Length: 2-3 hours
Mode of Transport: Stroller Friendly "Dry Route" and Floaties for the "Wet Route"
Why Go? Cause water hikes are the BEST!
Toilets? Yes, and changing rooms
What to Bring: See section below - lots of info on this
Entrance Fee: 28 shek/adult & 14 shek/kids above 5
It's that time of year, when it's too hot outside to do anything except be in water. So blow up your Anna & Elsa floaties and wear that awkward combination of tankini/shorts you can get wet, and let's go on a water hike!
I know. I hear the combo "water hike" and think, oy, no, what do I wear? how deep is this bad boy? where do I put my phone? double wrap my keys? ... and it stresses me out. No sweat bubelas, that's why I wrote this blog. You're welcome.
The Magrase Nature Reserve is located just north of the Kinneret in the Beitseida Valley. It's fresh water run off from the Golan, and it's ten degrees cooler in the water than out. Bless! The trail has a wet route and a dry route that run parallel to each other the whole time, and you can get in and out to switch in the middle. The wet route is about 800 meters and took us 40 minutes with a family of six adults and eight kids (two babies under one year). The dry route is stroller and wheelchair friendly and will take ten minutes to walk.
Here's the dilly: The stream starts off shallow (up to adult shins) and progressively gets deeper. By the end, everyone, even Omri Caspi, will be swimming and totally submerged. When you can touch the bottom, the floor is rocky and a bit slippery. If you want to get out of the water and hop onto dry land, you can do that at four different exit points. If you have little kids, you can bring a blow up raft and put them in arm floaties to take them through to the end if they cannot swim. Note - you will get COMPLETELY wet, so either give your car keys to savta, who is sitting in the picnic area, or bring a waterproof bag.
How to dress: I suggest putting everyone in footwear you can get wet - either water sandals, jellies, or say eff it, and wear sneakers. I'm anti flip flops since they will slip off and I'm anti bare feet cause it ain't easy on the tootsies. Put the kiddies in just their bathing suits. They don't have cellulite on their bum yet, so they don't care. And we grown ups can also wear just bathing suits (embrace it!) or also feel free to wear shorts that can get wet or that SPF long sleeve water shirt you bought on sale last season...but just know it will get TOTALLY SOAKED. I wish I wore my one piece suit plus running shorts. But alas I wore jean shorts and underwear thinking I would get out when the water was up to my thighs. Ops/gross/blech. My bad. It got deep fast.
Most of the path is in the shade. And unless you ate a salt stick for lunch, leave the water bottles in the car. Carry as little as possible in the water. I wore the baby in the carrier on my back and entered the water until the point where it got too deep. From there, I turned back and got out onto the dry path and met the family at the end.
There are bathrooms and changing rooms at the entrance and lots of lovely shaded picnic benches. We went on a Friday at noon, and since you have to reserve a spot during Corona times, it was not crowded and there was plenty of space in the hike.
In total, with a picnic lunch + the hike + changing + a post-hike Bamba celebration, we were there three hours. It made for a lovely activity and the kids totally geeked out over how exciting it was. I gotta say, I geeked out as well and loved every bum-soaked minute!
Comments