Tiyul in the Desert

In Har Nof we used to take family tiyulim in the Jerusalem forest. There were many trails as well as picnic tables and playground equipment scattered throughout the forest. We always managed to find something new, either man-made and natural but taking a different path.

Before we moved to Mitzpeh, I wondered if we would have the same luxury, since how much is out there in the desert, other than sand, and more sand. But so far so good. On a Sunday when Abba had off from work and Ima had enough, Abba took the boys into the desert, just beyond the boundaries of the Yishuv. The winter temperatures in the desert are just right during the day. The sun feels warm on you, but you don't feel the intense heat like you do during the summers. We took a water bottle but didn't end up using it until we returned home.

We found an old deserted army base/fort not far from the Yishuv. It's located up that middle path behind the boys. The boys were facing west as the sun was low in the sky mid-afternoon, which is why Noam and Ezra are squinting and Elazar is rubbing his eyes.

I showed the boys where the soldiers would position themselves in the man-made trenches, which the enemy doesn't even know exists when coming uphill. There were also two large swivel holsters bolted into the rock that would obviously hold large cannons or machine guns on top of the fort. I showed them how the soldiers from this position could monitor a vast space from Jericho to the north east, to the highway on the south, with a clear view of the Jordan River and the hills of Jordan behind it, as well as the Dead Sea. The army fort looked like it had been deserted for quite some time, although it also looked like it could be easily be operational in a couple of hours or at one day.

We continued on past the army base/fort on a particular trail for about ten more minutes until it ended. Along the way we saw little Sukkah structures that some people had made, as well as lots of junkyard stuff that some people had obviously dumped in the desert, including one car/jeep that we found on the bottom of a steep ravine.

Just like the forest of Har Nof, the great thing is that we were never more than 30 minutes from home the entire time, and by the time the kids are hungry and tired and complaining, we are only a few minutes from the Yishuv and a few more minutes from home.