Mount Meron Summit Trail

It was a bit hazy, but we decided to go for a potentially scenic mid-week nature walk. This walk was one we had been wanting to do for a while, so off we headed to the highest mountain in pre-1967 Israel – Mount Meron.

The Mount Meron Summit Trail is a circular trail that goes around the summit through the beautiful Meron nature reserve. (The very top of the mountain is inaccessible because there is an air force base there.) We thought we would be alone on our walk, but there were a few busloads of school children there.

We expected the views from the top to be stunning, but truthfully, there were only a few spots where the view was visible – most of the walk is in the woods. This was also very nice, of course. It wasn’t exactly flowering season, but we did see a few Early Crocuses. During the right season, this area is covered with colorful blooms.

The air force base has changed over time. We know that because we saw some abandoned military buildings outside of the current base perimeter fence. One of them was an old kitchen. Oy, it brought back army memories for Larry, from his military service – not the greatest ones, he says.

But when Larry was a young teenager, he and his family went on a trip to this same location, only then they did have the option to go all the way to the summit. There was construction going on there at the time, and one of the foremen came up to them and said that within a few days, this site would be permanently closed to the public because an air force base was being constructed there! And so it was.

 

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On the way back down, we stopped at the Hamama Ruins Campground, with a few ancient arches right next to the road.

After our descent, we wanted to have lunch in a restaurant in Tzfat that we had found online, that looked perfect for us: Elements Café. Vegetarian, gluten-free, mostly organic… perfect! It’s in the old city of Tzfat and it took us about an hour of heavy traffic to get there– and when we did, we found that it wasn’t open – and that it hadn’t been open for quite a while, according to a kind neighbor that was standing there. Before entering Tzfat, we had tried calling them on the phone and got a recording that said that they couldn’t answer the phone either because they were too busy, or they were closed. C’mon people – if you’re closed, leave a message that says so! No worries - we ate a delicious lunch at home – the best restaurant in town ?.

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