'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,520 miles down and 259 miles to go

Stone bridge over stream.

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging 15 more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged five miles Saturday, five more on Wednesday and five more yesterday (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 1,520 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 259 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 85.4 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 1505, which was where woods began to appear to the west of the path being taken by Frodo, Samwise Gamgee and Gollum. Here, they also see some growth along the edges of the road.

 

Three miles later, at Mile 1508, the road crosses a stream on an arched masonry bridge. Five miles later, at Mile 1513, the road becomes more overgrown. Four miles later, at Mile 1517, they cross another stream over a bridge.

 

Two miles later, at Mile 1519, they reach the north end of a long straight that cuts through a stony ridge. I’ve gone one mile past this point, to Mile 1520, and the next significant milestone comes two miles later, at Mile 1522, where the group climbs the west bank and goes downhill, where they follow a stream to a small, clear pool. It’s here that they bathe and Sam finds and orc fire-ring.

 

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.