Chol HaMoed Tiyul in the Jerusalem Forest

On the first day of Chol HaMoed, Abba took the kids on a tiyul through the Jerusalem Forest. We first went down by Be'er Miriam to the forest road below. We looked for the "ancient well" we found last time, but couldn't find it this time.

About half way through we met up with the Nadel Family at the spot in the forest, where the Yeshiva has their bonfire on Lag B'Omer every year, but for some reason all of the playground equipment was gone and many of the picnic tables were damaged

We continued on to see if Chavot Beit HaYa'ar in the forest was operational. We have gone their in previous years with the kids. But all of the structures and the animals were completely gone and the places was deserted and filthy. We took a picture in an abandoned tractor tire

We headed up the mountain and found the Erez Path. Elazar enjoyed looking for the Blue and White markers along the trail. We continued the trail all the way to Beit HaKerem where we ended up at Gan Etzion, a small playground at the edge of the forest. The kids found some shopping carts from Mister Zol supermarket and connected them to make a "train" and pushed each other around the park while Abba rested.

It was time to head back to Har Nof. We took the steep path down the mountain. For some reason this picture doesn't do justice to how steep this path really is:

Abba showed the kids how to zig zag down the path and to walk sideways so they wouldn't slip. Abba also showed them how to use walking sticks to help them balance down the steep path. Elazar did his best impression of Moshe Rabbeinu in "The Prince of Egypt".