Hawker's Trail
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Hawker's Trail is a fictional location in the Sword of Truth fantasy series by Terry Goodkind.
[edit] Geographical Characteristics
Hawker's Trail is a path than runs north-south through the Ven Forest of Westland. It is the fastest way to get from the town of Hartland to Southaven (4 or 5 days ride on horseback). The far north and south portions of the trail ran very close (uncomfortably so) to the boundary when it was up, although most of the trail runs further west. A portion of it runs along the north bank of Trunt Lake, the main path traveling around the west side of the lake and up a large hill where it skirts the edge of the hillside with a sharp drop-off that falls into the lake. The lower portion of the trail is wet and soggy in the spring (due to the rising of Trunt Lake), but dry or snow-covered most of the year.
Breaking off from Hawker's Trail, there is a small, easily missed cutoff that steers away from Trunt Lake, away from the boundary, and toward the town of Hartland. First going through a narrow, dark, green walled route pressed tight on the sides by evergreens, eventually the cutoff rises and becomes rockier as the trees thin and twists across deeply shaded cuts in the terrain and across leaf-strewn ravines. As the trail continues, Pines and spruce give way to hardwood trees, mostly white birch until the trail follows along the base of a granite wall to a location where sound reverberates throughout the hills and could carry for miles. The path continues to climb upward as the trees thin and eventually leads out of the trees onto narrow, open, shear, and steep rocky ledges where the path is not always clearly marked and there are many false trails. The path climbs steadily upward, traveling east on the ledges before it cuts back to the west and travels along the south face of small Blunt Mountain, where it crosses a sheer cliff face named Blunt Cliff, for which the mountain was named. As the trail nears the far side of the cliff side, it starts to broaden from its treacherous, narrow width to a space wide enough for two to walk side by side. However the cliff remains, dropping hundreds of feet to the boulder fields below. As the trail continues, it head downs into the Hartland Woods and then into the town of Hartland.
A number of granite boulders and rock formations have formed along Hawker's Trail. Most travelers chose to avoid Hawker's Trail, choosing instead the trails of Hartland Woods, due to its proximity to the boundary.
