Same as girl, I am inexperienced, and moreso than her. I agree that you should set your goals high. I always do. But I think your goals should be downsized a bit to having fun everyday regardless of the weather. I also think you might want to be more concerned about getting hurt. Folks fall off the trail all the time because of small things, like crappy creek water resulting in the craps, blisters, wrong mentality, wrong gear, homesick, or something really bad like a broken leg. Now to the idea of a yo yo. I have a healthy respect for the whites. They are gorgeous and deadly. Remember, you must climb katahdin by oct 15. Then head south back through the whites. If, after you climb katahdin, your thighs are not oak, they will be because you,ll need to have the snow shoes ready because it is going to get nasty really quick. The snow is on its way. There is a decent chance you,ll be shoeing a lot of it. All the creeks will be frozen, but you'll need as much water for winter hiking as for the summer. Remember that the winter pack weight will be considerably heavier than the summer one. Do you plan on enjoying some of the wonderful relationships found on the AT? What about some of the really cool towns. Will you take the time to stop and smell the roses? Or are you going to bypass all this and miss what many thru hikers call " the best part of the trail." I probabley sound like a worthless know it all. Actually, I'm fairly well read concerning the AT. If you have not read much about the trail, I would recommend that you go to the library and check out, or to amazon to buy, a couple of good AT books. Rhyming worm (name) has a fantastic book as does david brill, larry luxenberg, and michelle ray. No, I'm not a know it all. But the folks who wrote the above books have helped me tremendously to gain a better understanding of the AT. Lastly, and these are my words, I'd say to heck with the yo yo. Just walk and have fun. Mckay, Avery and God built this thing. Enjoy the journey rather than looking for the destination. Maybe I'll see you on the trail in 2014.