'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,689 miles down and 90 miles to go

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 on Sunday, five more on Wednesday and five more today (Friday). So far, I’ve logged 1,689 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 90 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 94.9 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 23rd day/night of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 18/19 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update at Mile 1674, which was one mile past where Frodo and Samwise Gamgee take a brief halt at Mile 1673.

 

Seven miles later, at Mile 1680, at first light, Frodo and Sam hide in a hollow under and overhanging stone. There’s a strong wind from the west, and ahead the valley has climbed nearly to the top of the inner ridge. A water course ends in broken steps of rock, and they can see the road from the old castle of Durthang. Frodo goes to sleep while Sam goes off to find water. Sam returns and see Gollum. Same then wakes Frodo, who stands watch while Sam sleeps away the daylight hours.

 

They wake as the light fades at the end of the day on March 18. They can see watch fires on the heights as they return to the spring to fill their water bottles. Half a mile later, at Mile 1680.5, they climb warily up to the road where it swings to the east.

 

Eight and a half miles later, at Mile 1689, the encounter a side path that runs south into Gorgoroth towards the main road. The sheer drop from the road becomes increasingly deep.

 

The next significant milestone comes three miles later, at Mile 1692, where the road bends a little to the north and hides the view from the west. They rest here, but an orc company sees them and assumes they are deserters. Frodo and Sam are forced to join their march.

 

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.