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Turambar · 01-17-2002, 09:03 PM

Does anyone know if Tolkien was a serious or semi-serious hiker? Obviously there's a lot of wandering in the woods and hiking over mountains in The Hobbit and LotR (and Silm too, to a lesser extent), and many of the descriptions of hiking and camping ring very true to me. E.g. the hobbits in the Old Forest being "forced always to the right" (seems to happen - not necessarily to the right of course - often around the base of trail-less peaks). And of course short cuts making long delays. And camps without campfires being "cheerless". Plus the timelines of all the hikes seem very accurate, if you take into account that hobbits are only 4 feet tall and couldn't make as good time as we could. And certain descriptions - the "tilted valley" near Mordor. Of course Tolkien had an excellent imagination and could have written all of these passages without leaving his armchair at Oxford. Still, if I had to guess I would say that they WERE based on real life experiences.

Anyone familiar with JRRT's biography have an answer?

01-17-2002, 09:03 PM	#1
Turambar Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Non-Stop Home Posts: 859	Was Tolkien a Hiker? Does anyone know if Tolkien was a serious or semi-serious hiker? Obviously there's a lot of wandering in the woods and hiking over mountains in The Hobbit and LotR (and Silm too, to a lesser extent), and many of the descriptions of hiking and camping ring very true to me. E.g. the hobbits in the Old Forest being "forced always to the right" (seems to happen - not necessarily to the right of course - often around the base of trail-less peaks). And of course short cuts making long delays. And camps without campfires being "cheerless". Plus the timelines of all the hikes seem very accurate, if you take into account that hobbits are only 4 feet tall and couldn't make as good time as we could. And certain descriptions - the "tilted valley" near Mordor. Of course Tolkien had an excellent imagination and could have written all of these passages without leaving his armchair at Oxford. Still, if I had to guess I would say that they WERE based on real life experiences. Anyone familiar with JRRT's biography have an answer? __________________ In the upper air the fireflies move more slowly.