I have gone on hikes that I thought were epic, such as my hike of "Yam l'Yam Extreme". I have gone on runs that felt epic (though objectively they probably were not really considered epic). Yet the real epic hike of Israel, Shvil Yisrael, the Israel National Trail, has eluded me. I have hiked small sections of shvil yisrael, but not a significant amount.

Shvil Yisrael is so epic that most people do not even hike it in one shot. Many people hike shvil yisrael in sections, spending a few days hiking at a time, and then returning to where they left off the next time they have a few days available. People can stretch out the shvil yisrael hike over many months and even years. People who hike it intensively, from start to finish in one stretch generally do so over the course of 3-4 weeks.

National Geographic has rated shvil yisrael, the Israel National Trail, as one of the top 20 epic trails in the world in it's compilation of the world's best hikes. The Israel National Trail shares this distinction with other great trails such as the Himalayan trail, Copper Canyon, the Appalachian and others (many of which I have not heard of).

You can get the details from National Geographic.

I don't know if this is the coolest part of the description or not, but I thought the "trail angels" mention was really cool:

Insider Tip: The biggest blessing here comes in the form of “trail angels” along the INT who give a helping hand and often offer a place to stay free of charge to thru-hikers. The updated list of trail angels with contact information is locatedhere.

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------