Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2021)

[Artemis Prime]

Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2021)

 

Whether you have been trekking to Mordor for years or just looking to get started, you are welcome to join us at anytime.

All miles/kilometers count. You decide how you want to accumulate distance. This is your adventure!

(Frodo's journey included canoeing, horseback, and eagle-back, so anything is fair game!)

 

Sign Up Here:

SPREADSHEET

 

Open the spreadsheet, click on the 'Sign Up' tab at the bottom of the page, fill in all fields labeled in yellow, and begin tracking and logging your distance in the appropriate monthly tab.

 

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - Bilbo Baggins

[Artemis Prime]

Some links that might be helpful:

Nerd Fitness Post on Walking

Eowyn Challenge an in-depth description of each stage of the trip. 

 

[iatetheyeti]

All signed up and ready to kick things off tomorrow! Not sure I've ever done this 'officially' before. Should be fun!

 

[Ranger Hal]

Thank you, @Artemis Prime!

[JoMarch]

Thanks for setting up the 2021 spreadsheet! I noticed there is an error in the formula calculating average daily pace, but I don't know how to fix it. 

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, JoMarch said:

Thanks for setting up the 2021 spreadsheet! I noticed there is an error in the formula calculating average daily pace, but I don't know how to fix it. 

So the problem is the formula is still set for 2020. You can fix it by going in  and manually changing all dates in the AI, AM, and AQ formulas to 2021. If anyone knows a faster way to do this, please help!

[Artemis Prime]

16 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

So the problem is the formula is still set for 2020. You can fix it by going in  and manually changing all dates in the AI, AM, and AQ formulas to 2021. If anyone knows a faster way to do this, please help!

All right, I got it all fixed except for @iatetheyetiand @newdawnrising. The spreadsheet didn't like the European date format for starting date, but even after I Americanized it, it still isn't reading right. I'll see what I can dig up here.

[Artemis Prime]

6 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said:

All right, I got it all fixed except for @iatetheyetiand @newdawnrising. The spreadsheet didn't like the European date format for starting date, but even after I Americanized it, it still isn't reading right. I'll see what I can dig up here.

Righty ho, now I think we've got it. @iatetheyeti, my computer is confused because according to where I'm at, you signed up tomorrow. Is it displaying right for you? Either way, should resolve itself in a few hours, I think.

@NewDawnRising, it's confused because you put miles in before your sign up date. It's still working okay, but if you want it to be entirely accurate, you can change your start date to  1/1 (the first date you have miles logged.)

Sorry for the confusion, folks, I think we're up and running now. Let me know if there are any other issues!

[Ranger Hal]

2 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

So the problem is the formula is still set for 2020. You can fix it by going in  and manually changing all dates in the AI, AM, and AQ formulas to 2021. If anyone knows a faster way to do this, please help!

I don't think we can help. It's telling me that those cells are protected (which is probably a good thing so we don't mess them up on accident). The formulas will need to be updated in the other months as well, but you have a few weeks before that really affects anyone.

 

As for faster, Find and Replace All may help. I would set it to do one sheet at a time and make sure it's looking in the formulas. If you do all sheets at once, it may get the 2020s in the Sign Up sheet that refer to past spreadsheets.

 

Thanks again for all your work!

[iatetheyeti]

10 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Righty ho, now I think we've got it. @iatetheyeti, my computer is confused because according to where I'm at, you signed up tomorrow. Is it displaying right for you? Either way, should resolve itself in a few hours, I think.

@NewDawnRising, it's confused because you put miles in before your sign up date. It's still working okay, but if you want it to be entirely accurate, you can change your start date to  1/1 (the first date you have miles logged.)

Sorry for the confusion, folks, I think we're up and running now. Let me know if there are any other issues!

 

Everything looks alright to me. I may well have muddled my start date, it happens!

 

Looking forward to logging some distance now

 

[Artemis Prime]

11 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

As for faster, Find and Replace All may help. I would set it to do one sheet at a time and make sure it's looking in the formulas. If you do all sheets at once, it may get the 2020s in the Sign Up sheet that refer to past spreadsheets.

It wasn't too bad to do it manually, because I could just do the top cell and then copy it down the whole column, but the Find and Replace is definitely faster. Didn't realize there was a search formulas option. (I spend way more time in Word than Excel.)Still haven't done the whole year, but January and February are set.

 

2 hours ago, iatetheyeti said:

I may well have muddled my start date, it happens!

I think it was a time zone issue, not a user error. Either way, we're off and trekking now. Time to go destroy a ring!

[Keladris]

Signed up! I love this whole concept. Also I find the NF articles always inspire me into action. 

To get to Mordor in one year, you'd need to walk 3 hours a day haha! But we'll make it one step at a time. Think I might even  listen to the LotR audiobooks to tempt me into adventure.

[Artemis Prime]

Welcome to the Fellowship, @Keladris! Heads up for our European nerds, the spreadsheet gets confused when you use the European date format. (@Kuiken, saw that you did this, too.) It can still track your distance, but the spreadsheet can't calculate your daily pace (if you care about that) unless you use the American date format.

[Keladris]

Ahhh I'm always so confused about dates as a Brit living in Canada haha. Is the correct format mm/dd/yyyy? 

[Artemis Prime]

23 minutes ago, Keladris said:

Ahhh I'm always so confused about dates as a Brit living in Canada haha. Is the correct format mm/dd/yyyy? 

That's it.

