December 14th - From Qumran to Ein Feshcha

After meeting at the Qumran Parking lot and moving the cars to the end of the hike, we started walking towards Nachal Qumran.

As we were crossing the streem bed we looked down and saw a pool formed by the last flood.

We stopped at the base of the cliff for a short explanation, and then started the climb up. The climb was fairly steep and included some scrambling, but we all made it up.

We stopped for another short explanation looking over a view of the northern part of the Dead Sea, Qumran and Kibbutz Kalya.

After resting a bit, we continued on the climb. After another short climb we arrived at the top of the cliff and started making our way south on a dirt road. The road was far from flat, and there were many short ascents and descents. We took a short detour to to another lookout point.

After a few more ups and downs on the dirt road, we turned off the road, and started making our way towards Rosh Tzukim. After a short break, and some more explanations, we started our decent towards Ein Feshcha. During the descent, we had lovely views of the Ein Feshcha Nature Reserve and the northern part of the Dead Sea.

Ein Feshcha is the lowest nature reserve on earth.

Rosh Tzukim is at about -70 meters below sea level and the end of the descent is at about -360 meters below sea level So there was an elevation loss of about 290 meters over a distance of about 4 kilometers (as the crow flies).

The Ascent was a bit shorter. We started at about -330 meters below sea level and ended at about -100 below sea level.

Thanx to Elana who organized this hike, and to Amir who was our guide.

Masada - November 16th-17th, 2007

On Friday we met at the Masada Youth Hostel.

Our first part of the day was spent hiking the runners trail. This trail goes along the eastern part of the Roman siege wall. Just north of Masada the trail climbs to the west and ends up at the bottom of the Roman siege ramp.

After a short rest, we climbed to the top of Masada where we had a short introductory talk about Masada, and then a short tour of the site.

Some of us walked down the snake path, but most of us chose to take the cable car down. We met back at the youth hostel to continue to our next hike.

The second part of the day was a short hike in Nachal Yizrach and Nachal Rom.

The Nachal Yizrach trail starts near Meitzad Zohar in Nachal Zohar.

Meitzad Zohar is a small fort with Roman origins. The current fort is from the early Arab period. The roman fort was part of the Limus Palestina which was the border between the settled part of the land in Roman times and the wilderness.

We walked north along Nachal Yizrach until its origins and then down Nachal Rom which ends at the Dead Sea. The hike down Nachal Rom was a challenge since in was mostly scrambling down rocks.

On Shabbat, some of us took a walk through Chavarei Metzada. Chavar or Marl is a very soft type of limestone. We walked for about an hour and a half. The walk took us to the main road and back.

Later that day, we visited the relatively new museum at Masada that tells the story and displays various artifacts from the site.

We stayed overnight at the Masada youth hostel. The hostel is very nice and new. It was a shame that the pool was not open.

First Post

Hi Everyone,
I am starting the blog as an experiment.
My goal is to create a new entry after every hike.
Gadi