Nobody walks 2,650 miles. You walk to the next water, then the next shelter, then the next town. The big number is just a thousand small walks wearing the same shoes.

The next thing

On trail, the only thing that matters is the next thing — the next climb, the next spring, the next place you can sit. String enough of those together and one day you look up and you're in another state.

Plan the first twenty

So plan the first twenty miles, not the whole trail. Know where the first water is, and the first camp. The rest of it reveals itself one day at a time.