The sheer enormity of walking 2178 miles can be overwhelming, making it difficult to feel a sense of progress. Some thru hikers measure advancement toward Katahdin by checking off each state along the way. The problem is trail distances differ from state to state. One fourth of the Appalachian Trail lies in Virginia.

Tag-along and I found it helpful to track our progress in one hundred mile increments. One hundred miles always seemed doable. A hundred miles can often be accomplished in about one week. By tracking our progress using short-range mileage goals, rather than the number of states completed, we felt an ongoing sense of getting there.