The descent to the Falls
The terrain hitherto was largely open and expansive. The wind was a consistent part of the hike, with varying intensity depending on the topography. Feeling like Frodo, I climbed a rocky, muddy incline, buffeted, until we entered a sheltered green tunnel. Soon, we reached a divergent path that led down to Bakers Falls.
It was a steep hop, skip, and several jumps for Huz and Amu, slower for trepidatious me, who proceeded with caution, for as you can see, the path was not only steep, it was quite wet and full of obstacles and puddles. As a result, they saw the Falls before I did. And Amu captured my slightly exaggerated reaction ๐
It was considerably damper and cooler way down at the Fall level. We spent some time absorbing the scene, with the sound of gushing, splashing, roaring water filling our ears. After hours of listening to wind through trees and grass, this was a different auditory experience altogether.
Soaked and quite achy now, my poor legs quaked at the thought of climbing back up to the main trail. In the course of 9 kilometres, this part tired me out the most. So the home stretch, although it continued to be breathtaking, had us all counting the steps till we had come full circle
(Credit for half the pictures (and a lot of the best ones) on this hike go to my better half, Amu. As mentioned earlier, we fought over the camera a lot, and I (being wise and mature) allowed her to be the official photographer ๐ย Some of the pictures (like closeups of foliage and the interesting roots and tree structures) have been taken using Huz’s phone camera (by me) and of course, all the pix that feature Amu mean I did sometimes manage to wrangle the Nikon from her hands)
Great series of posts. Really enjoyed the journey and the pictures. Also, I like that Huz is always facing away from the camera. Very enigmatic. ๐
September 19, 2013 at 6:51 am
Thanks for coming along (virtually) Alan ๐ I guess Huz is like the mysterious neighbour in that show ‘Home Improvement’…? Heheh…
September 19, 2013 at 9:18 am
My favourite set of pics so far M!! Manna from heaven for LOTR fans such as ourselves hai na??!! I was totally imagining myself as Merry riding along on Treebeard’s shoulder (that would be you!), as I journeyed through Fangorn listening to the wise old Ent’s song ๐ I’ve also realised though that I can’t do a similar trip until Junior is a lot bigger ๐ฆ
September 19, 2013 at 7:07 am
Mine too H…..I can’t stop looking at these over and over and feeling transported to that wonderful, lush landscape. Hee….your analogy is so cute! ๐ And yes, I was thinking about the Junior dilemma. Also your knees! Mine were close to buckling by the end. Even so, I felt like I hadn’t had enough!
September 19, 2013 at 9:26 am
The gnarled tree roots are so cool – when you’re not busy tripping over them, that is! The falls must have seemed thunderously loud after the hush of the fog. A beautiful juxtaposition. Great photos here. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it might just be the one looking up through the trees. Something about all the layers.
September 19, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Good choice Heather, that pic was taken by Amu and I’m thinking of having it printed and framed….love the layers of leaves and branches and the shades of gray ๐
September 19, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Very nice shots ๐
January 3, 2014 at 7:48 pm
Thank you! and thanks for the follow ๐ Looking forward to exploring your blog too ๐
January 3, 2014 at 7:58 pm