Cherry picking in a biblical landscape

JUNE 2, 2020 : Today I tried to do things differently. Instead of coming very prepared for our weekly trip as I usually do, today we tried something new. We had one for-sure destination (reservations for cherry picking in Maon at 14:30) and the rest of the day was not planned. No printouts of attractions to visit, no list of exactly where to go, no schedule to keep – instead it was let’s go there and see what there is. Big mistake. All in all, we had a very nice day, but I think with planning we could have seen more and avoided the frustrating moments of looking and not finding what we vaguely knew about. Next trip – only detailed planning.

The cherry-picking reservation was south in the Yatir region – the area between Beer Sheba and Arad. The idea was that we would head in that direction and find something to do until the cherry-picking hour. We thought we might go to the Yatir forest and see the attractions there. The Yatir forest is the world’s largest man-made forest planted in a desert. Considering it was so large, how hard could it be to find? Over the past few days, I had skimmed over several articles of what to do in the area and I remembered reading about a scenic road through the forest that starts in the town of Meitar. We reached Meitar, and we were in a beautiful landscape – the low hills were golden brown with wheat, but there was no forest in sight. After several frustrating attempts to find the scenic road we decided to give up on the idea and move on to what we had originally considered – visiting Tel Arad. Once we heard that the weather would be warmer than usual today, we had rejected that idea because Tel Arad is an archaeological site with no shade. But after not finding the forest, we decided to go to Tel Arad anyways – mostly because Waze knew exactly how to get us there. I would brave the heat.

On the short drive there, I remembered that Tel Arad is a National Park and requires pre-purchased tickets. While I drove, Mark was able to purchase the tickets on his phone. At the end, I am not sure this was so necessary because when we arrived at the park, we were the only visitors there. Once we got out of the car, we saw that the heat was absolutely no problem. It was so windy that you did not feel hot at all.

Tel Arad has two main sections – the remains of a Canaanite city at the bottom of the hill, and a Judean fortress at the top of the hill. After a short introductory video at the visitor center, that includes a reenactment of life in the Bronze Age Canaanite days, we were off to explore.

Following the trail as shown in the pamphlet we received, we went first to the Canaanite city. There you can see part of the city wall, a very deep well that was use for storing water, parts of a rebuilt house to show what a typical dwelling looked like then, and the remains of a palace and some temples. It is not very big and does not require a long time to go through. What is spectacular is the setting – you are in golden hills of a desert, with many Bedouin settlements scattered throughout, and the occasional green agricultural plots. It was striking. The total opposite of the classic beauty of lakes and snow-capped mountains, but beautiful none the less.

From there we climbed up the hill to the fortress. It was so windy that when we opened our water bottles, the wind made music across the top of the bottles. The higher we climbed, the more spectacular the view became. Once at the top, you could easily see the southern mountains of Judah.

Tel Arad was actually in the news last week. In this fortress, there is a temple with two altars. Residue that was found on the altars was recently examined and found to be cannabis. (It was actually found a long time ago when excavating the site, but only now is there the technology to do the analysis). While the use of hallucinogenic substances is well documented in neighboring cultures, this was the first time it was found in Judah. The researchers think that it was used to induce ecstasy as part of the ceremony.

Like in Zippori, you could descend into the underground water reservoir of the fortress.

We had spent more time at Tel Arad than we thought we would – we needed to go directly to cherry picking and had no time for a picnic lunch. There was no internet connection and Waze could not find the route to get to Maon. We took a chance that continuing on the road we had arrived from was correct (it was) and started driving in that direction. Only after a few kilometres, when we reconnected to the internet, did we succeed to get the full route on Waze. Next time, we bring printed maps.

Maon, the site of the cherry picking is in the southern Judean hills. To reach there, we needed to first climb up the hills. The view got more and more amazing as we curved our way higher and higher up to the top.

Once we reached the top, what do we see – the Yatir forest. This is exactly where we had tried to end up in earlier in the day.

To reach Maon from there, you need to drive over the Green Line. We went through the security checkpoint and crossed into the West Bank. The landscape was biblical – low rocky hills with cultivated olive trees in the valleys and the occasional herds of goats.

In the distance, the city of Hebron came into view sprawled along the mountain ridge. I was surprised at how large a city Hebron is.

After several kilometres, we reached Maon and followed the signs for the cherry picking. We purchased two large containers and then took off among the trees. The trees were full of deep red cherries. You could eat as much as you want – and we ate and ate. Picking went very quickly because it was so easy – without much effort you could easily fill the containers. Within a few minutes we had almost four kilos worth.

Even better than the cherries that we picked, the locals advised us what to see in the area and gave us a pamphlet with a map. Finally, we could easily understand exactly where we were, what roads we had traveled on and most importantly, where to go next. Their first suggestion was to stop at Mitzpe Yair. This is a small settlement we passed on the way back to the Yatir forest. It sits on the highest hill in the area (907 meters) and overlooks the Judean desert. While most of the settlement seems to be caravans, there were a few permanent houses in various stages of building. We had thought to picnic lunch there, overlooking the view, but the wind was so strong, that was not really possible. It felt good to feel cold.

The next suggestion was to go to the Yatir Reservoir. To reach the reservoir, we drove through the Yatir forest. It is a sparsely planted forest that also contains many vineyards. We assume that some of the grapes from these vineyards would eventually become Yatir wine – a wine we occasionally buy because we have a grandson named Yatir.

Using our new now cherry-stained map, we were able to find the Yatir reservoir – although it was not what we had expected. The locals had described it as a beautiful place to sit and look out at the water. The reservoir was created about 20 years ago in order to assist in the irrigation of the orchards and vineyards of the Yatir district during the summer.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the reservoir was undergoing maintenance and was mostly empty from water. What we saw was a huge black plastic lined hole in the ground. We found a picnic area and had lunch. Although it was not the beautiful site we were expecting, it was interesting to see the inner workings of a reservoir – something you usually never get sight of.

From there we could have taken the scenic road that we had looked for in the morning back to Meitar, but that would have been driving into the sun, plus Mark had a meeting from work that he needed to attend on the phone, so we headed back home the quick way on the Yatir Forest Road (Route 316). This also seemed like a scenic road and as we were driving, along some sections it felt like forest on the right, desert on the left. It was like before and after pictures. The desert that was here before was still visible on the left, while the man-made forest was on the right.

There is still much to see in this area that we did not get to and we hope to be back one day. So ended another nice trip to remember. Next week will be better planned.