My proposed itinerary

This is my attempt at plotting my entire hike. As you can see, no zero days have been included, so these dates are not at all accurate. I also have decided that I will skip from Lone Pine to Tuolumne Meadows and from South Lake Tahoe to Quincy. If my mother is not in Alaska when I come through Chester, perhaps she can drive me ahead to Dunsmuir. However, I'm not going to plan this because I really enjoyed the Hat Creek Rim and Burney Falls and would not mind hiking there again.

Approximate Date	Location	Mile on the PCT
05/24/09	Santa Barbara
05/25/09	Blue Canyon
05/26/09	Matillija Creek
05/27/09	Beaver CG Sespe Creek
05/28/09	Sespe Hot Springs
05/29/09	Intersection Buck Creek
05/30/09	Cienega CG
05/31/09	On the PCT!
06/01/09	Hikertown	518.4
06/02/09	Tylerhorse Cyn	541.4
06/03/09	Tehachapi	558.3
06/05/09	Golden Oak Spring	583.4
06/06/09	Waterhole Mine	608
06/07/09	Bird Spring Pass	631.4
06/08/09	Walker Pass	651.4
06/09/09	Spanish Needle Group	673.2
06/10/09	Kern River	698.8
06/11/09	Kennedy Meadows	702.8
06/13/09	Cow Creek	719.4
06/14/09	Diaz Creek	741.2
06/15/09	Lone Pine	744.8
Bus to Tuolumne Meadows
06/16/09	Tuolumne Meadows	941.6
06/17/09
06/18/09
06/19/09
06/20/09	Bridgeport
06/21/09	East Carson River Trail	1027.6
06/22/09	Eagle Creek	1055
06/23/09	Pond-blessed Saddle	1080.3
06/24/09	S. Lake Tahoe	1094.5
Bus to Reno, then to Quincy
06/25/09	Near Q-LP Rd	1232.7
06/26/09
06/27/09
06/30/09
07/01/09	Chester	1335.8
07/02/09	Drakesbad	1354.2
07/03/09	Old Station	1377.7
07/04/09	Hat Creek Rim	1403
07/05/09	Burney Falls	1423.6
07/06/09	Clearcut	1451.7
07/07/09	Ash Camp	1476
07/08/09	Switchback	1498.9
07/09/09	Dunsmuir	1506.5
07/10/09
07/11/09
07/12/09
07/13/09
07/14/09	Etna	1606.3
07/15/09
07/16/09
07/17/09
07/18/09	Seiad Valley	1662
07/19/09
07/20/09
07/21/09
07/22/09	Ashland	1725
07/23/09
07/24/09
07/25/09
07/26/09
07/27/09	Crater Lake	1820
07/28/09
07/29/09
07/30/09
07/31/09
08/01/09	Shelter Cove Resort	1912.2
08/02/09
08/03/09
08/04/09
08/04/09
08/06/09	Sisters	2010
08/07/09
08/08/09
08/09/09
08/10/09
08/11/09	Cascade Locks	2154
08/12/09
08/13/09
08/14/09
08/15/09
08/16/09
08/17/09
08/18/09	White’s Pass	2302
08/19/09
08/20/09
08/21/09
08/22/09
08/23/09
08/24/09
08/25/09	Snoqualime Pass	2400
08/26/09
08/27/09
08/28/09
08/29/09
08/30/09	Steven’s Pass	2476
08/31/09
09/01/09
09/02/09
09/03/09	Stehekin	2574
09/04/09
09/05/09
09/06/09
09/07/09
09/08/09	Canada	2650

I feel ok about skipping the miles I have already done most of them. I do not want to still be hiking in October. I don't want to be out there that long and I know that Tony would not like it. I don't want to be away from him and my birds for so long. I don't like being away from them and I don't like knowing they don't like me being away, either. I will already be thinking about them and worrying about my selfishness. I don't need to drag that out longer than necessary.

I also feel ok about redoing some of the miles at the beginning. I need the miles to gain fitness and strength. And these are great miles to do right in the thick of the main group of hikers. I will get to go to Kennedy Meadows with all the hikers and enjoy hanging out with them. I hope that there will be other thru-hikers on the trail once I skip ahead so that I am not too lonely.

I also don't mind redoing some of the miles throughout because these were some of the places I liked best. I will get to see them again.

In thinking about what is important to me, being with other hikers was one of the bigger joys of the trip. So hopefully my itinerary preserves some of that. Maybe I will end up at the front of the pack in Oregon watching all the fastest hikers walk by me each day. That will work out fine.

Also, it is not important to me that I hike the entire trail in one season. It's not even possible at this point anyway, since I didn't do it last year and I wouldn't be planning to start at Campo again this year. What is important is that I will have hiked almost the entire trail in two years. I will have all those memories. I will get to be out there for many months, living the life of the vagabond. That is what I loved most. Living the life, not so much whether my steps were perfectly continuous.

And so here I am, full of anticipation and hope once more, ready to put myself through all the agony again.