Yam L'Yam Day One

On Thursday morning Rafi and I awoke to our alarm at 7:10 am. Rafi began packing up the sleeping bags/pads while I worked on getting breakfast together. I used the Jetboil cooking stove to make couscous mixed with two eggs for our first meal of the trek. We packed our bags up and while I expertly stuffed every item in our backpacks, Rafi went to the beach to pick out a rock from the Mediterranean (there is a Yam L'yam tradition to take some water from the Med to pour into the Kinneret but we did not want to carry the extra water in our packs the whole time - we decided to take a small rock instead). Rafi returned with a beautiful purple shell and rock to throw in the Kinneret. The shell was very fragile so I wrapped it in a plastic bag and stored it in an empty water bottle (it was the one that had leaked all through Rafi's backpack and was now unsuitable for carrying water - luckily we still had plenty of vessels for water).

By 9:00 we were packed and ready to go (it took us a while to get everything together on this first day starting out). We walked from our campsite near the Mediterranean to the gate where we met the man from the night before. We paid him for the camp stay and asked him to point us in the right direction. He gave us very detailed directions as if he had done the hike himself. We think that many Yam L'yam-ers stay with him before beginning their journey.

We began following his directions across the highway. It was confusing at first because of the construction that was going on in that area but we soon found our way. The construction workers confirmed that we were headed in the right direction. We passed under this bridge in the photograph above and took a right turn which led to the beginning of the banana groves we had heard about through our research on this hike. The trek was supposed to begin and end with banana groves, hence the other nickname for this hike, "Bananas to Bananas."

We walked through kilometer after kilometer of banana groves (about 5 km in total) before finally reaching the yellow gate that the man at the campsite had mentioned to us before. We were walking on a paved single-car road through this area, but passed by farmland as we went along.

We were so excited to see the yellow gate appear in the distance! It was our first major landmark we were expecting so it felt good to reach it. After the gate we crossed highway 70 and continued walking on the side of a smaller highway.

Our next landmark was supposed to be the green trail through Wadi Keziv as shown on this sign. We were supposed to follow the small highway we were walking on until we saw the turn off onto the trail, marked by white, green, and white painted stripes. We were feeling pretty good at this point. Our packs were heavy, but definitely not unbearable and our legs were not tired yet. Morale was high until we saw a town looming in the distance. We whipped out our map for the first time and took a look at where we thought we were located. It looked as if we had gone too far on the road and needed to turn around to access the green trail. Boy were we unhappy! We walked back to the turn off that we thought we had missed. It was toward the moshav of Manot and was actually a longer walk back than we had figured. At this point, we took our packs off for the first time (what a relief!). We even had a little snack while Rafi and I tried to sort out the problem. We found a trail marked with green, but it seemed to go in the wrong direction. Rafi could not find more than two or three markers and it appeared as if the trail just ended. While Rafi was searching in the tall grass, a man drove up to me and asked if we needed help. I called Rafi over and he talked to the man, getting directions with the map. According to the helpful man, we had to go back the way we had originally gone (just not as far) and take a right turn that had previously appeared to go nowhere important. We were even more annoyed now! We had to walk back in the direction we thought was incorrect!

After twenty minutes of re-retracing our steps (about an hours worth of backtracking altogether), we came upon the turn off which was marked with the green paint. We had missed the marker the first time we passed.

At this point we were both very excited and happy that we were officially on the trail! In the picture above, you can see the trail-marker painted on the boulder next to Rafi.

Once we got going here, we discovered that the green trail was very well marked. Many times throughout the walk, we would exclaim "green!" and point to the new markers that appeared, to confirm that we were on the right track.

After the initial single-car paved road that begun the green trail, we began walking on a dirt path. The path passed by orange and lemon groves with some fruits hanging over the fence. We were tempted to pick some for a snack but we needed to keep up the pace after losing time backtracking.

After the groves, our terrain began to change. We entered the "Nachal" or valley/wadi.

The Nachal was prettier and much more "woodsy." It reminded me of hiking in the Seattle area.

We crossed and recrossed the empty stream bed. The rocks were bumpy and not comfortable to walk on, but at least it was dry.

As we hiked, we saw a cool old ruins-looking fort on top of a hill. We began to hear other hikers' voices as we approached the hill. Up until that point, we had been alone, except for two young guys who had passed us earlier.

Our view began to widen as we came out of the forest. We were in a large valley and it was our first real view of scenery on the trip.

We stopped for lunch around 1:15 at a junction to another trail. We took out the map and were easily able to pinpoint our current location. We had a satisfying lunch, although we were bombarded by hordes of young Israeli teenagers who must have been on field trip hikes. They talked so loudly and screamed a bit for no apparent reason. Were we like that at that age? I hope not!

After finishing our lunch and stretching before strapping the packs back on, we continued on our way. A mere ten minutes later, we encountered an obstacle in our path. The previously dry streambed that we had been crossing was suddenly filled with water! The only way to cross without walking through the water and getting soaked through was by walking on precariously small stepping stones. These stones were located on only one side of the water. There already were more teenagers trying to cross through from the other side so we figured that we should wait until the stones were unoccupied. After the first group of kids had almost finished crossing, another group appeared behind them. And another. And another! We were getting so irritated waiting for all of these screaming teens to pass - we had a schedule to keep and had to get to our campsite before nightfall. Finally there was a small break in the action and we gingerly started over the rocks. Before we got to the end, another group of teens came and they did not wait for us to finish crossing before they hopped on the rocks we needed. This was the last straw! I said "Slichah! Move back!" They only kind of moved, but at least we finally made it over. We thought it would be easy going from then on out. We were wrong. We soon came to another wet streambed, this time being occupied by some older,much more well-behaved French people. They were very friendly and one lady even held my hand to help me cross.

Soon we came to yet another wet streambed! We realized that this would become the theme of our next phase of the hike.

I was very cautious while crossing some of the streambeds, taking longer than Rafi to plan my next move and to balance myself on the slippery rocks with my heavy backpack. Rafi had it easier with his long legs. At one point I thought it would be easier to get down lower on the rock and inch forward. Rafi took advantage of my strange and vulnerable position and snapped a photo.

Although we had to cross many wet obstacles, the forest was actually beautiful and the streams added to the adventure of the trip.

Finally we escaped the streambed and were hoping to come to Ein Ziv soon. In total, we had crossed the wet streambed 15-20 times. Rafi's feet were wet because his shoes were not as water proof as mine. Ein Ziv was our final landmark before Abirim where we were planning to stay the night (in "Angel's backyard - according to our internet research). We were actually not sure of where we were going to end up that night. The research we did was not conclusive on this matter. Up until this point, the route we had mapped out was very accurate so our sleeping situation was our only uncertainty.

At about 3:30, just a little more than an hour before sundown, we saw a trail junction. One side pointed to "Abirim Fort" and the other to "Ein Ziv." Looking at the map, it appeared as if both trails went to Abirim but since Abirim Fort had "Abirim" in the name, we thought that there might be camping available there and that it might be quicker than the Ein Ziv way. Furthermore, we were not even sure how to reach Abirim from Ein Ziv as no trail appeared on the map.