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 walked to 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.

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.