{"id":4584,"date":"2022-12-20T15:23:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T13:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/trail\/from-maale-akrabim-campground-or-the-small-crater-lookout-head-south-to-the-ein-yorkeam-day-area\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T10:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T07:44:41","slug":"from-maale-akrabim-campground-or-the-small-crater-lookout-head-south-to-the-ein-yorkeam-day-area","status":"publish","type":"trail","link":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/trail\/from-maale-akrabim-campground-or-the-small-crater-lookout-head-south-to-the-ein-yorkeam-day-area\/","title":{"rendered":"From Ma&#8217;ale Akrabim Campground or the Small Crater Lookout, head south to the Ein Yorke&#8217;am Day Area."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We begin the hike at the Mitzpeh Makhtesh overnight campground, following the red trail marker along a white dirt road heading south and west. After about 800 meters, we reach a trail junction on an asphalt road. We continue climbing gently along the red-marked trail for approximately 4.1 kilometers, following the watershed line, until we arrive at a junction where the red, black, and blue trails meet, next to Metzad Tzafir, an ancient Roman fort. This was one of three small forts that once protected travelers along the ancient Incense Route, which ascended the Roman-era Ma&#8217;ale Akrabim. The site offers a spectacular view over the desert landscape at the edge of the Hatzeva anticline.<br \/>\nFrom the viewpoint, we follow the blue trail, which gently descends southwest along the ridge for about 3.4 kilometers, until we reach a junction with the blue and green trail markers, crossing over fissures in the limestone. Here, a right turn on the green trail leads to Gev Yamin, a water pool about 2 kilometers away, highly recommended if time permits.<br \/>\nWe continue instead on the green-marked trail, descending the Ma&#8217;ale Yamin slope heading southwest. The descent is of moderate difficulty, and after about 1 kilometer we reach the Yamin streambed and an SOS emergency internet point.<br \/>\nWe follow the stream gently downhill for about 700 meters until we reach a junction of green and red trails, next to a large acacia tree. Here we turn right on the green trail, heading west to connect with the Hatzira Stream, which drains the Large Crater (Makhtesh Gadol). A gentle climb of about 2 kilometers along the streambed brings us to the foot of Ma\u2019ale Palmach.<br \/>\nWe climb carefully up the iron ladder and continue along a narrow cliff-side path supported by metal handholds and cables for about 400 meters. After completing the climb, we continue ascending along Nahal Hatzira for another 1.2 kilometers until we reach Ein Yorke&#8217;am, a spring and seasonal pool.<br \/>\nThe descent to the spring is on the white-clear-white trail, via Roman-era stone-carved steps. From the spring, we ascend gently 500 meters along the green trail in the streambed until we reach the Ein Yorke&#8217;am day-use area and the nearby Metzad Yorke&#8217;am, where the hike ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","blocation":[],"duration":[],"time":[],"season":[],"level":[],"location":[],"class_list":["post-4584","trail","type-trail","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trail\/4584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trail"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/trail"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blocation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blocation?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"duration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/duration?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"time","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/time?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/season?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/negevtrails.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=4584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}