Tuesday, November 27, 2007

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