Awful Path

The secluded Awful Path knifed through the White Mountains and had two forks.One ended in the Adorn Valley, by the headwaters of the River Adorn; the other passed through a series of tunnels and over numerous mountain ridges, before coming to the spring that produced the River Lefnui.It was a short, hidden  way to both southern Eriador and western Gondor.Few roads were so strategic.The  junction of the Awful Stair and this trail lay on the south face of the Heaheall.An inward-opening, inscribed stone door (3 'x 6' x 2') barred the way.The Path itself ran southeast for a time, and then turned southward.Then, it forked.The southwest fork was  twenty-five miles long and ended in the upper Adorn Valley of southern Eriador.The southeast fork was eighty miles long and ended  in the upper Lefnui Valley of western Gondor.Both stair-exits were hidden in the back of small copses of pine trees and were very  hard to detect.Caves set every ten miles provided accommodations for travellers or smugglers.Each had a hearth and was kept stocked with two days preserved rations.Rotating groups (each of two Journeymen warders) from the Juggler' s School  walked the trail and kept watch for intruders.