What Middle-Earth-like events have you seen?

[Vorondil]

Mine is a massive fire on the hills in front of our house, you could watch the flames running in rivers of fire down the hillside. It was just like something out of the Silmarillion.

 

[Deimos]

On 22 Sept, Bilbo's and Frodo's Birthday (except the year was 2014) I stepped off the top of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (alone) onto a path that took me (sort of) "there and back again" i.e. what is called a Rim-to-Rim hike, 14 miles down the North Rim and 10 miles up the South Rim, 3 days over all ( 2 days spent at the bottom of The Canyon).

 

[Ent]

There is a very dense forest formerly regularly visited, with a narrow path winding through the trees, branches intertwining overhead and all around. Dark, beautiful. Quiet. Very Fangorn.

In another beautiful patch of forest, hunting one time, my cousin and I were coming up the ridge while my brother-in-law and sister came up the draw below, looking to flush our prey. Suddenly just ahead of us, the blasting of a rifle. Cousin and I came around the tree to see a fellow punching bullets into the draw below. When he saw us, he turned and leveled his rifle on us, upon which we hit the deck. 'What are you shooting at?' sez I. "I hear something down in there,' sez he. "Indeed. You hear my brother-in-law and sister, fool.' We escorted the gent down to his camp, into his car, and sent him packing out of the woods.
Very Orcish behavior..! Yet not the dumbest 'hunter' ever encountered in those days.

 

[Vorondil]

'What are you shooting at?' sez I. "I hear something down in there,' sez he. "Indeed. You hear my brother-in-law and sister, fool.' We escorted the gent down to his camp, into his car, and sent him packing out of the woods.
Very Orcish behavior..! Yet not the dumbest 'hunter' ever encountered in those days.

They come with axes, they come with fire and rifles, but no training, a hunter should know better.

 

[Ent]

but no training

and no brains.

a hunter should know better

My father used to tell the story of a hunter who shot a mountain mule, brought it down to be tagged thinking it was a deer, and the ranger went ahead and tagged it and sent him on his way.
I thought my dad was...well...fibbing a bit. Until at one of our hunter's club meetings, a Ranger was the guest speaker. He also happened to be the Ranger that had tagged the mule. Why? 'To get an idiot off the mountain and out of the woods', he said.

It always takes someone with brains to compensate for those that have none. Comes to my question about the difference between 'knowledge' and 'wisdom'. 'Knowledge' would say 'the dude needs to be ticketed and fined' and anything else that could be done. Wisdom said 'protect the rest of the hunters out there.'

I truly hope the Orc enjoyed his mule dinners.

 

[Vorondil]

the story of a hunter who shot a mountain mule, brought it down to be tagged thinking it was a deer

How can someone be this stupid and still be breathing.

 

[Ent]

How can someone be this stupid and still be breathing.

Unknown to Ent. But they are a great crowd indeed.

 

[Olorgando]

How can someone be this stupid and still be breathing.

Actually, breathing is automated. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing ... 🤔

 

[Deimos]

There is a very dense forest formerly regularly visited, with a narrow path winding through the trees, branches intertwining overhead and all around. Dark, beautiful. Quiet. Very Fangorn.

In another beautiful patch of forest, hunting one time, my cousin and I were coming up the ridge while my brother-in-law and sister came up the draw below, looking to flush our prey. Suddenly just ahead of us, the blasting of a rifle. Cousin and I came around the tree to see a fellow punching bullets into the draw below. When he saw us, he turned and leveled his rifle on us, upon which we hit the deck. 'What are you shooting at?' sez I. "I hear something down in there,' sez he. "Indeed. You hear my brother-in-law and sister, fool.' We escorted the gent down to his camp, into his car, and sent him packing out of the woods.
Very Orcish behavior..! Yet not the dumbest 'hunter' ever encountered in those days.

Man, that is damn scary😱..moron.

.

 

[Ent]

Man, that is damn scary😱..moron.

Indeed it was. Thankfully, he didn't pop off at us... he seemed to recognize the difference between two people hitting the ground, and an animal somehow.
With a brain that says "just launch bullets when you hear a sound", we were more than lucky all the way around.

It can be said Ent was actually angry at that time! Angry..!
But it was nothing compared to Brother-in-law..!
He was not carrying a gun, as we escorted him out of the place.

