1: Elevation. The overall elevation from Tel Dan to Eilat would drop off considerably. Staring up from Eilat into the Negev Desert on Day 1 was not such an appealing prospect.
2: Acclimitization. Mistakes are much easier to correct up north where there is a much higher concentration of kibbutzim, moshavim, scattered cities, and places to buy food and get water. If we miscalculated distance or places to stay we could adjust on the fly, whereas in the Negev there are many spots where there is simply no way to get water in or out from the trail.
And screw up we did.
The day started innocently enough with Brandon being interviewed live for Channel 2 News.
We met a fellow Shvil hiker named Matthew (from Lynwood, Washington, about 30 minutes from my hometown) and managed to get a short interview with him at the start. He proved to be quite an amazing addition to our team for the first two days as Brandon was struggling a bit to keep up with the group. He regaled us with great stories of his hiking adventures around the world.
In the first two hours we seemingly came up against every obstacle all at once. First, we had to navigate through a herd of bulls scattered across our path.
Next we hit a rainstorm and a large stream with hidden barbed wire across the path that almost ended our trip before it started.
Soon we hit our first moshav along the way as for the first we could see the city of Kiryat Shmona in the distance. The trail markings were a bit spotty and we ended up on the wrong side of a rather large security fence. Matthew, being eagle-eyed, spotted a way under the fence.
The next few hours were fantastic as we ascended the hills overlooking Kiryat Shmona and had lunch at the Kfar Giladi memorial cemetary.
We had planned on stopping at Mishkenot HaRoim for the night to camp, but we completely miscalculated how much time we had left, along with the mistake of leaving our camping gear in the support car. By this time we had hit a massive driving rainstorm and doubts were creeping into our head about whether we'd be able to make it to a road crossing before nightfall.
Thankfully though, we managed to hit a road crossing just after nightfall and we made our way up the road another kilometer to Moshav Yiftach where we were invited to stay in the gym and use their locker room showers. In the morning we were treated to cake and tea by the staff. Relieved to have survived Day 1, we knew the planning could only get better from here.
-Jeremy
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