Our planned itinerary is below. We knew it would change as we progressed along the trail. The "Re-Supply Locations" in the table below contain links to web pages with pictures from that area. Click on the underlined words to go to that web page.

Our itinerary was derived from Craigs PCT Planning program. It was based on the belief that we could hike 2.5 miles per hour for 10 hours each day. It allows 15 minutes extra time for climbing each 1000 feet. The program assumes we would not continue on during days we reached re-supply points.

What we learned:

The terrain was the deciding factor in how fast we could hike. We really could average 2.5 miles per hour in normal terrain. However, heavy snow slowed us to approximately 1 mile per hour. Very steep trails, sandy or heavy volcanic ash or very rocky trails slowed us to 2 miles per hour. Flat smooth trail (like much of Oregon) allowed us to average nearly 3 miles per hour.

We didn't allow for as many "zero days" as we took. We ended up with 8 zero days in 144 days on the trail.

Trying to coordinate meeting with friends was very difficult. One philosophy we heard on the trail was: Friends wanting to meet with hikers can either pick the time, or the place, but not both". We ended up with a couple of zero days in order to meet friends. Other times we just couldn't arrange a meeting.