 

[Tyelkormo the Fair]

We have a villa in the north of my country...it's filled with greenary and ancient forests ...but there is one with rather young trees near our villa that reminds me of Ithillien, absolutely beautiful

 

[Eljorahir]

In Montana, along the backbone of North America there is a remote place called The Bob Marshall Wilderness. One August day (after driving 4 hours along a dirt road full of pot-holes) we began our planned 7-day 49-mile backpacking trip, me and three friends. (I'd never really backpacked before.) At the start it was difficult, but: amazing views, huge trees, the blue-est of blue lakes full of trout. Heavenly.

Then, after a couple nights on the trail, it started to rain and didn't stop. Wet, cold, but we continued. Then came the dreaded..."Switchback Pass". Up and up we went. Wetter and wetter. Colder and colder. Rain turned to sleet. Sleet turned to (a little bit) snow. Too wet. Too cold. Too high in elevation (headaches from lack of proper acclimation to the elevation). We spent one night partway up Switchback Pass sleeping in misery under a tarp. The next day we walked all the way out (luckily mostly downhill) back to the car and to the nearest hotel. Shower. Restaurant. Bacon Cheeseburger. Heaven!

I never thought about it like this until now, but maybe Switchback Pass is my Caradhras The Cruel.

Anyway, we learned our lesson on that hike and in future years had many amazing back-country pack trips in the mountains of the northwestern U.S.... Utah, Idaho, California, Colorado, etc.

 

[Vorondil]

I have seen that which is closest to a wraith as you can get in our world. We had gone for a walk in the forest, and as we where going along, I turned and saw in my peripheral vision what looked like the shadow of someone standing about 10 metres back, it looked like it was there for about 2 seconds then it was gone when I looked at it properly, I know it was just a trick of the light (or was it?), but I wasn't anxious to stay in the woods for much longer.

 

[Ent]

The most Middle-earthy thing Ent has witnessed, is someone reading Tolkien's works.

 

[Deimos]

Was cleaning out the cutlery drawer and found this ....It's definitely hobbit-sized.
(Must have fallen out of Lobelia's umbrella...)

(

 

[ZehnWaters]

Mine is a massive fire on the hills in front of our house, you could watch the flames running in rivers of fire down the hillside. It was just like something out of the Silmarillion.

Kayaking up Snake River canyon to Shoshone Falls.

 

[Deimos]

Kayaking up Snake River canyon to Shoshone Falls.
View attachment 26019

Who took the Argonath down???!!

 

[ZehnWaters]

Who took the Argonath down???!!

Good question. The falls themselves were really low at this time of year or I'd show them off too.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

Being in Australia, large fires are not uncommon. The smoke from a distant fire covers the sky high enough so that you can't really smell it, but as it is different from clouds, the sun shines weirdly through it. The sun itself remains unseen and everything turns an even golden yellow colour, so you can't tell where in the sky the light is coming from. Like the light is yellow, things that are normally coloured blue for example, will be closer to grey. It reminds me of some artist's rendition of the light of Laurelin when it is shining alone.

Though, as an aside, I do wonder whether the increase in huge fires in other countries too may be partially due to eucalyptus trees. They are a native Australian tree, and as such they have been a normal part of the ecosystem for a long time. We also have animals and insects that are able to feed on eucalyptus. In recent history, these trees have been planted overseas in a variety of places, and like the eucalyptus oil is so strong and toxic, the native animals and insects there will not touch them. And they seem to have been proliferating wildly, maybe because the other trees there can't compete with them.
The thing with eucalyptus oil is that the trees hold a lot of it, and it is highly flammable. Eucalyptus trees spread fire quickly, as when they start burning, the oil heats up and explodes out of the tree. Anything the burning oil and wood pieces hit can then catch on fire, and the exploding means the flames can jump across roads. So it looks like people have unwittingly brought some Australian 'weather' with them...

^ Some 'candlebark' eucalyptus. They are called that because they are constantly shedding their bark like melting wax from a candle. The remaining new white bark is smooth and hard like stone. You can't pull the tree's bark off unless it has already decided it wants to drop it!
Eucalyptus trees in general do have a bit of a mind of their own, which makes me think of the trees in the Lord of the Rings. In summer, when there is less water to go around, they drop some of their largest branches so they don't have to maintain them. It happens without warning, so you need to be careful walking around, especially if it's windy, as you might get a branch the size of a small tree coming down on your head. The branches and tree are still healthy and not dead or dry looking, so there's no sign of anything until you hear the creaking.

 

[banakil]

Just gardening in the Shire.

Adventures? No thank you.