'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,531 miles down and 248 miles to go

Faramir, who travels with Frodo for a while.

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging six more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged three miles on Wednesday and three more miles today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 1,531 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 248 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 86.1 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 12th day/night of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 7/8 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update at Mile 1525, which was one mile beyond the point where Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Gollum and Faramir cross a stream below a pool after the Rangers battle the Haradrim.

 

Two miles later, at Mile 1528, the group descends a steep slope, and Faramir and Frodo talk as they go. Two miles later, at Mile 1530, the group threads its way through a woodland. I’ve covered one mile past this point, to Mile 1531.

 

The next significant milestone comes one mile later when the group reaches a point where the trees grow thinner. Here, they turn right and “come to a small river in a narrow gorge” – the same as that from the pool.

 

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.