Distance: ~15km, Level - Moderate, Starting point: 30m above sea level, highest point - 160m, season: winter.
We pick up our Carmel range crossing where we stopped - Nahal Mearot (נחל מערות). Only this time it's winter already. With summer ravaging everything - winter brings with it a sort of re-affirmation of life. The green now is the greenest it will ever be - unlike colder climates, our nature doesn't go to sleep in winter - it bursts with colors and blossoms, shades of green everywhere, preparing for a crescendo in Spring, before dying out in summer.
As it rained heavily (well, heavily for Israel) twice already, last time being earlier in the week, we are expecting green, mud, and flowers.
And we get them all, in what quickly becomes a truly great day out.
The wind is chilly as we head out of the empty parking lot. We are on our own, as it's only 8am, but the site will be full soon, this being a clear day, on the weekend before the beginning of the third country-wide quarantine.
The path takes us up the hill in between rocky outcrops. We are immediately surrounded by Rakeft, Cyclamen in latin, a native flower that is simply everywhere around us, above, under and in the rocks.
The path meanders in the forest, and it's my favorite kind of hike - the one where nature offers the trail - with tree roots and rocks, it forms steps to make it easier and obstacles to overcome.
The evidence of a previous life is clear here - in the olive trees, water wells and building blocks. People lived here until not that long ago, and you don't need to look very deep to see it all around you.
There are even a few almond trees in early bloom, about two months earlier than expected.
We are alone on the trail, not even thru-hikers to be seen. The trail climes up to Ofer Observation Point - a large picnic site offering great views of the sea on the west, then descent down into a side road. Crossing the surprisingly busy road, we reach a resting stop where we can fill our water bottles and each our home-made sandwiches. It's one of those strange Israeli combinations: the headquarters of the nature reserve authority mixed in with a memorial site. Basically, Jews from around the world eternalise their family members who dies in the Holocaust (not a word you were expecting to head today, i'm sure) by donating money to plant trees in their honour.
From here the path climbs up. There's some benches around a dry, shaded creek, in memory of a soldier who died. It's peaceful and beautiful and sad. From here the trail comes out of the wood into an agricultural area, with cows and sheep grazing, before descending again into a creek bed. We hit the outskirts of Ofer, a small village, and rather than continue with the Israel Trail as it is, we take a left into what turns out to be just a lovely meadow, and a forest full of mushrooms. It would have so cool to bring home a basket of freshly picked mushrooms, but none of us knows to tell the difference between the good and the poisonous ones, so we give it a miss. Another 45 minutes or so of gentle hike brings us to out destination - the village of Bat Shlomo. Crossing the busy highway (there's an overpass), we go into the old part of the village to buy some great locally made cheese (remember the sheep from before?), and then - home.
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