Adventures in Nachal Sephunim

rock formations nachal tzefunim

Yesterday we went on a hike to Nachal Sefunim, in the Carmel near Haifa . Sefunim, with a samech, means hidden like Tzafun in the Passover Seder, or panelled. Till we got out and on our way, and ate, we were ready to start walking at 15:00 (that's 3:00 PM for you Americans). We figured an hour there, an hour back, and we would have plenty of time before dark, which was around 17:20. I thought darkness would set in a little later. You can already see where this is going. After walking along the rows of ripe bananas and their dramatic flower buds, we came to a sign indicating two trails. Our guidebook said to follow the red trail along the creek bed to the main attraction, a … [Read more...]

In Which I Fall Head Over Heels. . .

into the rocks of a mountain in the Shomron, that is. On the first day of Chol Hamoed (the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday), we went with friends on an organized hike through Nachal Shiloh. We hesitated about the security, the length (four hours!) and the possibility of rain, but decided to go ahead. Being invited to our friends' sukkah for a barbecue afterward didn't hurt. The hike began in the settlement of Peduel with 136 people, divided into two groups. From Peduel we hiked down to a nachal (creek, dry in this case-- I'm not sure of its name), then up to the ancient city of Tzredah, and back down to Nachal Shiloh and the road, where a car awaited to take drivers back to … [Read more...]