adventure party Walk to Mordor and Back Again in 2024

[Heidi]

The daily on-purpose activity is really starting to add up. March daily distance is easily going to come in at a half-mile more than earlier months, and all of this is good for me, body mind and soul. 

 

Also, massive congrats to @TimovieMan for making it to the next milestone!

[TimovieMan]

12 hours ago, Heidi said:

Also, massive congrats to @TimovieMan for making it to the next milestone!

Thanks for the reminder!

 

 

I have reached Lothlórien and met with Celeborn and Galadriel.

 

 

 

 

The road to Mordor for me now ventures forth from Lothlórien, to Rauros.

 

Also, now I've been given lembas bread!!!

 

[Heidi]

March numbers are in, and my daily pace was 2.5 miles, a real step up (see what I did there?) from 2023.

I'm 98.6 miles from Lothlórien, and would need to kick it up to over 3 miles a day to get there by the next challenge. It's a long shot, but I've got my eye on it.

 

[Heidi]

After an abysmal January and lackluster start to February, I'm pleased to report that -- even with a nasty bout of sickness this week -- my daily pace is back to 2023 levels. Of course I'm hoping to exceed this (Becuase MOAR!), but just maintaining is the baseline goal. 

 

In Moria, I've just left the guardroom and headed uphill, and am now pausing for lunch (as Hobbits do).

[Heidi]

I've really kicked the distance up another notch by walking to a local independent coffee house in the mornings. 

You would think this would be enough to close the distance between me and @TimovieMan, but he's been dropping some impressive stats himself (well done!)

 

I've got just under 50 miles left to get to Rauros (about 80 km for you sensible folk), and I'm hoping the weather here continues to be great. 

I love Virginia in the springtime.

[Heidi]

Not much in the way of distance today, as the Spring Rains have come.

Looking forward to some distance this weekend, though, and definitely looking forward to walking down to the Farmer’s Market every Thursday starting in May to pick up my weekly bag of vegetables, bread, fruit, and locally made pantry items (like butter and jams and things).

[Heidi]

I made it to Lothlórien, and now I have seen swan ships and elves.

[Ranger Hal]

It looks like "Cindy" tried to sign up, but may have accidentally made a copy of the sign up sheet. The month sheets won't update from the copy of sign up sheet, so I have moved Cindy's starting info into the actual Sign Up sheet and deleted the copy sheet.

[Heidi]

27 miles on the path to Rauros.

Early night. Reach the East Wall of Rohan.

 

I’ve been a little slack this month on increasing my distance, but I’m still walking or otherwise moving on purpose every day. Average daily distance for 2024 is 2 miles.

OOOPS I GOT THIS TOTALLY WRONG.

cool picture for later, tho. 

[TimovieMan]

7 hours ago, Heidi said:

27 miles on the path to Rauros.

Early night. Reach the East Wall of Rohan.

I'm confused.

Rauros is where the breaking of the fellowship happened. Reaching the East Wall of Rohan is after Rauros...

 

The path from Lothlórien to Rauros is mainly paddling on the water...

[Heidi]

11 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

I'm confused.

Rauros is where the breaking of the fellowship happened. Reaching the East Wall of Rohan is after Rauros...

 

The path from Lothlórien to Rauros is mainly paddling on the water...

Oh for heavens sake I was looking at the wrong tab.

*Embarassed* (and also thank you).

Yep, looking at the correct tab, I see a lot of Paddling, drifting, and the like.

[Heidi]

More paddling.

It will probably take me all summer to get to Rauros.

 

I’m doing a good job of tipping into 2+ miles most days, which is what I’d like as a personal minimum. 2023’s daily average was 1.8, so it’s not a ginormous increase, but if I can move the needle on the baseline, this is a step (see what I did there?) in the right direction.  2024’s daily average is 2.06 so far. Yay me!

 

 

[DarK_RaideR]

Oh hey, I've been tracking my daily steps since May 11th and I recently decided to convert my logs into distance for a Walk to Mordor on my challenge. Might as well sign up here too, here's a summary thus far:

 

May 11: Left Bag End

May 15: The hobbits camp along Stock Road

May 17: A Black Rider (Nazgul) appears. The hobbits escape notice by hiding

May 19: The hobbits have another close call run-in with a Black Rider. Elves appear to chase it off.

May 21: Camp at Wood End. The next day, the hobbits cross Stock-brook.

May 25: Arrival at Crickhollow and rest for the night.

May 29: Rescued by Tom Bombadil. Night spent at his home.

June 3: Lost at the Barrow-downs and captured by Barrow-wights of Angmar.

June 7: Reach Bree. Meet Strider. Spend the night at the Prancing Pony.

June 11: Camp in Chetwood.

June 13: Camp in Eastern Chetwood.

June 18: Camp in western part of the Midgewater Marshes.

June 20: Camp in eastern part of the Midgewater Marshes. See flashes of light in the east during the night (Gandalf on Weathertop).

June 23: Camp by a stream.

June 24: Can see crumbled ruins on the Weather Hills ahead.

June 27th: The hobbits and Strider begin their ascent towards Weathertop. This is the point where Sam sings/recites "The fall of Gil-Galad"

[DarK_RaideR]

Was almost close to the milestone on Friday, but now I've hit it, made it to Weathertop (Amon Sul) where the Nazgul attack, injuring Frodo before Strider (Aragorn) chases them off with fire and steel.

