'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,505 miles down and 274 miles to go

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past two weeks by logging 25 more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged five miles on Sun., Sept. 24, five more on Wed., Sept. 27, five more on Sat., Sept. 30, five more on Wed., Oct. 4, and five more yesterday, which was Fri., Oct. 6. So far, I’ve logged 1,505 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 274 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 84.6 percent of the total trip.

 

In relation to Frodo Baggins’ overall journey to destroy the One Ring at Mount Doom in Mordor, I’m on the 11th day/night of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 6/7 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update at Mile 1480, which was three miles from where Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee and Gollum find themselves in a trenchlike valley that runs between the mountains and the moors. Four miles later, at Mile 1484, the reach the end of the slag heaps and rest briefly around midnight (March 5) as the moon rises, almost full.

 

They resume their journey a short time later and seven miles later, at Mile 1491, they realize they can still see the red light in one of the Towers of the Teeth. Six miles later, at Mile 1497, the finally turn south enough to hide the light from the Tower. Two miles later, at Mile 1499, the reach the northern edge of Ithilien at dawn. East across the road are dark trees, but closer is a “tumbled heathland” with “knots of pine trees.” Here the air is fresh and fragrant and they hide here in the heather during the daylight hours of March 6.

 

Later, as twilight falls on March 6, the resume their journey and one mile later, at Mile 1500, Gollum leads the group onto the road, which is straight and level and allows them to travel more quickly. Two miles later, at Mile 1502, they find themselves in a valley between mounts on the east and steep slopes on the west. I’ve traveled three more miles beyond this point to Mile 1505, where woods appear to the west and some growth can be seen beginning along the road edges.

 

The next significant milestone comes three miles later, and Mile 1508, where the road crosses a stream on an arched masonry bridge.

 

For those of you reading this for the first time, I began this “Walk to Mordor” fitness challenge on Jan. 1, 2015. Using a book called “The Atlas of Middle-Earth” by Karen Wynn Fonstad, fans of “The Lord of the Rings” created this challenge by mapping out Frodo’s fictional trek to Mordor, calculating the total distance at 1,779 miles. They also used the original "Lord of the Rings" text to outline the journey, so you can follow their route by keeping up with your total mileage.

 

The folks who worked out the nuts and bolts of this virtual journey have divided it into four parts. It’s 458 miles from Hobbiton to Rivendell, 462 miles from Rivendell through Moria to Lothlorien, 389 miles from Lothlorien down the Anduin to Rauros Falls and 470 miles from Rauros to Mount Doom. (Those locations should sound very familiar to “Lord of the Rings” fans.) The hobbits averaged 18 miles a day, but if you walk (or jog, as I sometimes do) five miles a day, it’s possible to cover 1,779 miles in a year.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about the “Walk to Mordor Challenge,” I suggest you check out two Web sites, http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/23/walking/ and http://home.insightbb.com/~eowynchallenge/. Both of these sites provide a ton of details about the challenge, including how to get started.

 

In the end, check back next Friday for another update and to see how much closer I am to Mordor. I hope to knock out at least 10 more miles next week, and I’ll include all that in my update next week.