) I’m constantly surprized by the stuff people would be willing to believe in just to save themself the necesity to think for themselves… but that’s another story, and will be told in another time (–Michael Ende\neverending story)