Nahal Miflat

Nahal Miflat is a small, short stream that starts on the eastern plateau between Nahal Mishmar and the Nahal Harduf basin. A second channel of similar size joins its lower canyon, and the book describes the southern one, the one the maps call Miflat. The route is a loop of about six and a half kilometres that starts and ends at the night campsite at the mouth of Nahal Tze'elim.

The stream has a single drop, huge and stepped, about one hundred and eighty-two metres in all. It is built of four steps with a terrace and ledges between them, and its longest continuous section is about ninety-five metres. Rockfall boulders lie on the terrace and the ledges.

From the campsite climb the blue Ma'ale Tze'elim trail, on the north bank of the mouth, to the top of the escarpment. From there the trail rises gently north-west to near the south bank of Nahal Miflat. The bed there is shallow, open and hard to pick out, and the drop starts right where the stream begins to cut down.

A little below the drop there is a tiny step in the middle of the bed, after which the bed widens and fills with rockfall. About a kilometre later the channel turns north in a clear bend and runs down a wide alluvial fan crossed by Route 90, about three kilometres from the canyon mouth. The book calls the route a loop but does not describe the way from the road back to the campsite.

From the night campsite at the Nahal Tze'elim mouth climb Ma'ale Tze'elim, marked blue, to the top of the escarpment, and continue on the blue trail north-west to near the south bank of Nahal Miflat, where you enter the bed. The canyon ends on an alluvial fan crossed by Route 90, and the book does not describe the way back to the campsite.

The night campsite at the mouth of Nahal Tze'elim, where the loop starts and ends.

The book says the rock in the stream and on the drop is unstable, loose and crumbly, so check every anchor and every hold carefully. Rockfall boulders lie on the terrace and on the ledges between the steps of the drop, so take care not to knock stones onto people below. The stream is in a reserve. No entry when there is flash flood risk. The book describes no way out from the drop.

Suits teams with experience on long rappels and on changing over at ledge stations. Plan in advance how you get from Route 90 back to the campsite.

Full rappelling gear, a helmet, plenty of water, and a rope long enough for the longest section of the drop.