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Shelob's Lair LbNA #15110

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:May 14, 2005
Location:
City:Moab
County:Grand
State:Utah
Boxes:1
Planted by:y-nought
Found by: terpsechorean girl
Last found:Nov 21, 2012
Status:FFFF
Last edited:May 14, 2005
Placed on Poison Spider Mesa, this letterbox is inspired by Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. If you aren’t familiar with that tale you can still find the letterbox, but you may not understand some of the references.

She waits high on Cirith Ungol (The Pass of the Spider). To find her, it will take bravery, skill and stamina, for Cirith Ungol is only accessible by the Morgul Stair. To begin you must follow the road north out of the fair city of Osgiliath. The road will cross the River Anduin and in a short distance there will be a crossroads. Instead of staying on the main path, your destiny will be on the eastern road, the one that winds back to the banks of the Anduin further downstream. At three and four tenths of a mile there is a spot to leave the main road as a footpath heads up sharply to your right. Be careful, a marcher stands guard at the beginning of this path.

In times past the stair was a place of darkness and cruelty, but since the fall of Sauron it has become a wholesome and beautiful place. About half way up you may see the home of a famous juggler. A little further still an ancient man lives beneath the ruins of Minas Morgul, and you can still see parts of that old tower behind him. You will know that you are near the top when you can look down across the Anduin Valley to see the White Mountains in the distance. At this viewpoint you can see bighorn sheep, an animal that is accustomed to the path here, which is little more than a ledge above the void.

Be very careful as you traverse this part of the path. It is not as narrow as it first appears but it is difficult to ignore the danger. Very soon you will encounter a tree growing horizontally above the path. Here is a good spot for a hiker to rest because the lair of the spider is still a half-mile further.

Not too far and the path is on a much wider area and not nearly so frightful. And 1245 Strider Steps from where the hiker rests brings you to a short switchback that finally leads to the top of the pass. From the spot where you can see west into other lands, look at 285 degrees. Twenty-seven steps away you will see a tunnel in a rock two feet up from the ground. Go have a look, but watch out for spiders.