Hiker’s Log

(17)

Please note:
1.This is written by a 62 year old female (who walks 3 miles or bikes 15 miles several times a week) traveling with her 29 year old daughter.

2.It was 33-37 Celsius (90-97 Fahrenheit) each day that we hiked.

3.Our hike took place in the middle of a jam-packed tour of Israel and Petra, Jordan so we weren't as patient with the inconveniences as we would have otherwise been.

4.We had a rental car that we left in Nazareth for four days.
Had we known a) how difficult it is to drive in Israel
(street names change every few blocks and signs are
written in various spellings, many of which are not the
names written on the maps!)
b) that we'd need full insurance coverage on the car
(most credit cards do NOT cover rentals in Israel) and
c) that we could not drive the car into the Palestinian
Territories or Jordan, we would not have rented a car. Taking buses/cabs is easier see FAQ #10 on www.JesusTrail.com

General Comments:
-- Hiking the trail was a great adventure and a highlight of our 3 weeks in Israel. We enthusiastically recommend it to anyone wishing to encounter Jesus in the primary area of his ministry — in the towns surrounding the Sea of Galilee where he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and where most of the healings and deliverances took place. Hiking is perfect way to explore these towns and the land that has been called the “fifth Gospel”.

-- The trail is marked REALLY well. If you ever come to a crossroad and don't see the marker, double back a dozen feet or so and you'll find it. Don't cross an intersection, no matter how small, without seeing a marker.

-- The trail is really fun because it takes you through so many different types of vegetation, forests and valleys and
amazingly beautiful scenic points. Sometimes it's flat and sometimes you need to climb over huge boulders. We had a couple encounters, too, with some beautiful herds of cattle and sheep. It was almost always delightful to be on the trail. The only sad parts were coming into and out of the towns where the amount of garbage and trash thrown in the woods was shocking.

-- Accommodations and other arrangements can be made by contacting Maoz Inon, one of the developers of the Jesus Trail (www.JesusTrail.com). He is extremely helpful and flexible and is committed to making the hikers' experience a successful one.

-- Absolutely essential: "Hiking the Jesus Trail" guidebook available from the Jesus Trail website. Ours arrived only two days before our trip; we wish it had arrived sooner.

Itinerary considerations:
If you are doing this more as a Christian pilgrimage than as a hike
-- Consider adding two days to extend the “Classic Jesus Trail” (J1 – J12 instead of J1- J9). This will allow you to spend time at the locations identified with Jesus' ministry (J7 – J12 in the guidebook i.e. Peter's house, the Mount of Beatitudes, the “Jesus Boat” museum, Multiplication of Loaves and Fish, Jordan River, Bethsaida, Gerasene demoniac etc.) instead of rushing to Capernaum on the 4th day and then straight back to Nazareth.

-- Or focus on the 42 miles of trail surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Rather than starting at Nazareth, begin with J6 (which includes the spectacular but challenging Arbel Cliffs) or with the flat farmland of J7 (western shore of Sea of Galilee). Hike four or five days, ending with J14 (baptismal site on the Jordan River).

Luggage delivery
-- Make sure that you ask that the luggage arrives at the destination before you get there (and get the phone number of the person who is bringing it so you can plan accordingly). It was extremely frustrating to be welcomed into the guest house in Cana (our first day's hike) when we were dripping wet from the heat. I felt so awkward sitting on the furniture in someone's home when I was so dirty and sweaty. It was really nice, though, of our host to lend us each a pair of her own pajamas so that we could take a shower and get out of the dirty outfits we were wearing. Each day we had to wait for more than 1 1/2 hours (one day almost 5 hours) and had to sit there, captive, before we could change into clean clothes and enjoy the sites and find something to eat. Thankfully, for our final day we packed our bathing suits so that, even though we could not go into the restaurant, we could at least enjoy the pool (and Sea of Galilee) at Ginosaur Village.

Weather considerations:
-- Because the heat/sun becomes so intense before noon, leave
at daybreak (about 5:15) so as to arrive before 11.
-- Pack and drink more water than you think you will need.
-- Mix Gatorade with your water (they sell little powdered
packets that you can mix into a bottle of water. It was
very cost efficient when filling up from the tap!)

