Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2017)

[charlomechfry]

Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2017)

 

All who dare step outside The Shire will likely encounter many nasty adventures.

The journey is not for the faint of heart, as the typical traveler must endure years of commitment.

There will be other brave souls making the trek, providing much welcomed support and company, but only you can put one foot in front of the other.

The fate of Middle-Earth hangs in the balance... are you prepared to walk to Mordor to destroy the One Ring?

 

Begin Your Journey Now!

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!

(ex. my journey has included walking/steps, hiking, running, biking (distance/3), and swimming (distance*3))

 

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

[charlomechfry]

Woo Hoo!!

 

What is everyone's walking goal for the new year?

 

I am aiming to make it back to The Shire before the end of the year.

That will be just over 1600 miles, or 4.5 miles per day.

That is on par with what I did in 2016, but I will be upping the ante. I will no longer include walking/steps. Only running, hiking, biking/3, and swimming*3. Except when injured. I will track my walking if I get injured to encourage myself to take it easy.

 

I am looking forward to a great year with you all!

Let's do this!!

[Anomander]

On 12/28/2016 at 6:25 PM, charlomechfry said:

Woo Hoo!!

 

What is everyone's walking goal for the new year?

 

I am aiming to make it back to The Shire before the end of the year.

That will be just over 1600 miles, or 4.5 miles per day.

That is on par with what I did in 2016, but I will be upping the ante. I will no longer include walking/steps. Only running, hiking, biking/3, and swimming*3. Except when injured. I will track my walking if I get injured to encourage myself to take it easy.

 

I am looking forward to a great year with you all!

Let's do this!!

 

Thanks for this, a good challenge/track.

 

I'm aiming for averaging 15,000 steps/day.

 

So for distance, 1570 miles is ~10,000 steps/day for a year and 2360 miles is ~15,000 steps/day for a year.

 

I plan to count walking and running, and see if I can log over 2500 miles. I"m still recovering from a couple of herniated discs, so I probably won't be able to run until the summer.

 

A

[Cataleya]

I averaged 4.22 miles a day last year for 1,534.19 miles. Here's to getting an average of 5 miles a day this year! That'll get me 1825 miles, and I have 1869.81 to go, so let's hope I manage more than that even.

[charlomechfry]

Welcome Anomander! Glad to have you along!

Very ambitious! I am rooting for you in your goal and for good health.

Back injuries are no fun. Curious, did you know when you hurt your back? What did it feel like when you first herniated the discs?

I did a number on my back several months ago when I missed a step while lifting a cast iron stove. I am hoping it was only the back muscles, as I really haven't had any problems since it healed up (took roughly 3-4 weeks to feel mostly normal again). I have tweaked my back before, but this was bad. Just hoping I didn't do nothing major.

 

1,500 miles is awesome!

Good luck Cataley! You got this!!

 

Happy New Yearl!!

Here's to many miles and many great adventures!

[charlomechfry]

Oh Yeah, forgot to mention that I updated the spreadsheet.

Someone had the idea of setting a target for the year, so I added the ability to set a goal. Also made a bunch of changes, fixes, and added several new stats.

Needless to say, I tinkered with everything and am bound to have messed something up.

If you see anything wonky, please let me know.

 

[brocksterr]

I'm not sure what last years spreadsheet looked like, but this one looks great, charlomechfry.

 

[Cataleya]

24 minutes ago, charlomechfry said:

Oh Yeah, forgot to mention that I updated the spreadsheet.

Someone had the idea of setting a target for the year, so I added the ability to set a goal. Also made a bunch of changes, fixes, and added several new stats.

Needless to say, I tinkered with everything and am bound to have messed something up.

If you see anything wonky, please let me know.

 

Last year's spreadsheet was nice and functional. This year's is sublime. Great work on it!

[Anomander]

Oh Yeah, forgot to mention that I updated the spreadsheet.

Someone had the idea of setting a target for the year, so I added the ability to set a goal. Also made a bunch of changes, fixes, and added several new stats.

Needless to say, I tinkered with everything and am bound to have messed something up.

If you see anything wonky, please let me know.

 

That was me.

I tried to set a daily distance target based on what had been walked, but couldn't figure out the pivot table command in 10 minutes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mom2sjm]

 

So far to go...  but having fun along the way.  Don't have daily goals, the goal is to get out and walk every day.  20 minutes or more.  I play Pokemon Go so I track km - just kind of note where I'm at when I set out and then keep track during the day.  Also wear a fit bit to track other kinds of walking (like my "running" during xfit or if I do a C25K workout).  Then it's just a matter of converting miles to km for the spreadsheet.  Anyway, happy journey everyone!!

