Those of you who have read this blog, know that I ended the INT at Nimrod’s fortress (see pic above) and the deep canyon around it (the Hazuri stream). About a month later, I continued the trip (in a trip which turned out to be one of the highest difficulty level I hiked in Israel) - starting from the parking lot of the ski resort. In this hike I completed the trail – for we started in Neve Ativ (which is ~3 km from the fortress) and climbed to the parking lot. Actually – it gets better : this parking lot is the starting point of the Golan Heights trail, and originally I planned on starting that trail from there, but was unable to (there were military exercises on that day, and the ascending was closed to civilians) . And so this hike – Neve Ativ to the parking lot of the ski resort then down through Gubta stream back to Neve Ativ – was my missing piece.
The trail is an easy to moderate difficulty level, circular, about 10 km long with elevation gained of 500 m.
As mentioned, it begins in Neve Ativ (near gate 5). Note that the red marked trail starts at gate 4, which is always closed – but through gate five you walk along the plantations to the cemetery (about 5 minutes of easy walk), then head down the wadi – until you reach the red marked, 4X4, trail. This is also the connection point of the black marked trail, which could lead you to Kal’at Namrud.
From That point you have about 5 km of easy ascend – never leaving the 4X4 road. On some point the red marked trail goes leftwards towards Kachal mount. – but we didn’t follow it, for it’s path looks really steep. Just before you reach the parking lot, there’s a little natural pool – which is dry in the summer (was dry when we got there – and full of grazing cows). Crossing the parking lot to the other side, you connect to the GHT (it starts with the green marked trail – same one which goes upward and was described earlier) and then turn south – along the beginning of Gubta stream – towards the road which connects Neve Ativ and Magdal Shams. This is a 4 km long descend, in which only the fist 3.5 km are quite easy – but the last 500 meters are steep (and they are quite steep – you go down about 150 m’ ). The hike is completed by an easy walk along the paved road – back to Neve Ativ.
