Projected Itinerary

I fly into Kotzebue on March 13. My intended route is 4,720 miles long. I hope to finish the entire route in 6.5 months. Overall, then, I need to average 23.3 miles for 203 consecutive days. Of course, I won't cover exactly 23.3 miles every day. For example, on days in which there is heavy bushwhacking, I may only manage 12 or 15 miles; but on days in which I float down fast-flowing rivers, I may cover 60 miles.

Generally, I will push as hard as I can, when I can -- I will try to put "miles in the bank" that I can withdraw later if/when I am forced to take days off or cut days short. For example, in March and April I expect to encounter extremely dangerous conditions, e.g. 40-below temperatures and ground blizzards, that I will have to wait out. Throughout the route, it's likely that I will have logistical hang-ups (e.g. I pull into town later than expected on Friday evening and have to wait until Monday morning to pick up my supply package at the Post Office) or that I will need to take a day off in order to rest my feet or get over the flu. Overall, I have budgeted 14 "zero days" into my itinerary; the exact dates are unplanned, and hopefully I will take less than that.

It becomes increasingly difficult to finish the AYE as I push later into Fall -- I think I can slug it out and still finish as late as October 15, but it will be very uncomfortable. Therefore, I am going to try to stick to this itinerary as best I can, and I have identified several alternate routes that would help keep me on pace if I fall behind or if my intended route proves infeasible at the time (e.g. due to Spring breakup). The AYE almost always takes the "best" route, whereas these alternates usually take "good" routes -- so I don't expect the experience to be notably degraded if I end up utilizing one or more.