Bailey's ravine is a lovely and scenic hike, with a good variety of things to see. The parking area is a small pull off on the shoulder which can accommodate 5 cars at most if parked correctly; from there you'll be given the choice of a longer slower path or a short but rigorous ascent that borders on scrambling. there's a pretty good view from what passes for the peak, although you're looking mostly at forest.
The path continues North, gradually descending, and meeting up with the long path you might have chosen from the parking area. Soon you'll be walking along a high cliff that forms the west bank of the small river named Bailey Brook. there's a good variety of microbiomes, small swampy areas that are vernal pools in season, little pine groves, and rocky grottoes filled with a variety of ferns.
Eventually the altitude lowers to the point where you're only a few feet above the water, and not long after you'll be crossing the river.
As you do, you hear a distinct THUNK and a black-shafted arrow embeds itself in the tree trunk next to you. Looking up in alarm, you spot a small warband of burly green orcs, their dull grey, piecemeal armor prominently marked with the red hand of the Gràkush clan. Your companions throw themselves into the underbrush, drawing weapons, while you unshoulder the bone-and-sinew longbow from the troll King's barrow, measuring the orc's descent down the rocky slope, hoping a fatal shot on the foremost will cause the remaining six to stumble and fall over him. The air seems to thicken around you and the scent of cinnamon and sulfur teases your nose, the sign that Ayala's magic has sharpened your senses. The lead orc falls, your arrow lodged in his throat, and Eral's green axe appears in the chest of the second. Both fall, although they do not hinder the remaining onrushing attackers. You send the second arrow into one of their shoulders, and swiftly thereafter a third into the eye socket of another. Half of the war band has fallen and the remainder rout, one leaping from the narrow cliff into the water below. Your companions cheer, but you are silent. The troll Kings bow has performed spectacularly, but as you reshoulder it, you feel a nagging energy and intent from the weapon, and an icy cold emanating from it.
On the east side of the river, the trail turns south again and mirrors the opposing side, at first sticking close to the bank, then eventually gaining altitude until you are walking on a cliff along the river. The path splits, one choice heading east-southeast, higher up the hills into laurel woods. The main path follows the river south to meet Ayer road, a short walk on the roadside from the...
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