[Vibrantella]

Brilliant!  Thanks for the new spreadsheet  I hope to reach Mordor by the end of this year...

[SkyGirl]

Here I am!!  :-)  I did indeed reach Rivendell by December 31, and I'm on my way to Lothlorien!

 

I walked about 480 miles in 6 months last year, so in a full year I would have walked about 960 miles ... I'm still finalizing my 2017 goals, but off the top of my head, I think aiming for either 1,000 miles or all the way to Mordor by December 31, 2017 sounds reasonable.

 

Incidentally, do we happen to know how long it took for the hobbits to reach Mordor? I have a feeling it was a lot quicker than 18 months ...  :-)

[Anomander]

Here I am!!  :-)  I did indeed reach Rivendell by December 31, and I'm on my way to Lothlorien!

 

I walked about 480 miles in 6 months last year, so in a full year I would have walked about 960 miles ... I'm still finalizing my 2017 goals, but off the top of my head, I think aiming for either 1,000 miles or all the way to Mordor by December 31, 2017 sounds reasonable.

 

Incidentally, do we happen to know how long it took for the hobbits to reach Mordor? I have a feeling it was a lot quicker than 18 months ...  :-)

I was told by a missionary in Africa that one can easily walk 20-25 miles a day if that's all you're doing - say 2 miles an hour I suppose.

We were on an overnight train from Cape Town to Joburg and he said he'd walked the distance several times (in his youth). Stopping each night at someone's house, so only provisions for each day's walk.

Not sure that works if you're climbing mountains and/or fighting the forces of evil. Carrying/hunting food would also change the calculation.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SkyGirl]

45 minutes ago, Anomander said:

I was told by a missionary in Africa that one can easily walk 20-25 miles a day if that's all you're doing - say 2 miles an hour I suppose.

We were on an overnight train from Cape Town to Joburg and he said he'd walked the distance several times (in his youth). Stopping each night at someone's house, so only provisions for each day's walk.

Not sure that works if you're climbing mountains and/or fighting the forces of evil. Carrying/hunting food would also change the calculation.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

First of all, that sounds like a wonderful train ride and a fascinating conversation!  :-)  But secondly, that makes sense. I know the hobbits are supposed to be very good at walking, so I'm guessing they probably logged that amount each day or more - except when they were fighting giant spider-creatures or getting captured by random Gondor rangers and whatnot.

 

Best of luck to you in your walking journey in 2017!!

[Anomander]

8 hours ago, SkyGirl said:

 

First of all, that sounds like a wonderful train ride and a fascinating conversation!  :-)  But secondly, that makes sense. I know the hobbits are supposed to be very good at walking, so I'm guessing they probably logged that amount each day or more - except when they were fighting giant spider-creatures or getting captured by random Gondor rangers and whatnot.

 

Best of luck to you in your walking journey in 2017!!

 

He bought grapes and other fruit at the first station outside Cape Town through the window so we could feast. He told me the most important thing to bring was your own blanket, as it was considered impolite to show up at someone's house and ask to borrow a blanket.

 

It was a lot of fun, though I was glad for my sleeping bag with the unheated overnight on a track siding.

 

A.

[charlomechfry]

Thanks! Happy to hear you all are liking the spreadsheet!

 

On 1/1/2017 at 2:18 PM, Anomander said:

That was me.

I tried to set a daily distance target based on what had been walked, but couldn't figure out the pivot table command in 10 minutes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Good idea! And got me moving on the updates I had said I would do on last years spreadsheet lol. 

 

19 hours ago, SkyGirl said:

Here I am!!  :-)  I did indeed reach Rivendell by December 31, and I'm on my way to Lothlorien!

 

I walked about 480 miles in 6 months last year, so in a full year I would have walked about 960 miles ... I'm still finalizing my 2017 goals, but off the top of my head, I think aiming for either 1,000 miles or all the way to Mordor by December 31, 2017 sounds reasonable.

 

Incidentally, do we happen to know how long it took for the hobbits to reach Mordor? I have a feeling it was a lot quicker than 18 months ...  :-)

 

Great Job SkyGirl! I am confident you will be in Mordor by the end of the year! Keep killin it!!

 

According to EowynChallenge.net and LOTRProject.com, it took 185 days, from September 23 T.A. 3018 to March 25 T.A. 3019.

