(This trip was on March 11th). To any of you who noticed – I am not that thrilled about the first day of this trail. True, there are some beautiful parts but they are relatively short compared to the long, quite boring road the trail travel on.
The second day was different however. Much more nature sceneries, with some tourist attractions on the way – I really got the feeling of hiking abroad (the feeling of Ireland kept coming to my mind). I started by reaching the Bental reservoir – which is actually a small lake in Israeli terms. Then you climb Mount Bental for a spectacular view of the surrounding (It was a clear and beautiful day, and I was able to see Damascus, about 80 Km away). After descending the mountain, the trail encircles mount Avital – and this is one of the most beautiful parts of the trail. You walk along multi-coloured grove (the outskirts of Odem forest) and some open fields -full of flowers. I saw several turtles and an Ibex over there. This beautiful part ends at Ein Zivan, and I would definitely recommend on hiking it as an easy day hike (on the right season, if possible)
From that point, the trail goes westward, towards Bney Rasan nount. and the wind mills – the only wind mills in Israel. The road to the mountain is quite boring, unfortunately, but on the mountain itself I saw a wild Boar (I think it was a fully grown one – it was really huge. It didn’t hear me approaching due to the noise the mills were producing, so I got quite close before it ran away).
The trail continues, through a very nice grove, to mount. Hozek , where you can see large sternbergias (see here for the Hebrew site with some pics) blossoming- if you’ll get there in September or October. As it were, it was a very nice walk. I stopped for the night right after descending the mountain.
