Hiking along En Avedat Canyon

Adventure as we hike in some of the most beautiful terrain is on tap for us on the fourth day of a 14 day trip to the Holy Land in May 2018. As we visit En Avedat National Park we will be walking on the edge of the Desert of Zin where Moses and the Israelites journeyed as they exited Egypt. We will traverse Wadi Zin from a wide valley below Sde Boker through the ravine to the Avadat heights.

Views from a hike through the lower Wadi Avedat

The Bible tells us the spies, “went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron … When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.” (Nu 13) Ein Avedat is on a major road which leads from the south to the Judean hill country.

There are many modes of transportation in the Negev including Trains and Camels

We will follow the return route of the twelve spies as we travel from Beer Sheba to Sde Boker and Avadat. The road continues to Eilat on the Red Sea and then to the west (traditional site of Mt. Sinai) and to the east (south to Arabia and Midian). The road runs through the desert. Our stopping point is an oasis where surely the spies stopped to drink some water.

This is a picture and a map of ruins at Avadat

The Nabateans traversed this area in the first centuries BC and AD. They carried various types of merchandise along what is known as the incense route including myrrh and frankincense. Abdah or Obodat was built by the Nabateans and became their second most important city after Petra. Springs in the area allowed agricultural development which included diversion streams and dams. With the demise of the Nabateans other people continued to live and farm the area through the Roman and Byzantine eras. It is said Nabataean King Obodas I (96 to 85 BC) after whom the town is named was buried in the area.

This is the view of Wadi Zin from Sde Boker

We will approach Wadi Avadat by way of Sde Boker. The Kibbutz here is famous for carrying out the Zionist dream of making the desert bloom. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister lived and was buried here in a grave that overlooks the wide valley through which the stream flows. From the gravesite we will look down on Wadi Zin where our hike will begin.

Ibex at Sde Boker with Wadi Zin in the background

We will also see Ibex and other wildlife native to the area. Psalm 104:18 could speak of animals in the area. It says, “The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.” We will see lizards, fish and some birds. Swifts, wheatears, partridges, chukars, babblers, desert swallows, rock doves and vultures fly above the valley. Vols and the desert dormouse wander the trail by night.

A lizard near En Avodot Springs

When we enter the valley for our hike we will see a topographic map. We will be taken by the chalk, white eocene limestone and thin seams of brown-black flint. We will walk along Avadot stream which is fed by En Mor, En Avadot and En Ma’arif springs.

Looking upstream to the water fall and down stream at dam along Wadi Avodat

We will cross an agricultural earthen dam designed to contain water for irrigation purposes. At the end of the valley there is a waterfall where we will stop to take in the beauty. Then we will continue up a stairway hewn in stone and follow the creek on the upper level.

Getting ready to rest beneath the tamarask trees along Ein Avodat

We will admire the salt grass, reeds, bulrushes and nitraria retusa with its white flowers, red fruit and edible leaves with a salt taste. As we ascend the slopes to the top we will rest under tamarisk or salt cedar trees in order to see the route of our ascent.

Ruins at the top of En Avedat

We will come upon old buildings used by Bedouins who drew water from En Ma’arif springs when the village of Avedat ceased to be inhabited. Our bus will be waiting to pick us up as we continue our trip into the Judean desert.

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Please join us on our 14 day trip to the Holy Land in May 2018. More information can be found at http://www.koshercopy.com/tour-of-israel/ . Links on this page lead to our itinerary and a page where you can sign up to join us on our journey. Our 14 day trip to the Holy Land in May 2018 will be an unforgettable experience, well worth the time and cost which is published.

Sde Boker

The desert blooms in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Northern Negev Mountains which was launched in 1952. A portion of the dream was to show that Israel, any part of the Holy Land could prosper. Many Zionists had the dream of making Israel, all of the land including the desert, bloom. Sde Boker is a prime example of what can be accomplished with proper care and technology in the desert. David Ben Gurion said, “It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneer vigor of Israel shall be tested.”

On a 14 day trip to the Holy Land in May 2018 we will visit Sde Boker to see this green oasis with our own eyes, to visit the grave of David Ben Gurion and to walk through the Desert of Zin.  We will experience the contrasting landscape as we go from desert sand to the green vegetation of this kibbutz. We will walk through the trees and see the ibex which live in this oasis.

The word Negev, נֶגֶב, means parched. More than half of the land area of Israel is contained in the Negev. The area is desert and receives less than twelve inches of rain per year. The soil ranges from rocky to sandy and is interrupted by dry river beds (wadis) which blossom during the occasional rains. There are vast canyons in several areas and in one place a crater called Makhtesh Ramon.

David Ben Gurion along with his wife Paula loved this part of the desert. Ben Gurion retired early, and built his retirement home at Sde Boker. There is a library on the kibbutz which contained his personal books and housing used for the soldiers who protected the former Prime Minister. Today some of these buildings have been turned into a museum.

David Ben Gurion once wrote, “The desert provides us with the best opportunity to begin again. This is a vital element of our renaissance in Israel. For it is in mastering nature that man learns to control himself. It is in this sense, more practical than mystic, that I define our Redemption on this land. Israel must continue to cultivate its nationality and to represent the Jewish people without renouncing its glorious past. It must earn this—which is no small task—a right that can only be acquired in the desert.”

He lived at Kibbutz Sde Boker for twenty years. He and his wife are buried at a beautiful location near the Kibbutz. The gravesite is located on a high plateau with a view to a broad canyon below. The canyon below is known as the Desert of Zin where Israel camped during their years in the wilderness. We will walk through this beautiful area after visiting Sde Boker.

The desert is filled with wide open spaces. Its treelessness enhances a wide sky. The vastness and coloration of the sand enhances sunsets over this seemingly empty sphere. The sun shines bright in the day and the stars and the moon are brilliant at night. David Ben Gurion spoke often about the beautiful solitude of the desert. He said, “Wisdom goes with South. It is written: ‘Whoever seeks wisdom, south shall he go.’”