We Go Mountain Bike Riding

One day we cut class at Ulpan (Hebrew language school) to go on a bike ride organized by the local bike shop. Our crew consists of: Asaf, the owner of the bike shop; two guys from France and Switzerland; a local Israeli; and Lynn and me. That's Asaf on the left.

We head out into the desert with Asaf in the lead. The riding is technically challenging with lots of loose rubble.

Lynn is sure enjoying riding on her new mountain bike.

We experience technical difficulties. No problem. Asaf is an expert tire changer.

After a few hours of riding we make it to the Makhtesh Gadol. The makhtesh looks like a huge crater, but actually, it was formed by water erosion.

Here's a closeup of the wall of the makhtesh. The red rock on the cliffs below the limestone escarpment is actually sandstone. It's the first sandstone we've seen on this trip.

On the ride back, Asaf leads us to this hole in the ground.

On closer observation, we can see that there is a staircase leading down. We go down the staircase into an ancient water cistern, chiseled out of chalk probably about two thousand years ago. On the right wall you can see the chisel marks. We continue to be amazed at the engineering prowess of the people who survived in this desert in ancient times.

Inside, the cistern is huge. Nowadays, there's even a tree growing inside.

Here's another view.

When we come out, we can see the network of ditches and dams that were constructed to direct runoff into the cistern.

The ride takes nearly all day and one of the European guys told us it was 38 kilometers. That's over 23 miles on dirt and rock. Only on the way back does Asaf reveal to us that it's one of the most technically challenging rides in the area. Once we're back at the bike shop, it's time to celebrate our success. Here's Lynn having fun with one of the bike techs.

Here she is clowning around with Asaf.

Here we are, savoring the sweetness of completing a great ride.

Our first road trip

Last weekend we went on our first road trip, to the Dead Sea area. We started out at Kibbutz Ein Gedi, a real oasis. The staff are very friendly, all obviously proud of what they've accomplished. It's a gorgeous kibbutz, complete with botanical garden, shady and green in the midst of yet more austere desert. There are baobab trees. Remember in The Little Prince when he finds a planet that's so small there are only 3 baobab trees on it, and they're growing so fast and big that he worries they will split the planet apart? Well, these trees are absolutely immense, and they're only 50 years old!

Baobab at  night

The whole place is gorgeous.When you're inside, it's so comfortable and lush, it's easy to forget you're in such harsh desert. When we were there the weather was lovely: 60s and 70s. It gets brutally hot, though, with temps in the 100s during the summer.

The contrast between kibbutz and surroundings is striking

Don't know what this cool tree or growths are, but all real

Cactus garden

There's even mini-golf, though it's different from what we're used to.

You have to hit the ball lightly on a concrete course

The buffet breakfast and dinner are excellent.

Check out the halvah!

The next day we went on a hike in Nahal David. It's a national park and was crowded with Shabbat hikers. Surprisingly, much of the hike was in the shade and in water. We saw several waterfalls, all within 20 minutes of trailhead.

After the hike, we went to float in the Dead Sea, or Yam Hamelech (Sea of Salt). We passed by the lowest meteorological station in the world.

The Dead Sea is in bad shape. The water level is dropping a meter a year because so much water is being taken out of the Jordan river. That's depth, not distance from the shoreline. Here you see where the shoreline was just 11 years ago. Now you can take a tractor ride down to the sea.

Obligatory tourist photo.

The next morning we got up early to hike up to Masada. See Rebekah's post for her point of view.

The Snake Path, where we're hiking, in the foreground

View from Masada over the Dead Sea, Moab Mountains in Jordan on far side

Masada is very impressive and we'll write more about it in another post.

All in all, a great trip. We were glad to be home in our little town and ready to go out and explore more.

We Get Muddy at the Dead Sea

Our story starts with us lounging around in the shade at the Ein Gedi Spa near the shore of the Dead Sea.

We decide to go take a mud bath. Dead Sea mud is world renowned for its health and beauty benefits. It's rich in magnesium, bitumen, and silicates. Indeed, the Nabateans used to skim bitumen off the surface of the Dead Sea to sell to the Egyptians who used it in their mumification process. At the spa, the mud is provided in large vats. Lynn and the girls begin to smear it on their bodies while I document the process using our waterproof camera.


Covering your skin with Dead Sea mud is supposed to soften it and leave you with a healthful glow. In addition, it is supposed to improve and stimulate blood circulation. Rebekah isn't sure, though. She thinks it's disgusting.

Miriam helps out by covering her Mom's back.


