'WALK TO MORDOR' UPDATE: 1,713 miles down and 66 miles to go

The Ash Mountains of Mordor!

I continued my (virtual) “Walk to Mordor” during the past week by logging 14 more miles since my last update. I walked/jogged four miles on Sunday, five more on Wednesday and five more today (Saturday). So far, I’ve logged 1,713 total miles on this virtual trip to Mount Doom, and I’ve got 66 more miles to go before I reach Mordor. All in all, I’ve completed about 96.3 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 25th day of the trip past Rauros Falls, which is March 20 on the Middle Earth calendar. I left off my last update at Mile 1699, which was one mile from where Frodo and Sam entered the plain, drawing near a road-meeting of orcs near Isenmouth. One mile later, at Mile 1700, in the confusion of several companies meeting, Sam pulls Frodo with him, crawling across the road and over the curb. They crawl about 20 yards to a shallow pit and sleep in the cold, from late at night to the early morning hours of March 19.

 

The next morning, Sam sees Gorgoroth is pitted with great holes and the roads are empty. He and Frodo crawl from hollow to hollow, slanting towards the foothills to the north. Four miles later, at Mile 1704, they halt and Sam decides they should go back to the road.

 

One mile later, at Mile 1705, they climb onto the causeway. Two miles beyond that, at Mile 1707, they walk east along the road as it skirts the Ash Mountains, but see no one. Three miles later, at Mile 1710, they wrap up the day by camping off the road.

 

The next day, March 20, begins when they return to the road and trudge east. I’ve covered four miles past this point, to Mile 1714, and the next significant milestone comes one mile later, at Mile 1715, where they stop to 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 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.