The forest roads fit private vehicles, but in the winter, they tend to get muddy. Drvie carefully.
The Wine Press Farm
Starting point and end of the track: the Wine Press Farm Parking Lot (see details below)
Length: about 1 kilometer
Difficulty: easy
The way to the Wine Press Farm fits a car but not a bus. To get there, travelers should drive from the gate of the Kennedy Memorial following the black-marked trails to the Fisher Junction – a junction with information board containing a map of the forest. In the junction, after driving forward, a right turn (underneath a high-voltage pole) following green marking leads to a way that bypasses the Sorek Ridge from the west and goes up to a small parking, almost at the top of the ridge. KKL-JNF established a small recreation area here.
From the parking lot, a blue-marked trail goes up with three ancient wine presses, carved in rock, along the way. The third and upper wine press is the most impressive – spreading over 4.5X7.4 meters.
Near the wine press are the remains of an olive press. It appears that the wine presses and the rest of the agricultural facilities in the area belonged to farms active from ancient Israeli eras to the byzantine period.
The trail continues all the way to the top of the mountain (715 meters). Here, next to a stone heap, there is an impressive view of all the surroundings, among the remains of structures that probably belonged to the farm owners. From this point, the trail goes back down to the parking lot.
The Springs Trail
Starting point: the parking lot of Se'adim Ruins
End of the track: the parking lot, about 100 meters from the Even Sapir Gate up the road marked in red
Length: about 3 kilometer (marked in green)
Difficulty: medium
Note:
1. Travelers should arrange a pick-up vehicle at the end of the track. Public transportation is available from the Hadassah Hospital on weekdays.
2. Return is also possible from Ein Tamar on the trail marked in blue, offering a circular round.
3. The "green" trail continues until Ein Hendak, Sataf and Tzuba. Travelers can go on a long trip on this trail, though arrangements for a pick-up vehicle should be made.
The track:
From the parking lot of the Se'adim Ruins, a few steps east bring travelers to a small section of cedar trees. A dirt road going down about 100 meters reaches a junction. The road goes right and its color changes to blue (travelers coming back on foot from Ein Tamar will walk through this road).
The road stretches between pretty terraces, testaments of ancient mountain agriculture. After about half a kilometer, a series of small caves carved in soft yellow rock will reveal themselves. Near the first cave there is a stone with a round water trough carved in it, used to provide water for sheep and goats. The spring water were collected in two pools built left of the trail. One of the aqueducts, about 15-meter long, is well preserved. It comes out of a cave at the side of the mountain, going under the trail and coming out on the other side. All these springs are now dry.
This is where travelers will notice the yellowish rock – marlstone of Motza formation – a rock which creates a tight layer, which stops the rainwater that flow through the layers of rock above it.
The trail continues down the slope with the woods planted by KKL-JNF. Half a kilometer from the Aminadav Springs the trail goes right and reveals the splendid view of the Jerusalem Mountains. At our feet is the town of Even Sapir and above it the Hadassah Ein-Karem Hospital. Beyond the large channel of the Sorek Stream are the Eitan Mountain and the Sataf, the Tayasim Mountain and many towns.
The area is still recovering from two large fires that broke out during 2014 due to travelers' negligence. KKL-JNF bases the forests' recovery on natural processes of grove renewal and the sprouting of pine trees from seeds spread by pine cones opened during the fire.
The next station is the Uzi Springs. The two springs flow one by one, at the edge of the forest. One of them flow all throughout the year and its water are collected in a nice pool.
From here, the road marked in green takes travelers eastwards, near the south bank of Wadi Yosef – a large ravine going down to Ein Hendak. The agricultural terraces in the ravine are incredible well-reserved. About 300 meters from Ein Uzi is the spring of Ein Tamar, a nice and small spring dedicated to the memory of Tamar Nathan, killed in 1996 during a trip to Bolivia. The spring come out of pit into a pool dated to the byzantine period. Some of the original plaster still covers the well. Sharp-eyed travelers will notice small round holes carved in the eastern side, and some researchers have speculated that these holes were used to breed fishes. The site also contains the remains of a large public structure from the same period – perhaps a church or a monastery.
Ein Tamar flows all throughout the year, and travelers can get their feet wet and enjoy two picnic tables set in the shadow of oak trees (from this point, they can get back to the starting point with stairs that go up to the trail marked in blue). The springs trail, marked in green, goes down from here along the yellowish marlstone later, which is the basis for a few additional (dry) springs. Towards the end of the green trail, it meets a wide dirt road.
200 meters left down the road is the end of the track. Before the end, travelers can continue on the path located in the opposite side, and after 100 meters reach Ein Sarig, another pool of water shaded by willow tree.