Listening to the audiobook and almost keeping up with where my walking is at, made me realize as I watch this scene again that this is the first time the Nazgul actually see the Ring, confirming its existence and that Frodo does indeed carry it. Also, for a slightly deeper dive into the lore (courtesy of the top comment in that video, I'm not as knowledgeable or caring tbh), that mountaintop, "Amon Sul, was the key in a series of defenses held by the Dunedain (Aragorn's ancestors) against Angmar (the witch king's forces), and the Dunedain finally broke when Angmar's forces surrounded Amon Sul and crushed them, killing their king and paving the way for the end of the Dunedain kingdoms. Here, one of the last Dunedain defends the broken watchtower where his ancestors were crushed, from the Nazgul who crushed them. Kind of explains why he chose it as their refuge, and why he defended it with such mad ferocity."

[DarK_RaideR]

Turns out I'm counting my progress in km, but the table of "at what distance does everything happen" is in miles. I re-calculated my progress, which brought me a little behind but I'm catching up. As of yesterday's tally, I've made it again to the point where the group sees (Gandalf's) lights on Weathertop.

[DarK_RaideR]

Haven't updated here in a while, but after my km/miles miscalculation I have now properly made it to the Weathertop milestone and a few days past that. How's everyone else doing?

[TimovieMan]

1 minute ago, DarK_RaideR said:

How's everyone else doing?

I'll have a gif from the movies to post sometime this week.
And I'm relatively close to an entire sequence of gifs... ?

[TimovieMan]

On 8/20/2024 at 12:26 PM, TimovieMan said:

I'll have a gif from the movies to post sometime this week.
And I'm relatively close to an entire sequence of gifs... ?

Case in point: I've passed the Argonath!!!

 

 

 

 

[Heidi]

On 8/20/2024 at 6:23 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

Haven't updated here in a while, but after my km/miles miscalculation I have now properly made it to the Weathertop milestone and a few days past that. How's everyone else doing?

After taking a respite from filling in the spreadsheet, I'm ready to resume -- good to see you, and woohoo for Weathertop!

 

3 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Case in point: I've passed the Argonath!!!

 

 

 

 

HUZZAH!!!
There shall be epic sweeping music and rejoicing!!

 

I've been tracking this whole time, but I haven't transferred that into the log, which is something I'll be doing over the next few days. My recent challenges were about doing less and being more reflective, being available for the miracle that the Universe is trying to send my way. And it's been lovely. Now that the heat waves are (mostly) behind us and the mosquitoes are (mostly) gone, I'm interested to see how it affects the walking distance. It was nice to have a reflection time, and now it feels like I'm starting a New Chapter.

 

[Heidi]

I'm 200 miles downstream, having just passed the North edge of eastern South Undeep, and this means I'm more than halfway to Rauros Falls.

The journey continues.

[TimovieMan]

I have reached Rauros!

 

 

The Breaking of the Fellowhip

 

Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo.

 

Orcs attack. Legolas is badass.

 

Frodo decides to leave. Merry and Pippin create a distraction for him, but get cornered by orcs.

 

Boromir redeems himself, he goes to save Merry and Pippin, but dies trying.

 

Frodo leaves for Mordor, alone.

 

And Sam goes with him.

 

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli let Frodo go, and decide to rescue Merry and Pippin instead.

 

Frodo and Sam go to Mordor and Mount Doom.

[Heidi]

On 8/30/2024 at 6:47 AM, TimovieMan said:

I have reached Rauros!

 

 

The Breaking of the Fellowhip

 

Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo.

 

Orcs attack. Legolas is badass.

 

Frodo decides to leave. Merry and Pippin create a distraction for him, but get cornered by orcs.

 

Boromir redeems himself, he goes to save Merry and Pippin, but dies trying.

 

Frodo leaves for Mordor, alone.

 

And Sam goes with him.

 

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli let Frodo go, and decide to rescue Merry and Pippin instead.

 

Frodo and Sam go to Mordor and Mount Doom.

HUZZAH!!!!

This is always a sad part of the journey, but such a pivotal one. No one is left alone, and no one is left behind (I mean, they are but the fellowship is on a rescue mission). 

 

After a very Slothful Summer, I'm looking at incorporating more mobility and movement into my Autumn.

 

I'm still paddling along. The River curves east, and there are Wolds on both sides.

Ever onward, fellow adventurers!

Find what helps you groove.

[DarK_RaideR]

Less than a hundred kilometers left for my to reach the first milestone of the journey, Rivendell. At this pace, I should be there before the end of the month.

[Heidi]

On 9/11/2024 at 4:12 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

Less than a hundred kilometers left for my to reach the first milestone of the journey, Rivendell. At this pace, I should be there before the end of the month.

Rivendell looks forward to your arrival.

 

For my part, I've continued down the river. 

We camped during the day over the weekend, then left at dusk, paddling cautiously. The sky cleared, and Sam noticed a ‘rind’ of the new Moon.

I swear that hobbits see everything as food. 

❤️ 

[Heidi]

There's not a lot of milestone celebration on this paddling stretch towards Rauros Falls, but with the two miles I logged at the gym and after this morning, I'm officially 500 miles for the year, and that feels like celebrating, especially since January and February were such duds (and July and August, too, to be honest).

Onward, companions!