[Jié Xī]

So, I was all excited to do this, having never noticed it before now, until I calculated how much per day one has to walk Mon-Fri, 52 weeks a year to make it "there and back again" . . . unless my math is wrong it's 13 miles a day!?!?!?

 

Is my math right? If so, has anyone ever successfully made it to Mordor and back in one year (other than Sam and Frodo)???

[Artemis Prime]

6 hours ago, Magdalena Ravenclaw said:

So, I was all excited to do this, having never noticed it before now, until I calculated how much per day one has to walk Mon-Fri, 52 weeks a year to make it "there and back again" . . . unless my math is wrong it's 13 miles a day!?!?!?

 

Is my math right? If so, has anyone ever successfully made it to Mordor and back in one year (other than Sam and Frodo)???

I didn't bother subtracting out weekends, but if you want to make it in one year, you have to average between 9 and 10 miles a day. I don't know anyone personally who even tried to do it all in one year. (Rereading the books now, been a while,  but I don't know that even Frodo and Sam made it all in one year. Vaguely recall some mention of the one year anniversary of Weathertop and they're still on the way back then, so it was close, anyways.) Having a dedicated thread for each year is more a matter of keeping the spreadsheet manageable, I think, rather than actually trying to do the whole trip in one year.

Most people here take multiple years to do it. The most ambitious goal I would set would be 2 years, one to get to Mordor and one to get back to Hobbiton. You'd still have to average 4.8 miles a day. Also depends on how you track. Some people do all their steps, some people just count dedicated walks or hikes or runs. 

 

[Ranger Hal]

15 hours ago, Magdalena Ravenclaw said:

If so, has anyone ever successfully made it to Mordor and back in one year (other than Sam and Frodo)???

It's possible that Pacific Crest Trail through-hikers do. The PCT is around 2,650 miles plus add in a bunch of training hikes the winter and spring before starting on the trail. That's kind of an extreme case though. For those of us who don't have the desire (or ability) to take 4-6 months to do a long-distance hike or don't have 3+ hours a day (maybe less if you're a runner or fast walker) to dedicate to walking, a multi-year approach seems more reasonable.

[Jié Xī]

9 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

 Having a dedicated thread for each year is more a matter of keeping the spreadsheet manageable, I think, rather than actually trying to do the whole trip in one year. Most people here take multiple years to do it. 

 

 

Okay, that makes much more sense. Thanks! Not sure my ADHD brain can be motivated to do something that would take that long.  I assume cycling doesn't count, lol? 

[Ranger Hal]

33 minutes ago, Magdalena Ravenclaw said:

Okay, that makes much more sense. Thanks! Not sure my ADHD brain can be motivated to do something that would take that long.  I assume cycling doesn't count, lol? 

As the intro post says, it's your adventure. Cycling counts if you want it to. Charlomechfry who posted the 2019 and 2020 spreadsheets (possibly more, but I started in 2019) divided cycling miles by 3 and multiplied swimming miles by 3. I haven't done any swimming or cycling, but that formula made sense to me as a way to balance out some of the difference in effort from walking. Or you could just count all cycling miles. It's up to you

 

 

[Jié Xī]

5 minutes ago, Ranger Hal said:

As the intro post says, it's your adventure. Cycling counts if you want it to. Charlomechfry who posted the 2019 and 2020 spreadsheets (possibly more, but I started in 2019) divided cycling miles by 3 and multiplied swimming miles by 3. I haven't done any swimming or cycling, but that formula made sense to me as a way to balance out some of the difference in effort from walking. Or you could just count all cycling miles. It's up to you

 

 

 

I wasn't sure the into really meant that when it came to cycling, lol.

 

Dividing by 3 would make cycling just as difficult as walking, so will probably just count all cycling miles. Already that will take me 2 years. I don't do ANY cardio at all, but I *think* if I was trying to destroy the one ring I could convince myself to go to Mordor in 2021 on my bike. Hahaha. Which means I would be doing at least some cardio, ya know.

[Artemis Prime]

24 minutes ago, Magdalena Ravenclaw said:

 

I wasn't sure the into really meant that when it came to cycling, lol.

There aren't any hard and fast rules here, the spreadsheet is really just a tool for people to use however they find most fun/useful. I haven't had my bike out this year yet, but I'm thinking about counting all cycling miles. A mile is a mile, right? Plus, as mentioned above, Frodo didn't walk all of his miles. There were horses and canoes involved. (And eagles, but those miles aren't actually counted on the spreadsheet, so I guess there is one rule - no flying allowed.)

[Jié Xī]

Nice.  I've been thinking of getting rid of my exercise bike because I never use it so I'll sign up and see if I can convince myself to get on it nearly every day.

 

I'm going to shoot for Mordor by December, but if I make it by July, I'll shoot for getting back to the Shire by December. 

[Keladris]

I am mostly using this as a motivator to walk more, since I've found it really hard to get out of the house ever since the pandemic. My current challenge is to walk twice a week, but maybe next challenge I'll try to get out every day! 

[Artemis Prime]

Made it to Rivendell over the weekend!

 

"His house was perfect whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, nor a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley." 

I always liked that quote about Rivendell from the Hobbit and I've always thought it would be nice to have a place where people feel comfortable coming whenever they need a refuge, but the fact is I'm much more like Beorn* than I am Elrond, so I don't know that I'll ever have my own Rivendell. But it's a nice thought.

 

*In the sense that I prefer to be left alone with my animals, less so  in the turning into a giant bear and killing goblins thing.