Day 31: Junction of Rt. 3855 and Rt. 375 to Mata
Day 31: Junction of Rt. 3855 and Rt. 375 to Mata
Day 31, March 30: Got up at 6:30 and saw main holy sites of Jerusalem before 8:30. Maybe my last time there for who knows how long. But I don't know how to do those "last time" things. Rough time getting back to trail, but finally got ride right to it from edge of Ramat Beit Shemesh. I did this part in December but it doesn't look familiar at all. Later: climbing big uphill and watching big bird fly around. Very muggy. Found beautiful valley Nahal Z-something near Mata, camp in creepy palm trees.
This actually was my last time in Jerusalem, and I like spending time around my favorite places in situations like this when I figure I won't have a chance to see them for a long time. In this case, my favorite spots are the Temple Mount, which aside from the mosques has a lot of really nice olive groves and gardens, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is best early in the morning and at night when it's not packed full of tourists.
The palm trees I camped in were really weird looking. The trunks were red and black, very sinister-looking, the likes of which I've never seen before. Decent camping though.