רמת הגולן | Golan Trip #2

Okay, time for another whole bunch of blog posts at once. Here goes...

A couple of weeks ago, on February 17-18, Oranim took us on a trip to the Golan Heights. I thought that I had already done this trip once with the Ramla group, but I was happily mistaken. This time it was completely different and so much better!

Day One
The other groups (Ramla, Ashdod, etc) had to meet their buses at something like 6:00 or 6:30, but since we're already way up north, we left Yechiam at 8:20, which was great. (Normally we have to meet the school bus at 7:55, so this was like sleeping in.) After a drive just short of an hour, we arrived at Machanayim Junction, where we stopped for a snack/breakfast before continuing to our first destination. We arrived at the Gadot Overlook, immediately over the Jordan River on the quasi-Syrian side. From the overlook, we could see Kibbutz Gadot on the other side of the river, and much of the Hula Valley. The overlook is located at some former Syrian military trenches remaining from the 1967 war. There, Yariv told us a bit about the war and how kibbutzniks had to live in constant fear of bombardment from Syrian forces, which, along with the dispute over water from the Jordan River and the Kinneret, was one of the principle motives for the war, at least on the Syrian front.

After leaving the Gadot Overlook, we drove a short distance to the Jilaboon Stream. This was my fourth time at the Jilaboon, but it is different each time. (I had been there previously on March of the Living in 2004, Birthright in 2007, and with Oranim in Sept 2009.) We didn't hike the whole thing this time, as we had done in September, because we didn't have enough time due to the sun setting earlier, according to Yariv. But we still saw the bubble-gum rock (anyone who has been there knows what I'm talking about), ruins of a Syrian military outpost, and two beautiful waterfalls.

We then drove to Katzrin, the biggest town in the Golan, for lunch, before heading to the next stop, Mount Bental. Mount Bental is located right next to the ceasefire lines, and from the top, there are excellent views of the mostly-destroyed and abandoned Syrian town of Quneitra to the west, Mount Hermon to the north, and the southern Golan. Also at the top is a restaurant called Coffee Anan (קפה אנן - lit. "cloud coffee"), which is funny because with an Israeli accent it sounds like "Kofi Annan," former U.N. Secretary-General. That night, we stayed once again at a very nice hotel, the Savyonei haGalil Hotel near Yesud haMaala, where much fun was had.

Day Two
The next morning, we got back on the buses and drove to Rosh Pinna (not to be confused with rosh pin, which means something vulgar) for a short visit. Rosh Pinna was one of the first modern agricultural settlements in the Land of Israel. (Yes, I stole that sentence from Wikipedia.) There are also nice views of the Hula Valley to the north.

After Rosh Pinna, we drove to Kibbutz Maayan Baruch, which is located right next to the Lebanese border. (The only places farther north are a moshav called Yuval and the town of Metula, Israel's northernmost point.) There, the kibbutz Security Officer, a self-proclaimed "ex-Good Ol' Boy" from Atlanta, described his experience living "a 30-second run" from Lebanon and showed off his collection of bullets and missile fragments.

Next, we drove to the Banias, one of the three sources of the Jordan River. We were at a different place than where I had visited in September. This time we went to a nature reserve and saw the spring which is the origin of the Hermon Stream, which flows into the Jordan River. After a short hike, we also saw the beautiful Hermon Waterfall before heading home.

It was a really fun trip. You can see my pictures here.