Getting lost in the Golan

The other day, a fellow volunteer and I decided to go on a lengthy hike in the southern region of the Golan. We wanted to challenge ourselves and aim for a 10 mile hike around the region and then hike back to Nazareth. But things definitely did not go as planned. We accidentally began hiking in the wrong direction and headed further north, towards the village of Ilaniya. We soon realized our mistake and turned around, hiking back up the same mountain/hill that we had just left. We finally got on track again and managed to crisscross our way through valleys and hills, taking in the incredible beauty of the area. It was so quiet and serene - we were the only two people within a good couple miles radius.

To get an idea of where we hiked, we started off in the small village of Turan and headed southwest back towards Nazareth, taking the Blue, Green and Israeli trails that run parallel to the Jesus Trail. From Turan (after the Ilaniya incident) we hiked around Har Devora and skirted around the village of Devoria. However, we made our second (big) mistake of taking the Red trail. Apparently, this trail takes you through isolated/remote Arab villages (Reina and Iksal). Fortunately, my fellow hiker was a guy because I was wearing shorts that day because of the heat. I would HIGHLY not recommend trapeezing through two conservative Arab villages in shorts and a tank top. Which is precisely what I did. I felt horrible and so American, but I didn't have a towel to cover myself up. So, as inconspicuously as we could, we sped through the villages thinking the Red trail would spit us back out onto the main road. Turns out the Red trail doesn't do that. It was getting later and we were both getting a bit nervous (we were running very low on water, the sun was incredibly intense, and we didn't know where we were) when a car pulls up asking us if we need help. Fortunately, the young lady in the car offered to drop us off on the outskirts of Nazareth and make sure we got back safely.

What a day. Total mileage was 24 kilometers.

Other highlights include: encountering a stray camel that got last on the trails (he looked awfully confused) and coming across an enormous carcass of some wild ram. It must have been a fairly recent death, for the skeleton was fairly intact.