'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,674 miles down and 105 miles to go

Old Castle of Durthang

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging 10 miles since my last update. I walked/jogged five miles on Saturday and five more today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 1,674 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 105 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 94.1 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 22nd day/night of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 17/18 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update at Mile 1664, which was nine past the point where Frodo and Samwise Gamgee resumed their journey as night fell on March 17.

 

Three miles later, at Mile 1667, they take another brief halt and six miles later, at Mile 1673, they take another brief half. I’ve covered one mile past this point and the next significant milestone comes seven miles later, where at first light, they hide in aa hollow under an overhanging stone. At this point, there is a strong wind blowing from west.

 

Up ahead, the valley has climbed nearly to top of the inner ridge and the water course ends in broken steps of rock. It’s hear that they can see the road from old castle of Durthang. Frodo sleeps at this point while Sam finds water. When Sam returns, he sees Gollum, and wakes Frodo to watch. Sam sleeps during the daylight hours of March 18.

 

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 the late 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.