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The Forum of Magiqal Walks
One ring to rule them all
One ring to find them
One ring to bring them all
And in the darkness, bind them
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie (I always want to finish it)
In this place, chances are high that any given Mountie has read or seen at least some of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Years ago, well before Basecamp, some folks took the time to plot out the distances that the fellowship covered on their quest to destroy The One Ring, and shared it online in the form of several charts. Some other kind soul took the first few charts and set up a site to make tracking your journey easier (at least to the end of the first book/movie).
I walked to Rivendell at one point during college.
A couple years ago I made it to Mordor and then some.
This past year (had I been keeping track of it), I would have made it about 50 miles past Rivendell.
I was thinking, since I’d like to make it to Mordor again, that perhaps some other Mounties might be interested in taking some of the journey with me this year!
Major Places That Would Make Good Goals:
Rivendell – 458 miles
Caras Galadon (Galadriel’s place) – 920-ish miles
Parth Galen/Falls of Rauros – 1300-ish miles
– 1779/1793 miles (there are a few bonus segments)They also have a couple charts for The Hobbit (397 Miles to Rivendell, 963 miles total to the Lonely Mountain), but I haven’t used them before.
Here’s the site I use to keep track of the first three quarters of it: The Barrow-Downs Walks to Rivendell
And they link to the website they used for most of the distances. I say most because of the distances beyond Rivendell varying slightly.
So, anyone else interested in joining me on a walking quest?
Edit to add: I know I just spent the whole thing (and the thread name) mentioning distances on foot, but other means of person-powered movement that can translate to distance are all welcome.
Edit 2: I made spreadsheets! There’s a page each for Rivendell, Lothlorien, the Falls of Rauros, and Mordor, as well as a sheet of all the points beyond 1294 miles (where the easy website cuts off). Formulae are applied for keeping a running total and the average miles per day to reach your location of choice by the end of the year. Hopefully I have the settings so you can snag it for yourselves (if not, I’ll poke at it on the computer tomorrow).
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35 Replies
– 1779/1793 miles (there are a few bonus segments)-
YES
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(Am totally not trying to find an app that will track this for me, cause I’m lazy)
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Oh, I have a spreadsheet set up so all I have to do is type in my total distance for the day and any location I hit that day, formulas do the rest! (I made a Google sheet set if anyone wants to use that!)
I believe there’s also an app that someone was making a couple years ago, but I recall dropping it pretty quickly (distances may have been off, or I wasn’t keen on keeping track in the app and the spreadsheet I was using that year). It’s called Walk to Mordor.
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You have my
swordsneakers -
And my hiking boots!
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This just might be what I need to really motivate me to walk more. Last year (wow, that’s still weird to think about) my wife & I did the Run The Year Challenge where you run/walk the number of miles equal to the year https://shop.runtheedge.com/. I knew 2019 would be hard, but I got to 1016, which I was pleased with.
We’re doing it again, and this just might be what I need to push toward 1500!
Does anyone have a Fitbit who wants to connect & challenge each other?
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And my shoelaces!
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This is so neat! Might be a good way to convince myself to get back into biking again this year, work took over in the last year and I didn’t get to cycle nearly as much as I would have liked.
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I can attest that early internet LOTR fans were extremely hard workers. I was fairly young when I was hanging around those spaces, so I could only ape helping them out, but they were really kind about it. Internet LOTR has a special place in my heart
I’ll be checking this out! -
I downloaded the app Walk to Mordor http://www.walktomordor.com/ if anyone else has it and wants to friend me.
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I have been trying to get that app to work since this was posted, and now I’ve got it!!! I’m using Nimueh on the app if you do want to add me.
@Fox, I think it’s just any distance. At least, I hope it is, cause I’m probably barely getting to Rivendell with my normal stuff.
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I’m in as EternalHearts
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Hm, there’s several Nimuehs, whats your icon?
I’m Danweel if you want to add. : j
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Added you.
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So clarification – does this only include distance traveled with intention to reach this goal, or does it also include distance we travel for standard daily stuff? I ask because I’m pretty sure I could walk clear to Mordor solely around my office.
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Any distance you’d like to count! Walking, running, biking, swimming if you can estimate it…
I’m personally making sure at least one mile a day is intentional, but I’ll take anything my phone’s fitness app will pick up (so long as it isn’t Pokemon Go making it think a trip in the car/bus was on foot).
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It won’t. If it perceives you going faster than walking speed, it knows you’re on wheeled transportation, and won’t count the distance traveled between stops.
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That is epic traffic…
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If it makes you feel any better, I think that was one of the previous two points for me.
…I might need to try that app again, see where that has me.
Edit: yeah, the app doesn’t have as many spots on it as the barrowdowns site, and says I still have 5 miles to get to the black riders (32 instead of 27).
I’m Ashburn on the app, by the way. Will have to work on getting a photo to load on there, but so far it looks like I’m the only one.
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Okay, so I just downloaded the app. How does it work? Do I have to open it before I start walking, or does it just automatically log my activity?
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To my knowledge, you go into the distance log section and manually add in what you’ve covered using the little + button in the top right (at least that’s what I’ve been doing).
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Yes, I’ve also had to log mine manually. I tend to update it every day or two if of my FitBit log.
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It’s been a minute, how’s everyone doing?
I had Facebook remind me yesterday that I had made it to Rivendell by then when I last did this three years ago. (To be fair, I was also counting bike miles the same as on-foot miles that year, too)
I should be able to hit 200 miles this week, myself.
With the state of Things
, I dropped my gym membership (and not a moment too soon, as they closed a few days later), and I dug out this little pedaling device and am tying my phone below the knee so it’ll track the movement (and I can count those the same as walking miles because it would take about the same amount of time on foot!). My plan is to take some of this surprise extra time and aim for at least 10k each day, try to chip away at that extra 0.8 of a mile per day that cropped up.-
My progress basically had ground to a halt for 3 reasons.
- I managed to misplace my watch/pedometer that was tracking my steps for a good month, only finding it yesterday.
- I’d taken a break from my re-enactment due to events I couldn’t go to.
- As stuff has systematically closed due to this whole virus thing, I have no reason to leave the house at all besides food shopping.
All of this means I am literally doing nothing and may as well press pause on the whole endevour.
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I’m in the same boat. Nowhere to go, unless I go with Dad and the pup for afternoon walks.
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What does everyone use for step counting?
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I got to Weathertop on the 12th/16th! (By the app/website respectively)
As for distance trackers (sorry for taking so long!
), I use a combination. If I’m intentionally tracking a distance, I’ll most likely use Nike Run Club. If I’m checking other incidental miles from walking around, I take a look at Google Fit (phone’s fitness app). When I would need to know the distance of a particular route when my tracker had life issues (and it wasn’t for a group race requiring proof posts) I would double check on onthegomap.com by plotting out my path and seeing what it came up with. -
According to the website tracker I use, I hit the Fords of Bruinen today!
Looks like I could reach Rivendell this month.
I’ll be checking this out!
, I dropped my gym membership (and not a moment too soon, as they closed a few days later), and I dug out this little pedaling device and am tying my phone below the knee so it’ll track the movement (and I can count those the same as walking miles because it would take about the same amount of time on foot!). My plan is to take some of this surprise extra time and aim for at least 10k each day, try to chip away at that extra 0.8 of a mile per day that cropped up.
), I use a combination. If I’m intentionally tracking a distance, I’ll most likely use Nike Run Club. If I’m checking other incidental miles from walking around, I take a look at Google Fit (phone’s fitness app). When I would need to know the distance of a particular route when my tracker had life issues (and it wasn’t for a group race requiring proof posts) I would double check on 