Rebekah seems to be getting over her initial squeamishness as more of her body gets covered.

Lynn is finished first. She already has a healthful glow.

Next, it's my turn. Rebekah helps.

We're finished. Don't we make an awesome mud family?

Now, we have to wait until the mud dries. While we're waiting we take our picture.

After about a half hour or so, the mud is dry and we wash it off in showers of water from hot sulphur springs.

In just a few minutes the mud is gone.

It works. We feel great and our skin does too. We now see why so many doctors recommend a trip to the Dead Sea for curing skin diseases.

Sunrise!

Waking up at four in the morning isn't as easy as it sounds.It is hard, but you do it, if you need to. It happens to be that i needed it on a certain morning. I was being a complete tourist in Ayn Geddi, but it was worth it. I woke up tried to jump out of bead and get dressed. Kind of successfully, and kind of not. Anyhow, I did it, and managed to do a long hike at five in the morning. Not easy ether. Specially on an empty stomach, but again. I did it.When I got to the top of this wonderful plateau, an amazing think awaited me. Before my eyes the gorgeous sun was rising over the dead sea! Wow! It was a wonderful thing! I would like to share the joy that I had when i saw that sunset with you by adding these couple pictures. The might not be as breath taking as when it happened, but it will be enough.

Receiving Blogs via Email

I think I've figured out how you can receive blogs by email. Add your email to the box on the right and click subscribe. Then, you should get a daily email with our new content. If we haven't posted, no email. This is a test post, so I can see if it's working.

Lunch with the Teachers

Today is our last day before starting ulpan, Hebrew immersion school. Since this is the last time in a while we'll be home when the girls get home from school, we invited their teachers over for lunch.

Natalie, Rebekah's teacher, is on the right and Avital, Miriam's teacher, is on the left. They are both lovely, very welcoming to the girls and encouraging them to participate in class. We talked about the differences in schools in the US and Israel. The teachers were surprised to hear how much homework students have. They were also intrigued by the idea of kids raising their hands before talking rather than just shouting out. Miriam and Rebekah, picking up on local customs, interrupted frequently. Showing off my Hebrew, I said "dai" (enough - like dayenu) and "sheket" (quiet). Avital told me I was ready to become a teacher.

The Ascent of Hod Akev

Hod Akev looms over the Nahal Zinn wilderness that is just steps away from our house. Hod means "peak" and akev means heel. The latter word likely refers to the biblical story of the birth of Jacob and Esau, in which Jacob came out holding on to Esau's heel. Indeed, it is from that moment that Jacob is named. In Hebrew his name is Yakov, which isn't so different from akev. (My name is an Americanized version of Jacob.) So iconic is the view of the Hod Akev, that you can even see it in the gate in front of our house. In that gate design you can see, as well, Hod Akev's basic form: a slightly flat-topped peak on the plateau on top of a butte.

Here is the view, mid-morning, as we approach the butte on which stands our destination. On the other side of the peak is a spring with a pool that is large enough to soak in. The spring is a common destination for mountain bikers and hikers.

We follow the dirt track you can see in the picture above until we reach the trail head for the ascent.

When we get to the base of the butte we scope out our trail. It basically consists of two parts. First is a walk up a sloping surface of hard packed dunes combined with crumbling limestone and chalk. You can see part of this trail clearly eteched out in a backwards "C" on one of the lower slopes. That part looks challenging but doable. The steep limestone cliffs that form the escarpment that goes around the top of the butte do not. How we are going to get past that obstacle is not at all clear. We decide to investigate.

Walking up the slope proves to be easy going. There's only one small obstacle and that's easily scaled. Here you see me going up the ladder at a rock outcropping.

Here I am at the top of the slope. It's not any clearer here how we'll get past the cliffs, but we press on anyway.

OK. Here's how we scale the cliffs. First we walk along the narrow ledge at the intersection of the slope and the eroded limestone cliff.


Next we scramble up cracks in the rocks up to ledges that we traverse on. The path is the lighter colored lines in the picture below.

Lynn, as usual, pushes at the boundaries.

These lines were created by water seeping through cracks in the rock.

At the final climb up to the plateau, there are metal rungs embedded into the cliff wall.

I stretch for that final rung.

Once we're on the plateau, it's easy to walk across and hike up the peak. Here's Lynn on the final ascent.

Ahhh, life is sweet at the top. From here, we get a broad vista of the Nahal Zinn area, including the Nahal Akev, which includes the winding mountain canyon in which the Ein Akev runs. Looking at Hod Akev across the landscape will never be the same.