Tel-Aviv Bike Ride - July 1st 2010

We met at the bike shop at the corner of Ben Yehuda and Arlozorov in Tel-Aviv and got our bikes.

Sarah led us a few blocks south to Sderot Ben Gurion and then west towards the sea.

We rode north along the Shlomo Lahat promenade (Tayelet) passing by the Tel-Aviv port.

After crossing the Yarkon, we continued north passing the Reading power station, the Sde Dov airport, the Tel Baruch beach. We stopped along the way to watch the sunset. The northern point of our ride was at the entrance to Chof HaTzuk (The cliff beach).

After a short rest, we returned the same way we came until we crossed the Yarkon. We went for a ride in Park HaYarkon, which took us over bridges and under highways. We took a more or less circular route and ended up back at the Tel Aviv Port.

Another short ride brought us back to the bike shop. We returned our bikes and walked back to the park just south of the Hilton Hotel, where we had Cake and Ice Cream prepared by Sarah.

In total we rode about 20 km.

Thanks to Sarah for organizing and leading the ride.

More Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/gadi.ben.avi/20100701MosaicTelAviv

Haifa - June 4th 2010

On June 4th, 2010, Mosaic went to Haifa to see the Baha'i Gardens and some of the older sections of town.

The organizer was Myla and the tour guide was Ilan Levin. The transportation arrangements were simple: everybody got there by themselves.

After the latecomers arrived, Ilan took us straight to the Gardens. We went down 700 steps through 18 well cultivated terraces. Because of the Baha'i love of symmetry in harmony, the first nine and the second nine terraces are all identical. The place couldn't be better maintained if a thousand volunteers were trimming the grass with toenail scissors. Who knows? Maybe they are.

Ilan told us about the history of the Baha'i and some of their basic beliefs. I think we were all pretty impressed by their individual worship and commitment to peace. Equally impressive is their absolute refusal to evangelize in Israel. In fact they won't even let an Israeli convert if he wants to in Israel.

Outside of the Gardens, we took a walk through parts of the Hadar and the old Haifa center. Ilan told us about the history of the place and about how we could read that history in the architecture.

We strolled through parts of the old German Colony and heard about the Templers, saw some of the original inscriptions on buildings which have been "gentrified."
The tour ended with a walk through Wadi Nisnas and some of the pieces remaining from its arts festival.


The day ended with a ride on Israel's only subway, the Carmelit.

Thanks Steve for writing this entry.
Pictures:
Steve's Pictures

Har Meron – May 27th – May 29th 2010

We all met the the Har Meron Field school on Thursday evening.

On Friday morning, we drove to the planned end of our hike and left tow cars there and then drove to the beginning of our hike at Chenyon HaIkul, the hairpin camp site. This is where Nachal Meron crosses road 866.

We started our climb to Har Meron at an altitude of 670 meters.

We started walking along the blue trail which corresponds to the Israel Trail at this point. After about 500 meters we left the blue trail and started climbing up towards Chribet Shama. We visited the ruins of an ancient Synagogue and a mausoleum that some say is the burial place of Shamai. The altitude here was about 770 meters.

We continued climbing along the Israel Trail. Our next stop was Elijah’s Chair. This is a large rock where according to some traditions, Elijah will appear. (Altitude 850 meters)
At this point the climb became less steep, and we could see our destination, the top of Har Meron. During the Climb we had great views of Meron and Shimon Bar Yochai's grave site.

Our next stop was Ein Zeved, A small spring that fills with water during the winter. Here we met a lone hiker and his dog. They were walking from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Galilee. (Altitude 1,000 meters).

Our next stop was a Huta, a large sinkhole, unique to Har Meron. There are several on the mountain. They are up to 120 meters deep. The one we visited was gated to people wouldn’t fall in.

Next we walked through fields belonging to Beit Jan to a memorial to a soldier who was killed in Lebanon in 1992. We then met a youth group who were hiking our route, but in reverse.
We arrived at the Har Meron trail head, and continued along the Summit Trail, that goes around the Har Meron Summit. (The actual Summit is occupied by an army base). (Altitude 1150 meters)

We stopped for lunch about half way around the trail. We had a great view to the north. (Altitude 1180 meters)

After lunch, we started our decent from Har Meron. The trail was steep at some points, but was mostly easy going. Our last stop was Chirbet Chamama (Altitude around 910 meters).
The plan had been to continue, but we were all tired. The drivers were taken to get the cars, and the rest of the group went back to the field school to prepare for Shabbat.

Michael (Our guide) suggested that we continue on the Israel Trail for a pleasant walk through forest the next day – just across the road outside the gate of the Field School. It was pleasantly cool under the trees, and we saw many flowers in bloom. Some hikers took the red trail to Nahal Moran, and still others took the perimeter walk inside the Field School complex.

The pot luck seems to have outdone itself this time with what looked like a quiche and cake contest and superb handmade sushi before our eyes. (thanks simcha laya).

Thanks to Maxine, Judith, and Craig for organizing the weekend, and to Michael, our guide, for a great job (and to Warren for outstanding baked goodies).

Pictures:
Gadi's Pictures

Nachal Mishmar - April 9th 2010

Michelle wrote,

Our hike on Friday was spectacular.


We walked through a wadi/canyon called Nahal Mishmar near the Dead Sea.
We hiked up into the canyon, and waded through several pools of (slimey green) water sometimes hip depth. Occassionally, where the gorge narrowed, we had to climb up vertical rock (at one point over fifteen meters high) by gripping a series of giant horizontal steel staples imbedded in the rock. They were quite slippery and it was pretty dangerous if you ask me. The
important thing was to not look down (or up), but to maintain focus.