Here is a breakdown:

28 days (Sep. 23-Oct. 20) from Bag End to Rivendell (458 miles)

64 days rest in Rivendell

25 days (Dec. 25-Jan. 17) from Rivendell to Lothlorien (462 miles)

28 days rest in Lothlorien

10 days (Feb. 16-25) from Lothlorien to Rauros (389 miles: ~377 miles by boat)

30 days (Feb. 26-Mar. 25) from Rauros to Mt. Doom (470 miles)

 

That comes out to 9.6 miles per day. If you take out their two long rest periods and their 377 miles by boat, it is a solid 16.7 miles per day!

That doesn't really sound too crazy, until, like Anomander pointed out, you consider the terrain they were traveling on and the absurd obstacles they had to overcome.

A challenge to consider in the future 

[SkyGirl]

15 hours ago, Anomander said:

 

He bought grapes and other fruit at the first station outside Cape Town through the window so we could feast. He told me the most important thing to bring was your own blanket, as it was considered impolite to show up at someone's house and ask to borrow a blanket.

 

It was a lot of fun, though I was glad for my sleeping bag with the unheated overnight on a track siding.

 

A.

 

This sounds like an amazing adventure - I hope you can tell the whole story sometime! I'm so curious to know how you came to be on that trip!  :-)

 

2 hours ago, charlomechfry said:

According to EowynChallenge.net and LOTRProject.com, it took 185 days, from September 23 T.A. 3018 to March 25 T.A. 3019. That comes out to 9.6 miles per day. If you take out their two long rest periods and their 377 miles by boat, it is a solid 16.7 miles per day!

 

That doesn't really sound too crazy, until, like Anomander pointed out, you consider the terrain they were traveling on and the absurd obstacles they had to overcome.

A challenge to consider in the future 

 

Hmm ... I have walked 10 miles in one day before, but it certainly wasn't something I wanted to do for many days in a row!  :-)  I'll need to work up some stamina before I can keep up with a hobbit!!

[deborahjade]

I just started Walking to Mordor on November 27, so I'm super excited to find a challenge for it! 
I've done around 200km so far, and after playing with the numbers in the spreadsheet (very nifty, charlomechfry!!), I am going to aim to walk an average of 8km per day to get to Mordor by the end of the year.

Looking forward to the accountability of this group keeping me on track

[CheshireMoon]

I've added a small walking goal to my 4 week challenge, and after checking out the (amazing) spreadsheet for this group I'd really like to join in.  My goal is currently only 6,000 steps per day which works out to about 2.85 miles a day.  So it looks like I can expect to reach Lothlorien by the end of the year!

[fitnessgurl]

[Cataleya]

Doing this Couch to 10k thing is helping a lot with mileage. Between that and walking to and from school I'm getting like 7 miles in those days...

 

Now if I could just get my butt off the couch on the weekends... XD

[charlomechfry]

Welcome @deborahjade and @CheshireMoon!! Great goals! 

 

And welcome back @fitnessgurl! Was wondering where you got off to. Just couldn't resist them pints in Bree, huh?

 

10 hours ago, Cataleya said:

Doing this Couch to 10k thing is helping a lot with mileage. Between that and walking to and from school I'm getting like 7 miles in those days...

 

Now if I could just get my butt off the couch on the weekends... XD

 

HA! I have the same problem. That is why steps really don't work for me. I am either 100 mph or snug as a bug on a rug. As soon as I get my training or other activities done, I go straight to my Couch to Kitchen plan. Although chasing the child around the house is a new obstacle to getting the full benefit from my C2K.

[fitnessgurl]

On 1/10/2017 at 11:27 AM, charlomechfry said:

Welcome @deborahjade and @CheshireMoon!! Great goals! 

 

And welcome back @fitnessgurl! Was wondering where you got off to. Just couldn't resist them pints in Bree, huh?

 

 

HA! I have the same problem. That is why steps really don't work for me. I am either 100 mph or snug as a bug on a rug. As soon as I get my training or other activities done, I go straight to my Couch to Kitchen plan. Although chasing the child around the house is a new obstacle to getting the full benefit from my C2K.

Yep *hiccup*

[fitnessgurl]

The weather thwarted me today.  Walked indoors.

[CheshireMoon]

21 hours ago, fitnessgurl said:

The weather thwarted me today.  Walked indoors.

Yeah I did the same, while reading a textbook.  I think I only bumped into the furniture a couple of times.