Jilaboun and the Black Crevasse

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I planned this trip because I just love the trail. One of the most beautiful in Israel.

Late Tuesday morning we gathered at the Dvora Falls parking lot and left one car there. Then we went to the Jilaboun parking lot. Most of the hikers start this trail at the Dvora waterfall, follow the valley downstream to the Jilaboun waterfall, and then climb out of the valley to the Jilaboun parking lot, but to save us the arduous ascent at the end of the trail I decided to do it the other way around.

So we waited a little until all the group’s participants arrived, 13 in number, and we set off. The group consisted of six adults and seven children, ranging in age from four to seventy-one, including my son, my brother and his two sons and my mother.

We followed the blue trail markers down the steep descent to the Jilaboun falls lookout point, just above the falls, where we met with the red trail markers. The descent was difficult, especially for my mother. This track is not easy for those not used to hiking! The trail is steep, we clambered over boulders, rocks and tree trunks. I really enjoy this type of hiking but it is very difficult for those not prepared. For most of the way I remained behind to help my mother.

After a short rest we continued down with the red trail markers to the bottom of the waterfall, helping each other along the way, until we arrived at the lovely pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

The Jilaboun waterfall is one of the highest flowing waterfalls in Israel at over 40 meters. At the bottom there is a large pool surrounded by rocks and trees, so there is plenty of room to sit in the shade. This place is popular with hikers and there were several families and groups of teenagers, but we found a comfortable spot near the pool.

So we got to the pool, ate brunch and swam in the pool. The water was cold! I was expecting it to be a little less cold this late in summer. Despite the frigid water, everyone enjoyed the scenery, the water, and the hot tea I prepared.

After about an hour of recreation at the Jilaboun pool we continued our walk. We climbed back up to the view of the fall’s lookout (pretty grueling for some of us), and continued along the red markers up the creek.

In the past it was possible to walk part of the way in the water, but now the stream is overgrown with a thicket of raspberry, oleander and other vegetation and we had no choice but to stay on the marked trail. Easier but less interesting.

After walking, climbing and clambering, each at his own pace for about a kilometer and a half, we reached the Dvora waterfall.

Although not very high (at about 12 meters), the Dvora waterfall is in my opinion one of the most beautiful places in the country. A deep, clear pool surrounded by basalt walls, and the waterfall itself is surrounded by a tangle of figs, mint, ferns, mosses and more.

We climbed carefully down to the pool and swam. Almost all of us swam in the pool, adults and children alike. Some of us also swam under the waterfall, and the older kids even climbed up to a rock shelf over the pool and jumped in (from a height of about two meters). A lovely place, and the water was a little less cold than the Jilaboun. I have no explanation for the higher temperature but I’m not complaining either!

After everyone swam, rested and enjoyed themselves we climbed up the short path to the Dvora parking, where we left a car earlier. The kids and other passengers waited in the shade of eucalyptus trees at the abandoned Dvora Falls military base and us drivers took the car to the Jilaboun parking lot where the rest of the cars were waiting. At this point my brother, his two young sons and my mother left us and returned home, and nine of us remained in the group.

We drove the short trip to the Yehudiyya campsite, where we settled in for the night. We arrived before most other travelers so we found a good spot, and we unloaded the cars. Tents, backpacks, firewood, barbecue, camping stove, food, rappelling equipment ...

We got organized for the night and I handed out the rappelling equipment. harness, carabiner, and a friction device each. I hung a rope on the frame of the shade to show the group members how to rappel and I helped the kids practice a bit, so they could get a feeling of what it’s like.

Dinner consisted of orange soup, chicken skewers, merguez sausages and hamburgers, vegetables, salads and marshmallows over the campfire for dessert. We enjoyed some stories and logic puzzles with each other. A nice, quiet evening with a good atmosphere, good food, in good company.

It was quite noisy at the Yehudiyya campsite, but we still managed to get a few hours’ sleep and got up more or less refreshed in the morning, looking forward to a day of sightseeing, rappelling and swimming.

