Route type: Circular
Difficulty level: Strenuous
Distance: 8 km
Waze to start/end point: Birkat Tzfira campground
Notes:
- If you want to camp at the Birkat Tzfira campground which is this hike’s start/end point, be aware that it is in the middle of nowhere with zero facilities.
- The road from Kfar HaNokdim to the campground/hike start point is a stony, unpaved road which is passable for a private car if taken slowly and carefully.
- This hike has some technical sections and is NOT for those with a fear of heights! It includes a challenging descent and a challenging ascent (including handholds).
- Do not hike here if there are flood warnings!
The last 2 weeks have been tough emotionally for me. We changed our clocks back which NEVER does good things for me. I was craving the quiet of the desert, the lack of visual chaos.
I needed a challenging hike, one that would leave me more physically tired than emotionally tired. I needed to feel the stones which I find very grounding.
Nahal Tze’elim ticked my boxes. We parked at the campground and set out while much around us was still in early morning shade.
The start was a dawdle that gave no indication of the challenges ahead.
We followed the red trail (also marked as part of the INT) northeast and quite soon got our first peek of the crack in the earth’s surface indicating the wadi into which we would soon descend.
The red trail turns left onto the green trail and the long descent begins. It was challenging mostly because there were many loose stones of varying sizes and loose gravel. Hiking poles can really help with stability in this kind of terrain as well as with braking and taking some impact off your joints.
We passed some interesting rock formations on the way down.
Our first glimpse of Nahal Tze’elim which was still in shade.
If you want to check out Brechat Na’ama, make a right onto the blue trail at the junction of the blue and green trail and follow it around and down to the pool. This river has not flooded yet this season so the water level in the pool was low, creating a cute little beach around it. This was a good place to plop down for a rest and something to eat.
After you visit the pool, return to the junction between blue and green trail (retrace your steps to this point) and from there continue straight on the blue trail. This begins the return part of the loop.
I am always thrilled to spot wildlife or evidence of animal life. First I saw a clump of this very coarse, long animal hair. I have no idea what kind of animal. Camel, maybe?
Further along, we rounded a bend to find 3 beautiful donkeys observing us with great curiosity.
Most of the return walk along Nahal Tze’elim was pleasant, fairly flat and easy….
…but then we began a deceivingly gradual ascent….
…until we were standing at the base of this ascent. Maybe in the picture it doesn’t look so bad but when you are standing there at the base, believe me, it looks like it goes STRAIGHT up! We all three stood there with our heads cranked back, looked at the trail markings going up and up and up the cliff and said, “SERIOUSLY???”
I love technical hikes – cliff climbing, boulder climbing, ladders and such. It turns them into an intellectual exercise somehow. So for me this was something to “chew on”.
We took it slowly and v e r y carefully, resting often. This kind of thing is impossible to rush and would be dangerous if it were.
The views got better and better the higher we climbed.
Very shortly after completing this ascent, there is a very steep (with handholds) but short descent to Brechat Tzfira which is reached by taking a left onto the green trail at the first opportunity. This blue/green trail junction is signposted.
This descent made me feel like I was in a toilet bowl for some reason :-).
Once you hit the bottom, you are on what they call “the balcony”, at the edge of which is the pool. Even without having been flooded yet by rainwater, the water in the pool was deep enough for kids to cannonball into.
The pool is at the edge of the “balcony”, from which there is a 200 meter drop. We call it the “infinity pool”. This is another great place to rest, swim if you like and eat.
Once you hit the bottom, you are on what they call “the balcony”, at the edge of which is the pool. Even without having been flooded yet by rainwater, the water in the pool was deep enough for kids to cannonball into.
The pool is at the edge of the “balcony”, from which there is a 200 meter drop. We call it the “infinity pool”. This is another great place to rest, swim if you like and eat.
From the pool, climb back up the green trail to the blue trail. At that green/blue junction, make a left onto the blue trail which quicky turns into a black trail and at the next black/green junction, take the green to the left which will bring you full circle back to where you left your car.