The Rapids

A brief stretch of the Great River Anduin, hardly more than a mile in length, that nonetheless was full of dread and danger for travellers on the river. The Rapids, or in Elvish Sarn Gebir or 'spikes of stone', was a rushing and tumultuous section of the river filled with sharp rocks and sudden shoals. So dangerous were these Rapids, indeed, that it was said that no boat had ever survived the passage through them. Instead, travellers on the Anduin would disembark on the western shore and use a portage-way (a track for the carrying of a boat and its cargo) to pass Sarn Gebir overland. Not far beyond the Rapids to the south lay the Argonath, the ancient stone guardians of the South-kingdom of the Dúnedain.