2017-11-13 31 34

Mon 13 Nov 2017 in 31,34: 31.7285479, 34.9638450 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

A forest near the West Brosh Industrial Area.

Participants

Yosef (talk)

Plans

I got home in the middle of the day and decided that I would give it a shot. The planning was terrible: I started the trip with 47% battery which is never enough for a trip.

In short, take a bus to Beit Shemesh and then walk about four kilometers to the hash point through some forests with pleasant paths.

Expedition

It started out fine with a pleasant mid-day bus ride to Beit Shemesh. I hiked out of town through a sandy path that fell apart under my feet. I crossed highway 38 above the highway and found a path that followed the road south. When I got to what looked like a good path to turn west (right), I took it. I then found another nice path that continued south (left) and saw a pickup truck. Oh no big deal, I'll just pass it on the side at a run so it doesn't bother me.

I then heard "'akitzot" yelled from the truck. That means stings in Hebrew. As in 'akitzot dvorim means bee stings. Then I saw some cartons which made me realize that there was a small commercial hive there. Then I ran like an idiot throwing my phone and my hat as several bees circled me. I probably screamed like little girl. The bees kind of let up for a minute so I could pick up my phone and then they came to get me again. I ran at least fifty meters if not more and I ended up throwing off my shirt as well. Fortunately I think I was only stung in the back of the head once and I pulled out the dying bee from my hair. It might have help that I ran away spinning around in order to disorient the bees from attacking me, but I have no idea.

I went back to my shirt and spun, shook, and inspected it to make sure that there weren't any more bees interested in me. They were a little bit so I had to do more running and spinning but eventually they got bored.

From there I was thinking about heading home, but a Jew needs a hat so first I had to get my hat back. I walked up the hill and found the men in the pickup truck. They showed me where they had hung my hat and told me that the bees were angry and I shouldn't go near them now. I think they had probably just stolen their Lucky Charms, or honey, what ever. When I got to my hat there was a bee there waiting for me which made me do more running and spinning but eventually she let up and I was able to stand and think for a minute.

I could go home, but I had already traveled so far. I was about one hundred meters from the hash and maybe I could get there without angering the bees.

I tried approaching the hash from downhill of the trail but the way was blocked by all sorts of boulders and it didn't look passable.

I then tried approach the hash from uphill from the bees and here I actually started getting close. I was sitting on about 9% battery at this point in my phone which was my only source of navigation both to the hash point and to my house, but I thought I could make it.

I ended up walking up into quite a thick forest (for Israeli standards) where I used sticks to keep me from getting covered in spider webs and quite a few times crawled through openings in the brush under tree branches. I checked my phone several times until I saw a small rocky clearing and I decided that that would be my last stand. I was thirsty and tired at that point. I climbed up there and checked my phone. Bingo! I had passed the point by ten meters. I walked a little bit downhill into the brush got within GPS error of the hashpoint and tried three times to get a screenshot until the phone ran out of batteries.

I exited the forest downhill and basically ended up on the same path where the bees attacked me. They had gone back to their hives by this point and weren't looking for me anymore.

I walked a few kilometers and met some nice guys setting up a high voltage electric pole who gave me a hitch to Yishi Junction and from there took another hitch with a guy who made pergolas to Hartuv Junction. From there I caught a standard bus home to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station where I prayed the afternoon service in the most underrated synagogue in the world. That's right. Jerusalem's Central Bus Station has an awesome synagogue.

Achievements

I don't think a bee sting is good enough for a velociraptor attack, but it still itches. I don't think that Mother Nature put up too much of a fight this time, but it wasn't the easy path to get there.