I didn't bring my camera on that hike because I knew it would be pretty hairy. Some hikers in our group of seventeen had a lot of trouble hoisting themselves up out of a slippery chute - the rope provided on the trail was too short. After some arduous moments, we all made it to the end of the narrow canyon - a "maayan" (spring) surrounded by a giant C-shaped formation of circular cliffs well over 100 feet high.

We hiked out along the ridge of the canyon which gradually sloped down toward the Dead Sea. It was a long day and we made it back to Jerusalem just in time for Shabbat.

One line comments:
"brilliant hike, one of the best I've done with Mosaic. beautiful scenery, flora and fauna, and fun with climbing ropes." Eliot Sacks
"Squooshed around in boots the whole day for gorgeous views" - Judith Appleton

Upper Nachal Rachaf – March 5th 2010

After making our way to Arad on Thursday evening and getting settled in at the guest houses, we met for breakfast on Friday morning.

After breakfast we got in our cars and drove to the Nokdim Ranch on the road from Arad to Masada (route 3199). Most of the group waited there while the drivers drove the cars to the end of our hike at the entrance to Masada.

After the drivers returned, we started walking towards Upper Nachal Rachaf.

Along the way we saw a group of camels, including newborn calves, a herd of goats and sheep and a donkey, all belonging to Bedouins living in the area.

After a short walk we entered the canyon portion of Nachal Rachaf. We bypassed several dry waterfalls until reaching the large 60 meter waterfall. We had to climb out of the Wadi to bypass this waterfall. After stopping to admire the great view we started our descent back down to Nachal Rachaf. From the top we say the Nachal Rachaf’s other two canyons.

At the bottom of the descent we turned onto the red trail which would take us all the way to Masada.

The trail had its ups and downs, some of them quite steep.

After stopping for lunch and tea prepared by our guide, we continued towards Masada.
Our last ascent ended at the Roman wall that surrounds Masada. We saw Masada from the south, and then climbed down a very steep descent that ended up at the western entrance to Masada and our cars.

On Friday night we had a great dinner, organized by Craig and Judith.

On Shabbat we had a selection of city walks to go to, including a short walk through a wadi. Others walked to the Point led by Craig for a beautiful view of the desert and the hills. We also visited fiber artist/ceramacist Adena Ben-Ner's home/studio invited by Jane, and later had a medical massage short talk and demonstration by our 'baal bayit' Meir Weiss. Phyllis was turned into a human pretzel and Joel experienced the method, while Chana demonstrated that energy/tension can only go in one direction.

The dark night was a perfect opportunity for stargazing

Thanks to Judith and Craig for organizing a great weekend including all of the meals, and to Eshchar , our guide.

Michael's Pictures
Gadi's Pictures
Alan's Pictures

Hirbet Itri - February 19th 2010

Whoever started a story, "it was a dark and stormy night", wasn't thinking about the Mosaic walk on Friday the 19th. In spite of a rather murky Thursday the 18th, Friday was gorgeous, with only a slate blue sky short of being perfect.

Everyone from Jerusalem who gets individual mails from the jrsmosaic mailing list, as opposed to the digest, gathered at one side or the other of Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem. We all found each other, and pulled out by 8:15.

Tova, our guide, walked us through some of the reconstructed digs of Hirbet Itri, a ruin from the 2nd temple period and Bar Kochba revolt. The brave-hearted crawled through a tunnel from the synagogue. The tunnel came out in one of the private houses. Actually, Alan came out somewhere else. I don't know, ask him.

I'm not sure who said that they must've dug the escape route as a way to to get away from long sermons, but he should probably change shuls, or at least find one with a tunnel out the back.

Our exploration of Hirbet Itri ended at one of the most beautiful wine presses I've ever seen. One of the hikers (Marty, I think), explained to us the that the two openings in the upper pool were for straining the refuse out of the stomped grapes.

The walk from Hirbet Itri to Hirbet Borjin was a short and easy, but beautiful. The spring flowers have come out. It's great to see them every year, after the winter.

Hirbet Borjin was great. We started by visiting a bell cave at Hirbet Pitum, spent some time watching the birds, and visited another bell cave, wher Alan tried to get us all to beam up.

After a panoramic view of the whole area, we started home.

Thanks to Tova for a different kind of hike in a place I personally have never heard of before. Looking forward to going back again.

Pictures:
Steve, Alan

Nachal Gishron - January 29th 2010

We gathered at the Eilat Field School on Thursday night.

After breakfast on Friday morning, we got on the bus for the short ride to the Nachal Gishron, trail head.
We picked up Dan, our guide for the day, at the back entrance to Eilat.
The cycling leg of the Israman Eilat triathlon was going through the intersection, so we had to wait until most of the competitors came through.

We drove up to the trail head where we go off the bus and started walking.
The trail went mostly downward. On the way we past and old leopard trap, an engraving in Arabic, the remains of a camel that was eaten by a Hyena, and then some more engravings on the walls of the canyon.

Along the trail we saw puddles, wet spots and mud that remained form the rain and floods two weeks ago.

Towards the end of the trail, we crawled through a very narrow passage, The Tzafra passage. We all managed to come through, some with more difficulty that others.

We that started to climb, at first through a lovely sand stone canyon, and then on an exposed trail.

Towards the end of the ascent, we saw a group of male Ibex, who thoughtfully posed for our pictures.

We got back to the bus after one final descent.
While waiting for the last people in our group, we saw the Israman competitors finishing their run.

On Friday night, we walked over to the Orchid hotel for Shabbat dinner.

Thanks to Judith for organizing a great weekend, Alan for the dinner at the hotel and Dan, our guide.

Pictures:
Gadi's Picture: http://picasaweb.google.com/gadi.ben.avi/20100129MosaicNachalGishron
Haya's Pictures:
John's Pictures