Hike through the Golan

So today was another day off, and so what we did was have a little bit of class in the morning (OK, 3 hours is long for anyone…) and then we had a nice little afternoon activity of going on a hike through the Golan Heights area. It was a really pretty hike but it was a little unexpected what our guide wanted to do. We thought that we would just be able to hike and he would make sure that we went the right way, but he was also going to teach us a little about the geography of the places that we were going. I really didn’t mind that too much, but I know that a few of the other were hoping that it would just be a nice hike.

It is interesting that the whole of Israel is on its own sub-plate though, kind-of like California from what I understand. That is why we have the earthquakes that have destroyed half of the places that we going and see. A little depressing considering that some of these places would be fully intact if it were not for those darn earthquakes!! But oh well. That is also where the Golan heights come from, majorly old lava flows that left great deposits of basalt everywhere that the people in this region use for building their homes.

Anyway, we saw a few cool waterfalls, and really got a good view of the Golan Heights, everything was going pretty well, and then we had a small incident. Mac (who is in my FHE group) rolled her ankle on the trail and hurt it pretty bad. She was near the back, there were only about 7 of the 50 left behind her, and so we had to figure out how to get her to the end of the trail. Neil, Jud and I took turns carrying her the rest of the way, which was fine, except that this was the part of the trail that was coming up out of the valley, and so a lot of it was uphill. It was hard work, I think that Neil took the brunt of it though, he is quite the trooper! We did get her back safely and she is doing OK now. The Jacksons came up from Jerusalem to check on her and get her some wrappings and crutches. In all it was a great day, it was really cool to see that part of the Golan. I am also looking forward to church tomorrow, we get to go to the Galilee branch and I am interested in seeing what church is like here. Till tomorrow!