After coffee, breakfast and preparing for the day we gathered up our sleeping equipment to the cars. I spoke with the warden and settled things with him, and like yesterday, we left one car in the parking lot and drove the remaining cars to the beginning of the trail. That way we saved ourselves two kilometers of boring walking.

We unloaded the cars, loaded backpacks, ropes and other equipment on our backs and set out. We crossed an open field along cattle fences, passing the remains of a Syrian village until we got to the descent into the Zavitan stream. The descent consists of an iron ladder and some basalt stairs to the river itself. Then, instead of continuing down the river as most groups do, I took group in the opposite direction, upstream. After about five minutes’ walk and a tricky traverse along a rock wall the most beautiful pool appeared before us! The first waterfall of the Zavitan river poured from above into a deep pool surrounded by basalt walls. Fish swam in the pond, and soon we too joined them.

After too short a time (if you ask the kids) we returned to the trail downstream. Walking in the stream is not very difficult but it is not a wide, smooth path. There is some clambering over rocks and through thickets, sometimes walking in water, and we got stuck behind another group. This is a common occurrence on this course. The Black Crevasse, as this section of the Zavitan is called, is a popular rappelling trail because of its beauty. A little further on the guides of the second group let us overtake them when they stopped their group for a rest and we could return to a comfortable pace.

We reached the first fall, where a surprise awaited me. We used to rappel the four meters or so into the pool, but since the last time I was here the Nature Reserves Authority built a ladder around the pool. This is because people used to jump into the pool instead of opening a rope and rappelling into it.

Anyway, we climbed around the pool and down to a narrow point between it and another, longer. We crossed the big pool and reached the first rappelling spot. I set up a station above the waterfall. There are three spots with anchors for rappelling down this waterfall. The right point is the lowest but the most difficult because rappellers have to descend down to a pool, cross it, and then descend to another pool before the final drop to a third, final pool, all this while still attached to the ropes.

The central position is of intermediate difficulty. It’s slightly higher than the right position, but simpler. There is a wide, slanted step about halfway down. You need to rappel to the step, climb over it and then continue to rappel to the pool at the bottom of the falls.

The left position is the highest (about 20 m’), but it is simple. Rappel directly to the pool.

I set up my station in the center position and sent one of the dads to the shelf, where he helped the rest of the group cross the shelf and continue down to the pool. It was a bit difficult, especially since this was the first time that most of the group members ever rappelled. While we were there, more groups arrived and everyone ended up helping everyone. Finally, we all reached the bottom safely, crossed the pond and continued on our way.

This section of the valley is much more open, with less water. At one point the river converges into a narrow gorge and a steep decline down a rock face took us to another pool. We carefully climbed down using steel pegs set in the rock. I crossed the pool and set up our next, and last, rappelling station while the kids enjoyed jumping and swimming in the water.

This waterfall is the highest in this trail, at about 25m’, with water flowing down it. It is built almost like a staircase, with lots of bumps, steps and hollows of wet, slippery basalt. This drop also ends in deep water. In fact, this is the largest pool in the trail. We carefully rappelled down the waterfall, one by one, and swam to the far end of the pool.

We sat on the rocks at the end of the pool for a well earned rest and meal. Even the kids didn’t play in the water very much.

Eventually, all rested up, we followed the path downstream until we met the black trail markers that follow the Zavitan stream. Another ten minutes until we reached the final ascent and started to climb up the trail out of the valley. After a long and exhausting climb we reached the edge of the valley. We sat in the shade of a tree and enjoyed the scenery – the Jordan Valley and the Upper Galilee. We could even see the houses of Rosh Pina from here.

Another walk along the red trail markers, then the green, and after less than an hour we got back to the Yehudiyya campsite. The drivers went to get the cars left at the beginning of the trail, we packed ourselves up and home we went, tired but happy, at the end of another successful hiking trip.

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