2011 - 3rd Journey, Day 2

DAY 19  (May 15, 2011):  Third Journey, Day 2

Cana of Galilee  through Beit Keshet Forest  to Ilaniya

Woke at 5:30 and laid abed until 7:00 just thinking, praying, laughing out loud at various memories from the preceding weeks, and continuing to rest from the previous days exertions.  Hosts offered warm pita bread which I stuffed with tomato slices and two fried eggs.  Eggs had some green stuff in it (spinach maybe?) and was really good.  Failed to post blog as I’d hoped because their family computer was too old to recognize my thumb drive, and their internet cable was too short to reach my laptop. 

Left for trail at 9:15.  My fault, no doubt, but I spent the next hour in a great big loop and exploring every radius for a couple of hundred yards from the roundabout only to wind up at the front door of my B & B again.  Murphy and his ornery law!  So, I set out once more at 10:15 but this time spotted the turn I'd missed and got right on out of Cana. 

Today the trail was the shortest I’ll experience (only about seven miles total if you add in my extra loop and another mile I’ll tell you about in a minute) so I took it really slow and photographed mostly flowers again.  The scenery was beautiful, but most of it was spent in pine woods with little variation but for the additional flora and fauna.  It was beautiful, shockingly silent, and most enjoyable.

I then descended a steep and very rocky trail which was narrow with lots of flowers on either side.  I dubbed this “Butterfly Vale 2” since it contained what must have been hundreds of butterflies.  At times I had maybe 10 or 12 fluttering all about me and within arm’s reach.  It was like something out of a fairy tale.  The following photo doesn't capture the butterfly experience but shows the descent into the area they inhabited.

Exiting these woods I dropped down into a picturesque little valley with rolling fields of grain.  As I looked ahead the valley was split into a “Y” by the intrusion of a narrow but steep and rocky hillside.  My trail was through the valley on the left which this new promontory formed but just as I came to the intersection I spotted movement on the hillside.  It was a shepherd tending his flock with four dogs, one black and white and three that were all white.  It was magnificently photogenic, so I leaned against one of those huge bales of hay they make these days (probably six feet long and three or four square) to shoot some video.  The shepherd was too far away to hail verbally so I waved up at him and he genially waved back.  I filmed his flock of perhaps a hundred sheep for a couple of minutes, waved again, received his answering signal and then continued on. 

Here's a link to the YouTube video of this scene.  Best to select the high definition and full screen options when you get there:

Shepherd Near Ilaniya, Israel

But as soon as I began walking again, a cacophony of barking erupted and then the three white dogs ran down the hill, burst out of the bushes, rushed up to within four or five feet, and angrily demanded to have me for lunch.  One of the dogs was clearly the leader, and to tell the truth he had me really worried.  His back came up to about my knees so that his head could take a pretty big chunk out of my belly if he wanted to.  And believe you me, he truly looked like he had the hankerin’.

Now I had learned from my training hikes that dogs could be a problem and so I’d come prepared for this.  I’d bought a monopod to use with my video camera, but had figured it might make a pretty good weapon in a pinch.  I’d rigged it up with a lanyard that clipped to the front of my pack so the pod could slide back through the strap on my left side and actually be drawn much like a sword to then be used as either a club or a poking stick.  The following photo was taken out in front of my home in Snohomish, Washington, during one of the training hikes so you can see the gear I wore (except for the hat) and the monopod under my left arm.

The other two dogs stayed shoulder to shoulder about three feet behind the lead, but that boy got closer than three feet to me so that I was already counting his teeth by the time I got my sword out of its sheath.  Worked like a charm though.  I released an extension lock and when I pulled the first length out and he heard it snap it checked his advance.  I pulled out a second length and when it snapped and locked I knew I had the upper hand because he backed up a step.  Good thing too, because I was still about two miles away from any road where passing traffic could help stop the bleeding he seemed intent to initiate.  And boy oh boy, I knew (monopod or not), that I wouldn’t have much chance against all three of them. 

I suppose King David in his youth would have grabbed that first dog by his beard and hurled him at the other two (1 Samuel 17:33-36), but David, I’ve just discovered, I’m not.

 So, click the following link and select the high definition and full screen options for the shameful aftermath of this confrontation as Larry Haverstock, unlike David, unceremoniously flees the scene:

Haverstock's Hasty Retreat

Well, it was obvious there was only one direction for me now since I wasn’t much inclined to try and herd three dogs out of my path with a single stick.  So, I was forced down the right side of the hill into a valley which had a farm road and open fields, but no trail.  It wasn’t the dogs fault, you know, just doin’ their duty, and they may have been sufficiently well trained to bark and not bite (though I wasn’t willing to test the theory since the shepherd had been barking orders of his own during all this melee but his dogs had completely ignored him).  So, once the dogs retreated I waved up at the shepherd once more, he waved back, and I had to add maybe another mile to my hike since I was now on the wrong side of the shepherd’s hill.

It was kinda cool though (seeing that my clothing wasn’t stained red) to observe that the Jesus Trail maps are so magnificently detailed I could easily read the topographical elevation lines and see the highway a mile up ahead which allowed me to cut directly through a wheat field that had already been reaped and wind up where I needed to be after only a single mile’s extra walk.  Piece o’ cake when you got a good map.

The field I cut through to get back on track:

This brought me to the “Yarok Az (pronounced “oz”) Organic Goat Farm”.  A young family with two little girls who milk goats and make cheese on perhaps four acres with chickens, rabbits, and a small pond full of frogs.

You can see there were two yurts for guests.  I suppose one is for women and one for men but I’m the only guest so I’m typing this blog while sitting on a five inch thick foam pad which lies on a thatched mat on a particle board floor big enough for the 13 mattresses they’ve got stacked inside.  There’s a very small wood-burning stove, a two place padded chair, and a single lamp standing on the floor.  There’s also a small halogen work light hanging up at the apex and an extension cord with which my computer is currently powered.  Rustic, yes.  And I couldn’t be more comfortable.  

There's a little outdoor kitchen area under a tin roof next to one yurt and a very small building with a row of toilet stalls on one side and a row of showers on the other, both with locking doors for privacy’s sake.  I washed all my clothing by hand (and without any soap) in a freestanding sink in the yard while listening to the incessant sounds of birds, frogs, and goats.  I’m lovin’ it!

Here are various photos from the day, though once again they are mostly of flowers, bees, and butterflies.  Whoah, maybe I’m not much like David at all!  Must be a budding botanist.  I’ll put the flowers at the end in case anybody’s getting overdosed on color.

Big day tomorrow.  Longest hike of all.  Gotta sleep.  Good night!