'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,540 miles down and 239 miles to go

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging nine more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged three miles last Sunday, three more miles on Wednesday and three more miles yesterday (Saturday). So far, I’ve logged 1,540 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 239 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 86.6 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 13th day of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 8 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update on March 7 at Mile 1531, which was two miles beyond where Frodo, Samwise Gamgee and Faramir’s Rangers threaded their way through a woodland.

 

One mile later, at Mile 1532, the trees began to grow thinner. It’s here that they turn right and “come to a small river in a narrow gorge” – the same as that from the pool. One mile later, at Mile 1533, Frodo and Sam are blindfolded and led down a steep path, then up to Henneth Annun, where the sunset gleams through the waterfall.

 

Day 13 (March 8) begins at moonset with Gollum fishing in the waterfall pool. With Frodo’s help, Faramir captures and questions Gollum. They rest a short time more while supplies are prepared before setting out around 8 a.m. with the Rangers leading them south, blindfolded.

 

One mile later, at Mile 1534, Faramir removes the blindfolds and advises Frodo, Sam and Gollum to follow the upper edge of steep-falling lands to the west. I’ve covered six miles past this point, to Mile 1540, which is where they cross a fast stream, eat and rest briefly. The next significant milestone comes seven miles later, at Mile 1547, where the group takes another brief rest.

 

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.