Day 49 - Swimming the day away

We all woke up around 7:15 am in an attempt to be hiking by 8, but of course it was not to be. Once we packed, headed outside and organized the car, found a functional ATM, and Ari managed to acquire a cab for the other four of us (this time Me, Lisa, Clay and Tanmay), it was around 8:30. We all made it to Yehudiya, a nature reserve where we planned to spend the day hiking. After some map consultaion and deliberation and advice from the visitor's center, we decided to embark upon a circular hike estimated to be about 3 hours of walking, which passed by two pools and a waterfall and followed a stream for part of the journey.

After filling up our water bottles and slathering ourselves with sunscreen, we began the hike by having Ari shuttle us the 3 kilometers down the road to where the hike began. I went in the first batch with Roni, Iris and Clay. The only hitch was that about halfway down the dirt road, a herd of cows sat, blocking the car in front of us from passing through. Iris, being the animal lover she is, decided to get out of the car, and through some magic the nature of which remains unknown, cleared a path for the other car and then ours. Ari dropped us off in the parking lot at the end of the road and went back for the others.

Once we were all there, we set off. The path was dirt and boulders for a while, surrounded by bwon and crinkled spiky grasses and flowers, and wove around a few ruins and piles of stones. After a bit, though, it crossed a small, still stream, which seemed to be a turning point: trees began to line our way, and green plants could be seen ahead and below us to the left. The path gave way to large rocks in shallow water, then wove its way down and around a small hill. Ahead of us we could now see a gigantic group of middle-aged tourists, slowly making their way through the gate in the fence (to keep the cows in). We joined the line and made it through the bottleneck, then tried to quicken our pace to pass the tour group. This was made more difficult by the fact that the path now took us alongside a rock wall and underneath a canopy of slightly poisonous flowers, but we managed to make it to the first pool and found one side of it relatively peaceful and deserted.

We put our stuff down on the rocks and discovered a sort of natural "slide" which would deliver us into the pool, and after a dip some of us jumped in from the conveniently shelf-like rock protrusions of various heights. Iris befriended all three of the dogs who passed by during our time at the pool, swimming with one of them. Ari and Lisa had some sort of fish-catching contest which obviously resulted in a tie (with scores of 0:0 fish caught), and many photographs were taken of all of these events. After we had swum our fill, we dressed, dried off and munched some snacks before attacking the trail once more.

This part of the hile followed the stream, so we saw the second pool from above as we clambered among the rocks to a lookout point from which we could see the water cascading 50 meters down into the third and fourth pools below. The vegetation at the bottom was green but turned progressively browner as it approached our level. We didn't linger, instead heading onward in an attempt to keep ahead of the large group we'd passed earlier. The trail wound its way down, at one point forcing us to climb down a metal ladder in the mountainside to reach the bottom of the waterfall. The first pool along this path was large, but we picked our way along it and around the cliff to the pool with the huge waterfall.

Many of us sat to rest in a nearby cave, but others stripped down and jumped right in. This water was not as clear as the previous pool, but was cooler, and very deep. We swam over to the waterfall, and Daniela and Martin discovered some brown crabs devouring a large piece of fruit. Lisa climbed into another cave which could only be accessed from the water, and I joined her for a bit. Getting out of the water was exciting, as the rock was slippery and didn't extend into the water at all from the shore, but once we all figured it out, we could get dressed, drink some water, and then all head onward.

The climb back up was steep but not as painful as expected, and once we reached the top, the path reverted to a wide, dusty, rocky way through dry, dead fields back to where we had left the car. We passed ruins of walls and lonely-looking trees before the end of the trail was upon us; after a longer walk than the map implied, it was a surprise when the path suddenly gave way to the parking lot. Ari shuttled us back to the main gate, where were learned of a nearby place to eat where Ari then shuttled us. Daniela, Martin, Clay and I were in the second batch for this journey, which meant we waited for Ari along the side of an empty highway in the middle of the Israeli desert for a few minutes.

After reaching the place and eating (by this time it was near 4:00 pm) indoors with air conditioning, Iris managed to get us a great deal on a cab back to the bus station in Tiberias. Clay, Tanmay, Iris and I would be taking the bus, while the others joined Ari in the car. We arrived at the bus station to find the next departure for Tel Aviv leaving in 10 minutes, and managed to be among the first to board. I fell asleep relatively soon after the ride began, and was awoken once to move over as the bus filled up along the way, and a second time when Mom and Dad called me. We had a lovely chat once I woke up, but I believe I was quite surly at first. Apologies, guys.


Finally we reached Tel Aviv and grabbed a bus back to Rehovot, which took way too long but which dropped us near the main gate of the Institute. After a shower, I joined Clay for some food, then did some catching up on my blog and chilling before calling it a night.

Today's pictures are from Yehudiya. Behold, and be jealous!

Iris and the cows

Landscape at the start of the hike

The first pool, and slide-like part
Picture taken from in the water!
Ari's acrobatics
Iris and dog #1
Clay, Tanmay, Roni and Iris
Hiking down to the waterfall
The big waterfall!
Ladder, on the way back up
A lonely tree
The Sea of Galilee, at high speed