Rivendell, Elves and A Swinging Bridge, Kaitoke Regional Park

I hiked the trail at Kaitoke Regional Park where Rivendell was filmed for Lord
of the Rings. There were no elves to be seen among the primeval rainforest, Mirkwood elfish trees, Loudwater River and its swing bridge.  Giant spiders were not visible either but probably hidden in the tree tops spying on me. The river was low and very dry so it was too hot for elves and spiders.
During the Quest for the Lonely Mountain, Thorin Oakenshield and Company stopped off at Rivendell. Rivendell, also known as Imladris, was an Elven outpost in Middle-earth. It is also referred to as "The Last Homely House East of the Sea".  Rivendell was located at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Loudwater but well hidden in the moorlands and foothills of the Misty Mountains.  In Lord of the Rings, Arwen carrying Frodo on her horse, outruns the Black Riders to reach Rivendell.  She called upon the river for protection like elves can do and the river Loudwater became galloping horses charging after the Black Riders.

LOTR Rivendell forest, Loudmouth River and water falls.

The Enchanted River at Mirkwood Forest

 

Crisco Bridge

 

It is a 3 mile hike on the Bulow Creek Loop down a forest path to Cisco Bridge. The forest path is filled with large oak trees, thick undergrowth, and wet marsh.  Oak trees branches can take very unusual shapes through the years as they grow, they stretch and twist reaching for sunlight.  These branches stretched across the trail and help to shade the sun.

 

At Cisco Bridge, the water was murky and dark with large oak branches hanging over the creek.  It was so dark that the water was reflecting the palm leaves and branches like a mirror.  The Bulow Creek Trail is reminiscent of old Florida.  Giant oak trees, hundreds of years old, have been standing since the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.  The park is an ancient historical area of a plantation ruins and sugar mill where all the surrounding forest was left to grow in its natural habitat.  I wonder how did the Spaniards cross the land with such dense undergrowth and foliage.  The sunlight rays that passed through the thick foliage sparkled on the creek like spotlights.  The rays look like they were floating down the creek with the current. It was enchanting to see all the images in the water, sun rays dancing, green mirrors of palms, leaves at the bottom and small fish swimming in circles.  It was an enchanting looking glass.

I loved Lord of the Rings and recently watched all three movies again.  Through the years, it has been my movie triology of choice, particularly if I am attached to my sick bed for several days. Bulow Creek, its forest and ancient oak trees are similar to the images used by J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. 

Thorin Oaksenshield and Company in Mirkwood Forest hiking the forest path to the Enchanted River.

Bilbo Baggins, along with Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves, ventured into Mirkwood during their quest to regain the Lonely Mountain or Erebor from the dragon Smaug. There, the Dwarf Bombur fell into the Enchanted river.
The Enchanted river is a black river in Mirkwood, that flows north from its source in the Mountains of Mirkwood, until it joined the Forest River. It had fast and strong currents but was not too wide at least in the area near the Forest Path where Thorin and Company crossed it. The river's enchantment made it so that anyone who drank or bathed in the water fell into a deep sleep and when they finally awoke, could not remember anything for a long period of time. If I fell into Bulow Creek, I would be like the dwarf Bomfur and fall under its enchantment and into a deep sleep. Of course, that would be after I get home and dried off!

Trail Through "Mirkwood Forest"

 The White Trial at Guana River Park 

 

The trail pictures above are from the White Trail at Guana River. I could not help but compare the dense forest to the Mirkwood Forest in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Several artists' images of Mirkwood look very similar to the forest and landscape of the White Trail. Tree limbs were twisted and crossed over the trail like giant spider webs.  We hiked 5 miles round trip through dense forest to get to Diego Pond.  We were stopped at the south entrance due to the marsh land was too wet to cross due to so much rainfall. 

 

Images of Mirkwood Forest:

  

Excerpts from The Hobbit:

  "The entrance to the [forest-]path was like a sort of arch leading in to a gloomy tunnel made by two great trees that leant together, too old and strangled with ivy to bear more than a few blackened leaves. The path itself was narrow and wound in and out among the trunks. Soon the light at the gate was like a little bright hole far behind, and the quiet was so deep that their feet seemed to thump along while all the trees leaned over them and listened.      

    As their eyes became used to the dimness they could see a little way to either side in a sort of darkened green glimmer. Occasionally a slender beam of sun that had the luck to slip in through some opening in the leaves far above, and still more luck in not being caught in the tangled boughs and matted twigs beneath, stabbed down thin and bright before them. But this was seldom, and it soon ceased altogether. [...]

    But they had to go on and on, long after they were sick for the sight of the sun and of the sky, and longed for the feel of wind on their faces. There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlastingly still and dark and stuffy. [...] the hobbit [...] felt that he was being slowly suffocated."