In Search Of...Hobbit-like walking paths

[mark12_30]

If it's mountains we want, I must cast my 'vote' for the Olympics, as seen from Hurricane Ridge.

Hurricane Ridge is both bare enough (and hikable enough) to be hobbity, but, the views of the rest of the Olympics are majestic enough. Misty Mountains indeed.

And the lakes are jewels, Durin.

[Lalwendë]

Actually, that second link makes me think of one thing only - the Firienfeld in Rohan! It's a dead ringer for what's inside my head.

If you want to see something that always makes me think of maybe the approach to Moria, then a walk to Gordale Scar is a good one:
http://www.walkingenglishman.com/dales17.htm

That's probably one of the most walked routes in the UK - I was taken on this one when I was a child and we ended up under a wall with the sheep, sheltering from a sudden thunderstorm. And here's a Romantic painting of said landscape beast:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:James_Ward_001.jpg

Though it's just like a garden feature to you Americans :P

[Bêthberry]

I think the issue, Lal, might be that us North Americans don't have the likes of The Quiet Woman pub to start us off on our hikes.

Those are great pictures, Helen, much more suitable than Mount Baker, which I first hiked as a young lass of eight, when my four year old brother climbed three feet up a tree and then couldn't get down.

By the by, Canada apparently has more lakes than the entire rest of the world combined, so I must find me some lake pictures that don't look like muskeg or moose meadow. Surely there are some.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I think the issue, Lal, might be that us North Americans don't have the likes of The Quiet Woman pub to start us off on our hikes.

Are you suggesting that beer consumption may have something to do with seeing sleeping dragons in the fields?

[Raefindel]

I have hiked on a trail on the Oregon coast that is actually called "The Hobbit Trail".

It is mossy and the bushes arch over the trail and form a "tunnel". It reminds me of the trails to the Withywindle.

Hobbit Trail

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Raefindel

I have hiked on a trail on the Oregon coast that is actually called "The Hobbit Trail".

It is mossy and the bushes arch over the trail and form a "tunnel". It reminds me of the trails to the Withywindle.

Hobbit Trail

That beach is beautiful!

It reminded me of another cool Hobbity place to have a walk - around Robin Hood's Bay and Boggle Hole - the latter is in fact named after hobgoblins who live in the area (along with the very scary Barguest ). Most appropriate.

Here's a decent walk I found:

http://www.dalesman.co.uk/walks/robinhoods.htm

Alternatively you could just walk down the beach (at low tide only), looking in the rockpools on the way, and have a shorter walk but more time in the pub later and then you are guaranteed to see Hobgoblins.

[Raefindel]

Wow! Very Beautiful. Perhaps some day Helen and I will come and visit you there. We do love to hike together. Singing required, of course!

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

If it's mountains we want, I must cast my 'vote' for the Olympics, as seen from Hurricane Ridge.

Hurricane Ridge is both bare enough (and hikable enough) to be hobbity, but, the views of the rest of the Olympics are majestic enough. Misty Mountains indeed.

And the lakes are jewels, Durin.

Oooh, yes. I went out to Olympic National Park when visiting my aunt in summer 2006. It really was amazing. The landscape out there that the pictures capture is so very different and beautiful; untamed and so much wilder and fresher than the eastern part of the States, where I'm from.

Along the same thought, on the same trip, we encountered the Hoh rainforest, which I must say reminds me a bit of Fangorn, perhaps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ho...Rainforest.jpg
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/olympic/images/oly494.jpg

It really does look like that. Fantastic. I kept expecting to find an Ent around the next turn in the trail. I want to go back there someday.

[kementari]

Oh come to New Zealand. There are wicked tracks to walk!! Beech forest lies low and is accessable off most roads.

I've recently moved to the South Island have seen some spectacular landscapes...Rohan, where there's huge rocks poking out from ground, and in the background towering hills. Walking through the forest and river beds reminds me of Arwen's race to Rivendell.

[Raefindel]

Originally Posted by Azaelia of Willowbottom

Oooh, yes. I went out to Olympic National Park when visiting my aunt in summer 2006. It really was amazing. The landscape out there that the pictures capture is so very different and beautiful; untamed and so much wilder and fresher than the eastern part of the States, where I'm from.

Along the same thought, on the same trip, we encountered the Hoh rainforest, which I must say reminds me a bit of Fangorn, perhaps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ho...Rainforest.jpg
http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/olympic/images/oly494.jpg

It really does look like that. Fantastic. I kept expecting to find an Ent around the next turn in the trail. I want to go back there someday.

Actually, Azaelia, The Hoh Rainforest is part of the Olympic National Park. It is unique in all the world because it has 3 different climate zones in one park: The Mountains, the Temperate Rainforests and the Beaches.

I do enjoy the hiking in the the rainforest, but I have to say that the Mountains are by far, my favorite.

[mark12_30]

I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains! And find someplace where I can finish my book!

[Raefindel]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains! And find someplace where I can finish my book!

My Teen-aged Elfling is anxious to hike with us again.