What to pack:
-- lightweight scarf to cover your shoulders (for when in
Muslim towns/mosque and pants for Nebi Shueib)
-- bathing suit(some accommodations have a pool or swimming
access)
-- A wet bandana around your neck keeps your body temperature
down.
-- Gatorade packets (brought from the US).
-- an Israeli cell phone = especially for inexperienced
hikers. We never needed the phone but it was good to have
as insurance because we only saw two people on the trail
in our four days! What a gift of solitude!)
-- blister kit
-- a lot of sunscreen (don't forget feet and ears)
-- hat
-- toilet paper and plastic bags to carry it out
-- anti-inflammatory medicine
-- laundry detergent to hand wash clothes
-- collapsible hiking pole (essential for joint support and
balance).
-- great hiking shoes that are well broken in.
-- It is definitely worth bringing a laptop because all the
accommodations had internet access.
-- small New Testament Bible

Preparation/Training:
-- Days 3 and 4 (guidebook J4 – J8) are very rigorous because
of the climbing and the elevation changes.
-- Judge your athletic ability. I needed my 29 year old
daughter to carry most of my pack and help me up and down
the boulders. This isn't an easy hike.
-- Try training by building up to 20 flights of stairs a day
with your pack (3 liters of water and a lunch).

Directions and map to find the Fauzi Azar Inn in Nazareth:
Although the staff at the Fauzi are fond of repeating stories of assistance given by local residents, it was extremely frustrating to arrive at night without any clear idea of where the Inn is located. Streets are virtually unmarked and change names (and spellings) frequently. The several maps (from the Fauzi website, from the rental car company, and from our Frommers travel guide) did not clearly indicate streets that can and cannot be driven on (i.e. The “streets” are mostly steps and do not accommodate cars!) and none of them showed the one way streets. I would suggest looking on google maps because the pedestrian streets seem to be more clearly marked (and the Fauzi Azar Inn is shown on the google map of Nazareth).

Here is the minimal information we can offer: Follow signs for “Mary's Well” which is near the Fauzi Azar Inn.

Apparently, parking is allowed in front of the Tishreen restaurant but only until 9 am when it might be booted for being illegally parked. We left our rental car in a free parking lot between the Mary's Well and the Inn.

Comments about the Accommodations
Our favorite experience was at the Yarok Az Organic Goat Farm near Ilanyia.
The Fauzi Azar Inn is beautiful. It is worth staying there even if you don't begin the hike in Nazareth.

I just became acquainted with the "Jesus Trail" via a publication mailed to me from New Creation Church in Singapore (Joseph Prince, Pastor). Very appealing idea to learn about the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Its now on my "wish" list.

Psalm: 37:3 - 5: "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart."

Hi!

I saw the Jesus Trail on the lonely planet guide and thought to myself: I have to do it. As I'm going to a middle east jorney, I probably arrive at Nazareth in May/2010. Still don't know the day. For sure, I keep in touch with you, guys. I've seen one of you ownes a Hostel. So, that's perfect. I'll do this Jesus Trail!

See you soon!

Marcelo Calegare
(Brazil)

Ten of us - Israelis in their 60\'s - did the Jesus Trail during Hanukah and had a most wonderful experience. Lighting the Hanukah lights next to the Christmas trees, and singing together with our hosts, added a lot to the hike. We want to thank the volunteer guide for the first day, Linda Hallel, for all her attentions and care and enthusiasm. The mud is quite difficult in places, but still I think winter is a great time to do the Trail. We hope the Trail organizers will be able to convince the local and national authorities to clean up the trash and building debris outside the tows, it is shameful and dangerous.

Hallo!

Ein Freund aus Salzburg war vor einigen Tagen in Israel und hat mir den Tip gegeben, mir den \"jesustrail\" anzusehen.
Haben vor, ihn in 1 - 2 Jahren zu machen.
Ich war auch schon mal in der Gegend - wirklich schön.

