'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,699 miles down and 80 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 1689, which was where Frodo and Samwise Gamgee encountered a side path that runs south into Gorgoroth, toward the main road. Here there’s a sheer drop from the road that becomes increasingly deep.

 

Three miles later, at Mile 1692, the road bends a little to the north and hides the view from the west. Here, Frodo and Sam rest, but they’re seen by a company of orcs, who assumes that they are deserters. Frodo and Sam are forced to join their march.

 

Four miles later, at Mile 1696, the road runs down a long slope into the plain, and Frodo starts to stumble. Two miles later, at Mile 1698, they find themselves out on a plain, drawing near Isenmouthe. Here several orc companies meet.

 

I’ve traveled one mile last this point, to Mile 1699, and the next significant milestone comes two miles later, at Mile 1701, where in the confusion of several companies meeting, Sam pulls Frodo with him, crawling across the road and over the curb. They crawl 20 yards to a shallow pit and sleep. At this point it’s late night to early morning on March 19. It’s also very cold.

 

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.