The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the Upper Galilee Regional Council announced a temporary reroute of the Israel National Trail in the North, effective Tuesday, May 20, 2025. The change is due to construction of a pedestrian suspension bridge in the Kfar Giladi and Tel Chai area, and is expected to last about eight months.
Suspension bridge construction closes trail section
The reroute affects the section running north of Kiryat Shmona, where work has begun on a pedestrian suspension bridge, the "Kfar Giladi–Tel Chai Suspension Bridge", south of the entrance to Kfar Giladi.
During construction, hikers will not be able to pass through the trail section between the Kfar Giladi cemetery and the Moshe statue on the Wounded Path. The section passing under the bridge in Wadi HaShomer at Tel Chai will also be closed to hikers during the work period, for safety reasons.
The detour route
The work is expected to take about eight months, during which hikers will be directed to an alternate route.
For those walking south to north, at the northern exit from Kiryat Shmona on the Tayelet HaShirim promenade (parallel to Route 90), just before the Tel Chai Courtyard Museum, turn west on a gentle descent into the olive grove of Kibbutz Kfar Giladi.
After about 200 meters, leave the grove and begin climbing a dirt path up the Ramim Ridge. After the short, steep ascent, join a wide gravel path that leads to an engineering structure on the original Israel Trail route.
Israel Trail: from the Hermon to Eilat
The Israel National Trail, inaugurated by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel in 1995, is a hiking trail running the length of the State of Israel, from the Hermon to Eilat, covering approximately 1,100 kilometers.
The trail is marked in the field in white, blue and orange, and is divided into 56 sections that can be hiked continuously or broken into segments, in long or short routes.
The Israel Trail is marked and maintained by a trail-marking team on behalf of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
