Recent rain? Check the mud forecast before you go. Download the route’s GPX and upload it to ‘HaSingletor’ – you’ll get the chance of mud from the nearest rain station and the soil type.
Mud forecast Built by Boaz Yoffe · mtb.yoffe.netA loop from the Trek shop in Karkur: 115 km and 1,632 m of climbing on dirt roads and trails of Alonei Yitzhak, the Menashe Heights and the edge of the Carmel, past Tel Megiddo and Nahal Kishon. The route of The Longest Day ride.
115 km and more than 1,600 m of climbing, in a loop from the Trek shop in Karkur and back. You enter Alonei Yitzhak, climb onto the Menashe Heights, drop past Tel Megiddo to Nahal Kishon and climb up Nahal HaShofet to the Har Gahar campsite. From there you descend via Sha'ar HaCarmel to Nahal Taninim and return along Nahal Barkan to Karkur. Dirt roads and trails, with springs all the way.
From Karkur to HaZorea (km 55.6) there is no fuel station or shop. Food only by Tel Megiddo (km 35.9) and at km 42.8, and water at km 6.5, 34.4, 35.9 and 38.3. There is also no fuel or shop between Sha'ar HaCarmel (km 76.4) and the return to Karkur.
The route crosses one firing zone, about 7 km of 115. Entering a firing zone requires advance coordination and approval, and zones can be closed on weekends and holidays too.
Boundaries from OpenStreetMap (source: IDF) and may be out of date. Some sections are a road that crosses the zone. Either way, check and coordinate before you go. All coordination centers →
Install the site as an app and save the route for the field. The map, elevation profile, fuel stations, water taps and campsites stay on your phone and open without internet.
You set off from the Trek shop in Karkur, the route's southernmost point, into the Alonei Yitzhak reserve. Then on to Ein Sartan, a pool in Nahal Barkan.
You climb about 270 m onto the Menashe Heights, along Nahal Ada and Nahal Nili. Ein Betem, the Gilad campsite and Ein Galed, then Ein Kfar, below the ruins of the village of al-Kafrin, up to the route's highest point at about 350 m.
From the high point you drop about 300 m into the Jezreel Valley. On the way: Pinat Amir, with water, and the Tel Megiddo national park, with Canaanite palaces and gates and an ancient water system. Then Ein Adad, a spring with shallow pools, and on to Nahal Kishon.
Along Nahal Kishon and Nahal Gahar you reach HaZorea, with a fuel station and food stalls. Then you climb about 200 m up Nahal HaShofet: the Wilfrid Museum, Ein Hashrat and an old flour mill, the Camels' cave and Tel Faror, up to the Har Gahar campsite.
From the Har Gahar campsite you drop into the Nahal HaShofet reserve, with Ein Sason, Ein HaShnayim and Ein Olmusim, which flows all year. After the Nahal HaShnayim lookout and Sha'ar HaCarmel, with a fuel station and restaurants, you descend about 200 m along the edge of the Carmel: Telimon cave, Nahal Daliya and Nahal Zichrona, an ancient quarry and Nahal Taninim.
A flat section along Nahal Barkan and Nahal Mishmarot: Tel Dudaim, the Netzach Israel spring and Mishmarot, then back to the Trek shop in Karkur.
To split it over two days, the Har Gahar campsite (km 63.8) or the Nahal HaShofet campsite (km 66), roughly halfway. The Gilad campsite (km 22.7) is 250 m off the route.
Fuel stations, groceries and food within 200 m of the route. Fuel stations usually have water, toilets and a convenience store.
Distances along the route are calculated from the GPX file; the distance of each place from the route is a straight-line distance. Night campsites come from the site's campsite map, other places from OpenStreetMap. Not checked on the ground: confirm before you go.
Firing zones: OpenStreetMap, IDF data import
Distance, climbing and recommended months come from the routes table. Highest and lowest points are calculated from the GPX file, and difficulty is an estimate based on climbing per kilometre.
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