Middle Earth Ranger Forum

That looks like a grand time!

I especially like the rock wall. Do you know more of the story? Was it only a retaining wall against the hillside for the road? Or was something else there once?

Eofor wrote:I will never cease to be envious of the countryside and forests you get to explore Iodo.

I guess I'm lucky to live here

Eofor wrote:There was a particularly clever troll (which isn't saying much) known as The Scourge of the Eryn Vorn. The tale goes that he would block the forest road with fallen trees and snatch up unwary travelers as they clambered over his obstacles. His tactic was so successful that travelers eventually avoided the woods altogether and he resorted to preying on the local villages.

That I didn't know, I'll have to go more careful next time

Elleth wrote: I especially like the rock wall. Do you know more of the story? Was it only a retaining wall against the hillside for the road? Or was something else there once?

your guess is correct, it's a retaining wall against the bank, the road that once passed through it has almost completely been claimed by the trees - I guess people must have stopped using it because of the troll I've now learnt of , now that part of the woods is a long way from the nearest track and I often wonder how many people even know of the old roads existence, I once searched a map from 60 years ago out of curiosity and it wasn't marked

theowl wrote:Took my halfling to joshua tree national park for the first time. Does anyone else still have their MERF t shirt?

Absolutely! I break it out for special occasions

Brian

Dang. Iodo lives in the land that inspired Tolkien, and it shows.



Coconut accompanied my brother and I to the most idyllic glacial cirque meadow this week. He carried his pack over terrain that would make most human hikers balk, that no horse or even donkey could manage. Craggy talus fields, barren fells, narrow granite defiles and miles and miles of literally trackless wilderness, all without hesitation or complaint simply because that's where his humans were going. He is as brave as a lion, and I am proud to be his friend.
...Of course, the place he was following us to was goat paradise--acres of untouched sedges and shrubs with lots of interesting rocks to climb on, and from which one could stare down at the funny humans doing funny human things. But he didn't know that when he was trooping along after us. I hope he enjoyed his time there as much as we did.

Amazing photo that looks like a truly brilliant place to explore

SierraStrider wrote:Coconut accompanied my brother and I to the most idyllic glacial cirque meadow this week.

Man that is the nicest thing I have seen in a long time, goats are such wonderful creatures. I shared a podcast with Heimir the other day about an fellow who did a huge trek in Outback Australia with pack goats, not gonna lie it got me pretty keen to try it and now here you are doing just that!

Oh that's just glorious!

.... no fall color for you yet Iodo? Or is it just that part of where you went is all pine and such?

Elleth wrote: .... no fall color for you yet Iodo? Or is it just that part of where you went is all pine and such?

the trees are just about starting to turn but there's not much visible color yet

I was planning a hike/photo-shoot for this coming week to finally get some good shots with all my new kit items on, but honestly the last several days have been some of the worst in recent memory, so I’m afraid a full trek/shoot is straight out for me for the foreseeable future. That being said, I did manage to get out and explore a little trail I used to frequent as a kid, which ends right around the grounds of a really cool “castle.” The castle itself is privately owned and pretty much exclusively used for weddings these days, but I actually got to go in a couple years ago when a friend did in fact get married there. This time though I just got some fun pics of the bridge outside.

Also, on a separate short walk near home my wife and I found some shed cicada nymph exoskeletons, as well as a really cool orb weaver spider!

Also! Some lovely bright-red autumn poison ivy! Haha!

beautiful pictures

Woo! We have some of that! It looks so festive this time of year!
Almost.... inviting....

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Also - that castle looks fascinating Manv! What a neat thing to have in your backyard!


Also... a curious thing I've realized my last few trips out.

I have a memory that in my first forest walks aaaages ago things like tracking were a mysterious other-wordly thing, and I couldn't imagine doing it.
Now I look around the woods and without even thinking about it, see the critter highways everywhere.

It's strange how your eyes just start picking up the patterns.

Here's one I came across today:
Followed it a ways, making certain that my brain wasn't playing tricks on me and I really was seeing what I thought I was seeing.

Yup - see where the root's been scuffed?
Followed the way a bit more and found where someone's been nibbling at this year's acorn drop -

I'm going through a similar process of late as I did with archery some years ago.

I can sense a thing, I can find evidence that am in fact sensing a real thing... but I'm having to piece together how I'm seeing it.
I haven't quite got it all.. but it's coming. One of these days I'll have to turn that into writing while it's still fresh enough to be explainable.

(incidentally... here's the highway.. )
The giveways are...

... the worn section of the fallen tree in the foreground
... the dark spot where the trail angles to a right a bit in the midground
.... the open space (no deadwood) between the sapling and tree past that

... and so on.