2018-06-24 Beit Meri - Aabadiyieh - Ras Al Matn (Haskane Grotto)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.23 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,185 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 2,185 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,695 ft
- TrailRank
-
53
2.3
- Min elevation
- 511 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 6 hours 23 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1170
- Uploaded
- June 25, 2018
- Recorded
- June 2018
near As Suwaydah, Mont-Liban (Lebanon)
Viewed 4437 times, downloaded 91 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This hike is one for the books. The most beautiful, exciting, and difficult hike. Our guide for this hike was Kamal Asmar and his wife Matilda from Brummana Hiking Club. The objective of the hike was to reach Haskane grotto (see Haskane grotto story below)
The hike started from the dog farm in Beit Meri (must go through the farm) and descended across a thorny (had to use a machete to clear the path) path to the dried banks of Beirut river (Hike is only recommended during the dru season when the river is dry June - September). Our hike trail was the dried river path conquering small, medium, and huge boulders; most of our navigation was rock hopping. After the river we moved up a very steep slope populated with thick bushes and thorns in order to get to Haskane grotto (very steep climb and the trail is hard to find even with GPS). The grotto is a 50+ meter long cave full with stalactites and stalagmites and home to hundreds of bats (see pictures). We had to use a rope to reach the end of the grotto (need a rope with a minimum 7 meter length). while inside the cave we witnessed the formation of stalactites by drops of water. after the cave visit, we made our way back to the starting point.
The scenery was breath taking of mountains, hills, oak trees, pines trees, Lebanese maple, and others; the only thing that was a downer was the garbage scattered all over the river path coming from the illegal garbage dump of neighboring towns.
It is a difficult hike; those who wants to walk this trail make sure to have:
1- machete
2- 4 liters of water (minimum)
3- hiking shoes
4- powerful headlights
5- gaiters
6- sunscreen protection
7- hat
Haskane Story
the story of Haskane is the sad story of a husband, wife, and baby son who ran from the Ottoman soldiers (19th century) and sought refuge in the cave. The father had to smother the child (his name was Hasan) in order to stop his crying and prevent the soldiers from finding them.
The name Haskane is short for Hasan (Has) was (kan) here (e).
The hike started from the dog farm in Beit Meri (must go through the farm) and descended across a thorny (had to use a machete to clear the path) path to the dried banks of Beirut river (Hike is only recommended during the dru season when the river is dry June - September). Our hike trail was the dried river path conquering small, medium, and huge boulders; most of our navigation was rock hopping. After the river we moved up a very steep slope populated with thick bushes and thorns in order to get to Haskane grotto (very steep climb and the trail is hard to find even with GPS). The grotto is a 50+ meter long cave full with stalactites and stalagmites and home to hundreds of bats (see pictures). We had to use a rope to reach the end of the grotto (need a rope with a minimum 7 meter length). while inside the cave we witnessed the formation of stalactites by drops of water. after the cave visit, we made our way back to the starting point.
The scenery was breath taking of mountains, hills, oak trees, pines trees, Lebanese maple, and others; the only thing that was a downer was the garbage scattered all over the river path coming from the illegal garbage dump of neighboring towns.
It is a difficult hike; those who wants to walk this trail make sure to have:
1- machete
2- 4 liters of water (minimum)
3- hiking shoes
4- powerful headlights
5- gaiters
6- sunscreen protection
7- hat
Haskane Story
the story of Haskane is the sad story of a husband, wife, and baby son who ran from the Ottoman soldiers (19th century) and sought refuge in the cave. The father had to smother the child (his name was Hasan) in order to stop his crying and prevent the soldiers from finding them.
The name Haskane is short for Hasan (Has) was (kan) here (e).
Waypoints
Waypoint
866 ft
Mule Rest
The path we took was a Ottoman route during the Ottomans rule. path runners used to have stops to rest their mules
Waypoint
772 ft
Jaamani river - Lamartine Valley Intersection
This is where the Jaamani river and Lamartine valley rain water merge to form Beirut river
Comments (2)
You can add a comment or review this trail
I have followed this trail verified View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Lovely walk. Path is difficult to find as it is very over grown.
Please note that the trail start is blocked by the dog training centre and needs to be accessed through the centre.
We couldn’t access the whole path due to water in the river bed so we would recommend going in the dry season.
Definitely, the entrance is through the dog training center (there is no other way as our guide professed). This train is a dry season trail. The trail is very bushy as mentioned in the details above.
anyway, I am glad you enjoyed the scenery :)