My Walk FAQs
I’ve tried to change trails, but it didn’t work!
It probably did work! The My Walk tab shows where you’ve been, not where you are. Check the Profile tab to see your current location. If it’s not the trail you want to be on, use the Trails page to select the one you do want.
If you aren’t seeing photos from your newly selected trail on the My Walk page, it’s probably because you haven’t recorded any steps on the new trail yet—you’ll see the photos as soon as you actually record some steps on it!
How do I delete a day’s mileage?
Enter 0 as the number of steps taken for the day you want to delete.
I entered my steps in the wrong order... is that a problem?
If you’re entering several days of walking at once, it makes sense to add them in the order you walked them to easily follow your progress along a given route. However, this is not required!
For instance, if you are adding your steps for today and yesterday, it doesn’t matter in which order you enter the steps. The section of trail you’ve virtually walked is based on the date you did your steps—not the order that they were entered. Consequently, yesterday’s steps will always show an earlier segment of the trail than today’s steps.
Can I retroactively add miles?
Especially for people who’ve been keep a walking log long before finding this website, it is possible to backlog miles to a point. Normally, you can enter your walking logs for up to the last 30 days.
If you have some technical ability, however, and know how to manipulate the walking log form on the My Walk page to change the drop-down box into a text box or manipulate URLs directly, we’ll happily accept data for any valid date. Some technical expertise is required to do this, however. If terms like URL manipulation scare you, you’ll be limited to the last 30 days. If you have to ask what URL manipulation means, you’ll also be limited to entering data from the last 30 days.
How do I delete/edit a register entry?
Deleting or editing a register entry simply involves overwriting the existing entry. You can only post one entry per walking day, so posting a new register entry will automatically overwrite your previous one. If your new register entry is empty, it will have the same effect as deleting your old register entry.
One caveat, however... You can only write in registers when you’re at it. If you write a register entry then keep walking, you won’t be able to go back to previous days to edit or delete those entries. It’s like a real register in that sense—once you’ve passed a register, you can’t go back to fix it anymore!
How do the registers work?
Whenever you record a register entry for the day, it’s location is marked as your current location on the trail. So if you’re at mile marker 23.3, your register entry is recorded as having been made at that specific location.
Whenever anyone else walking the same trail passes that specific point, they’ll see your register entry that day. It doesn’t matter how far a person has walked—just that they pass the point where you left your proverbial mark.
For instance, if someone moves about 2 miles each day and writes a register entry each day and you’re behind them but walking about 5 miles each day, you’ll likely pass 2 or 3 of their register entries each day. On the other hand, if they were walking behind you, they might have to walk 2 or 3 days just to see one of your register entries.
Like a real register, you won’t be able to go back and change your register entries once you’ve moved on, nor will you be able to read what people who come after you have written... unless, of course, you choose to hike the whole trail over again after you finish it!
Why don’t I see entries from people I see on the trail?
Just like in real life, most people don’t take the time to write register entries most of the time. If you haven’t seen register entries from someone ahead of you on the trail, it’s because they didn’t leave any.
Why does one person write in the register that no one has been there for a long time while I can see that someone else has, in fact, been there recently?
The thing to remember about register entries is that everyone walks at their own pace, so nobody sees exactly the same set of register entries each day. Anne (person A) might be a fast hiker and cover 10 miles in a typical day. Bob (person B) might typically cover 2 miles per day.
Imagine if Anne walks the trail first, leaving a register entry each day about 10 miles apart from each other. Bob comes along a month or two later covering 2 miles per day. On average, he’ll see a register entry from Anne once every five days—it takes him that long to cover the distance between each of Anne’s register entries. Between those entries, he’ll see absolutely nothing in the register. Anne would have passed through, but there’s no register entry by her for four consecutive days from Bob’s point of view. Bob might make a comment that “nobody” has passed through recently. Based on the lack of register entries, that’s how it looks to him.
On the other hand, if Bob came through first leaving daily register entries, then Anne follows up a bit later, Anne would typically see five register entries by Bob each day. She’s traveling the trail five times faster than Bob, after all, and passing five of Bob’s register entries each day.
Of course, nobody walks exactly the same distance every single day. Anne might cover 20 miles after a long day of hiking on a beautiful day, or cover 2 miles after falling ill. The further you walk each day, the more register entries you’ll likely see—and the fewer register entries you can leave behind.