As the summer began, and with the green countryside already parched brown and yellow, we made a tound walk on a hot day to the lower Hermon (Banias) stream, below ancient Banias, to see the waterfall. On this occasion we did not visit the upper park, with the remains of the Temple of Pan, Caesarea Philippi, and the Banias spring, but just the lower park.
The Banias Spring emerges at the foot of Mount Hermon and flows powerfully through a canyon for 3.5 km, eventually leading to the Banias Waterfall, the most impressive cascade in Israel. Nine kilometers from its source, the Hermon Stream meets the Dan, and together they form the Jordan River.
The following pictures follow the loop trail, including the impressive suspended board walk along the basalt canyon of the lower Hermon.
Mapal Memorial to Lt Rami Bittman at The Lookout, Banias. Rami Bittman was calmly and bravely leading a company of armored vehicles in a minefield in the Golan Heights when he was killed, on 10 June 1967.
Looking up the Banias valley from The Lookout. Banias ( بانياس الحولة; בניאס) is the Arabic and modern Hebrew name of an ancient town that developed around a spring once associated with the Greek god Pan. First mentioned around 200 BCE as "Panion," it was later called "Paneas" (Πανειάς), both names being derived from that of Pan, the god of the wild and companion of the nymphs.
It was a very hot day and the greenery of spring was looking very dry. Beautiful spent flowerheads shimmered with silky silver husks.
The suspended trail is a relatively new trail which is about 100 metres long, suspended from the basalt walls of the high narrow canyon of the Hermon stream.
Afterwards we drove north, passing the Sa'ar waterfall and pool, a seasonal falls.
The now-dry Sa'ar waterfall; however we could hear the frogs in the pool.
Nimrod fortress from Sa'ar waterfall.
We ended up at the strangely silent Ram Pool, just above the Druze Golan town of Mas'ada. This is a volcanic crater pool which, according to the Talmud, opened up during the Flood, never to close again. The Talmud speaks of just two other such places, being Hamat Gader and Tiberias.
The Ram Pool.
Majdal Shams from the Ram Pool.