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."

Green Land Feathers

 

White Trail has a lot of bridges to help hikers cross the salt marsh and swamp areas on the trail.  There is a lot of wet land at the preserve.  The woods at Durbin Creek was covered with ferns.  I thought of them as green land feathers.  They are so light and easily bend with the breeze. These are the same ferns growing at my house as well as my mother's.  Pine trees are lanky and tall and the thick undergrowth of the ferns adds a nice green hue of softness to the wet swamp areas and helps to cool the woods under the harsh hot climate. 

"Not all Those Who Wander are Lost" - The Riddle of Strider

 

The Riddle of Strider

 

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

 

 The poem is first given in the letter left for Frodo by Gandalf in Bree. In that letter, it appears as part of a postscript reminding Frodo to make sure that the "Strider" he meets is "the real Strider". The poem thus appears in that context as a means of identifying Aragorn. Aragorn indeed later quotes the first two lines, not knowing the poem is in the letter, and this does help to confirm his identity. Bilbo himself recites the poem at the Council of Elrond when Boromir expresses doubts about Aragorn's claim to be the Heir of Isildur.

Julington-Durbin Preserve

The White Trail to Durbin Creek has an opened field that leads into a very shaded path that had several bridges over the salt Marsh. It was a 2 mile round trip walk and was a perfect outing for a Sunday afternoon.

Durbin Creek

Durbin Creek is located at Julington-Durbin Preserve.  I walked the white trail to reach the creek. It was very green and lush with lily pads and hardware trees. I really would like to walk the length of the creek but there was so much thick under grow it would be difficult.

Looking for Pogo

Swamp at John P. Hall Nature Preserve on White Trail in Green Cove Springs.  This was the only interesting scene on the trail.  The trail consisted of mostly sparse pine trees and muddy in certain areas. Pogo and his friends would have liked the swamp.

White Trail at Providence Canyon

 

During Thanksgiving Holidays, I took a hike at Providence Canyon.  White trail was 2 1/2 miles and circle around the canyon.  Leaves had started to fall and left a brillant trail of red and orange colors.