Tolle Internetseite - hoffentlich schauen viele rein !!

Johann aus Salzburg - Österreich

Hello everyone!
Jesus Trail is the best!
thanks for making it helping to make it come alive

I\'ve seen on facebook, that you plan to translate the jesus trail web sites to other languages. If you need a translation to German language, it would be a pleasure to me to help you. Personally I will hike the trail in July/August 2009 and I’m very appreciating for your great web site and desirous to give back a little bit of what I have obtained from it.
So if you want to have a translation to German language, just send me your details to the given Email address.

Commendations to those who worked to create this trail. I had the great fortune to hike most of this area over a period of years, beginning forty years ago, before the tourist onslaught into such places as Capernaum. It was a more tranquil environment, and the Kinneret in springtime is incredibly beautiful.

My cousin Preston and I had an interesting experience on the Mount of Beatitudes. We went to the church on the Mount of Beatitudes, traditional site of the Sermon on the Mount, and my cousin says \\\"No, this isn\\\'t it. The acoustics aren\\\'t right.\\\" Was Constantine\\\'s mother wrong? We hiked down the hill toward the Sea of Galilee, Preston looking about.... he found a declivity, a hollowed-out shape in the ground, maybe one hundred yards across. \\\"Stand here,\\\" he tells me, and goes to the other side. \\\"This is the place,\\\" he says softly from one hundred yards away, and I hear him perfectly.

I did the whole loop in the beginning of January 2009. The pros for doing it in winter is that it is not too hot, the cons is that the winter day is short and you have to go faster.

There is only one natural water source along the whole loop -- the spring at the bottom of Arbel Cliff. Even though I brought my water-filter I didn\'t use it because the water in Jordan river and in the only stream I crossed near Tiberias was too muddy. In this respect there is no difference between summer and winter hiking -- you will still have to get your water in various civilized places (i.e. public toilets) along the trail. On the way back there aren\'t too many, so refill your bottles at each of them: Arbel Cliff parking lot, Kibbutz Kinneret museum/Yardenit baptism site, gas station at the bottom of Mt Tabor, monastery at the top of Mt Tabor, KFC just before entering Nazareth.

Even though the FAQ section on this site says that it takes 3-5 days for Nazareth-Golani Junction-Capernaum section and 3-5 days for Capernaum-Jordan river-Nazareth section, in fact the second part is considerably longer (as you may see it on the map) and has three steep ascents. So, doing the first part in a relatively relaxed way, with visiting all the attractions along the way (churches, Zippori National park museum, Independence War museum at Golani Junction) took me only 2.5 short winter days. OTOH the second part, with only one short stop at Yardenit for a swim in Jordan river and a short side-trail to Degania Alef took almost 4 days.

As you may have noticed, the track-log of the trail published on this site is detailed but (IMHO) not useful without some editing: the first part (Nazareth-Golani Junction-Capernaum) has too many trackpoints and Garmin GPSr tracks can contain only 500, the second part OTOH is not a single track at all, it consists of several short ones. I already spent a few hours on editing, so you dont have to to it again.

http://rapidshare.com/files/184874579/ms.gpx

is the combined track for the loop, split into 6 sections no more that 500 trackpoints each + the original waypoints. If you use Linux, you can upload it to your Garmin GPSs by saying

gpsbabel -t -w -i gpx -f ms.gpx -o garmin -F usb:

a good topomap of Israel+a routable roadmap with sporadic coverage would also be handy

http://rapidshare.com/files/184878225/gmapsupp.img

The track of second part of the trail is not as detailed as the first one, but it is easy to follow because for the most part (from the top of Arbel Cliff until a few kilometers before arriving to Nazareth) it follows the Israel National Trail, marked with red-white-blue blazes. You have to be careful and not miss the spot where you have to leave INT and follow along the GPS track. It is after the descent from the unnamed mount between Mt Tabor and Mt Precipice. At this spot INT turns right, in the direction on Cana, and you have to go left.

I am planning a trip for next summer and am very thankful for this site. I\'ll be checking it almost daily and would appreciate any suggestions for a youth backpacking trip through Israel.