En Gedi -- Trails of Lehi & David

As Jerusalem Branch youth leaders, Marilyn & Kerry Muhlstein organized a hike on 12/22/10 to the En Gedi Nature Reserve and some truly historic trails.    Highway 90 took us south along the Dead Sea shores.

The park has 3,600 spectacular acres with two important verdant canyons  -- Wadi David and Wadi Arugot.  Both were inhabited and fortified anciently.  The park's elevation ranges from 1400 ft. below sea level at the Dead Sea to 650 ft. above sea level at the high Judean Desert.

We chose to hike the longer trail up Wadi Arugot ("flower beds" in Hebrew).  It is the most likely trail Lehi's family used to flee from Jerusalem in 600 BCE.   It has a better descent than Wadi David from the Judean Desert to the Dead Sea -- then on to the Red Sea.   In 1000 BC, David hid from King Saul in one of these fortified wadis.  When the king slept in the same cave, David cut off part of his robe while sleeping; he could have killed Saul but did not (I Sam. 23:29).

 









In Hebrew, "Ein" means spring and "Gedi" means goat kid. No sooner had we parked than we saw this tame ibex atop a car -- eating tree leaves!








 We also saw a flock of ibex heading up the steep nearby cliffs.  (Several are at the top of this photo.)  During the day we saw several dozen of these nimble creatures.  Anciently, they were easy to domesticate and used for their hair, meat, milk and skins (water containers).  Some of their curved horns grow up to 6 feet long. 

Its mountain setting is distinctive, with  sharp promontories & high plateaus.

Near the trail head was "Tashara's Peak," where Ms. Muhlstein had fallen off a 30 ft-high hill. She tumbled & rolled, badly scraping & bruising her back. But she was not seriously injured -- and returned for our hike.

This oasis is host to the densest concentration of tropical plants in all of Israel.   (Tashara is in red in this photo.)


Sheer cliffs made for difficult and sometimes precarious climbing, in warm but pleasant weather.  (It is better to hike here in winter than in the summer._

The flora and fauna here are possible because of four flowing springs -- the David, Arugot, En Gedi and Shulamit.  We hiked along the Arugot brook.

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At one of the steepest parts of the climb, we saw these directional traffic signs!   Later in the day, the trail became so crowded that some could miss this key turnoff.

Our destination was "Hidden Falls," near the top of Wadi Arugot.  (Note the man beneath the falls.)  It was a good place to eat our lunches.

Both of us enjoyed the view, good food and fun all around us.

Glen Lewis and the boys left first, taking the "wet trail" down stream.  The rest of us retraced our steps along the upper cliffs.

Near the Dead Sea were acres of date palm orchards -- showing that with enough sunshine and irrigation, almost anything can grow here.

We also saw the mouth of the Kidron River -- now dry most of the year.  This canyon starts at Jerusalem and empties into the Dead Sea. 

Ezekiel 47 says that in the future, water may issue from the temple to flow down the Kidron Valley and into the Dead Sea -- enough to heal it.  The Dead Sea would not be lifeless but filled with enough fish for men to catch in nets!  If this is literally fulfilled (TPJS 286; Zech. 14:4-9), then it would happen here.