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I never imagined that I would find a positive side to not hiking.
For the past couple of months, due to a minor injury of my husband’s knee, we’ve been sticking to beautiful picnic spots and extremely short walks for our Friday adventures. We’ve discovered some really incredible places, spots that I never encountered before. Because if there’s no real trail, why bother?
That’s what the old me would have thought.
But the new me is thrilled to finally have permission to take it slow and check out places that I’ve been wanting to visit for years. Take Tel Arad, for example. I’ve long known that this National Park is well worth a visit. The ancient biblical city in the Judean Desert always looked really appealing…as we drove by it on the highway, in pursuit of longer desert adventures. But we’ve never actually made the time to stop in and check it out.
This past Friday seemed like the perfect opportunity. After a nice sunrise visit to Mitzpe Ghandi earlier in the week, I was longing for more desert views. And since sunrise is extremely late these days, catching a desert view at sunrise is not too difficult, especially when said view is less than an hour from our home.
A plan was hatched: we would pack up a thermos of hot coffee and head out the door in the wee hours of the morning to get to Tel Arad by 6:20 AM – plenty of time to find a perfect spot to watch the sunrise. After eating breakfast, etc, we would go into the National Park itself to explore the ancient city we’ve been wanting to discover for so very long.
Things didn’t go exactly according to plan. But we still had a fantastic morning in a fascinating place.
Here’s how our sunrise visit to Tel Arad went down:
Pre-Dawn Adventures
It was a cool morning as we set out for the desert, and just as cool as we neared the ancient Tel in the dark. We knew that the National Park opened at 8:00 AM, but we had read that the campground at Tel Arad was a great place to watch the sunrise. We figured that we would be able to access the area earlier.
So we were a little surprise when we pulled up to a closed and locked gate. How were early bird campers supposed to get in and out of this place?
No matter. We quickly spotted a hill right near the Tel that looked like an awesome spot to watch the sun come up. I piled on a few layers, grabbed our bag, and we set off through the desert towards the hill.
As we neared the top, we noticed something: the National Park did have a fence around it. But there were holes in the fence that were just the right size for a person with a backpack to fit through. And just beyond one of the holes was a really tempting spot on top of ancient wall – I knew that it would be a great perch to watch the sunrise.
So, in we went.
Sunrise
We set ourselves up on top of an old wall and got ready for a beautiful morning. The sun was just beginning to light up the sky in shades of pink and purple. After what seemed like a really long time, the pink sun appeared over the horizon.
The weather was perfectly cool, and we watched as flocks of birds circled in the sky, past puffy little clouds in shades that could only be described as magical. In the distance, desert dunes glowed gold on one side while the city of Arad twinkled on the other.
After a spectacular sunrise, we warmed up with hot coffee and blueberry oat muffins. And just as we were finishing up, the friendly ranger came up the hill to find out what the heck we were doing there.
On to Tel Arad!
To be honest, he was incredibly nice. He didn’t mind at all that we were there, and told us that when we were done, he would be waiting down at the bottom to greet us on our way into the official entrance of the National Park.
We packed up, hiked back down to our car, and drove into the National Park site, saying hello to our new friend on the way in.
Our first stop was the Israelite fortress, at the top of the National Park
The Israelite Settlement
I knew that Tel Arad was mentioned in the Tanach, but I hadn’t expected to see such well- preserved remains – after all, the city is thousands of years old.
In ancient times, the Israelite settlement in Arad served mostly as a lookout post, over the major highway that ran south along the trade route. Inside the fortress, there is an ancient temple, where sacrificial offerings took place before King Hezekiah cracked down, centralizing all religious worship in the Temple in Jerusalem.
We climbed down into an ancient water cistern, which supplied drinking water to the city along with water needed for religious purposes. We saw the remains of dwelling places, where archeologists had discovered stones inscribed with Hebrew lettering and some letters addressed to “Elyashiv son of Eshiyuahu”, who was the commander of the fortress. These finds, we learned, are currently housed in the Israel Museum.
As we left the fortress, we saw a white tailed fox scurry away.
The Canaanite City
After exploring the Israelite City, we climbed back down the hill towards the Canaanite City, a much larger settlement that was surrounded by a wall over a kilometer long. The city is divided into quarters with a palace, temples, dwellings, and marketplaces. We slowly made our way through the area, taking in the scenery.
The largest house in the ancient city of Arad (known as the Aradian House) was probably the most fascinating of all the structures. There, one large courtyard – used for cooking and working – led into one large room – the family’s only dwelling place. The home itself was depressed slightly into the rocky terrain, to keep it cool in the hot desert climate.
As we exited the Aradian House, I noticed what looked like a barn owl perched on a rock a few feet away. I was so surprised that I shouted out to my husband, and the owl flew away – but we managed to snap a very fuzzy picture of it anyway.
An Incredible National Park in the Desert
After taking our time to explore Tel Arad, we headed back to the car for the return trip home.
We were so happy that we had taken the time to visit this amazing national park. True, there are no hiking trails there. But fabulous desert views, cool animal life, and incredible historical remains make Tel Arad a perfect place for a spectacular morning adventure.
Just make sure not to show up before 8:00 AM 🙂
Hikers’ Notes:
Here’s what you need to know to visit Tel Arad:
- You can visit Tel Arad at any time of year. That said, it is quite hot in the summertime!
- This is a National Park, so you need to pay a fee or use your national parks card to get in.
- You can also camp out at Tel Arad! Check out the National Parks website for more details.
- Great for kids.
- Information, maps, and signs available at the site in English and Hebrew.
