Trail FAQs
Will you ever add a trail in Canada?
Hey! I added the West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail—what else do you want?! =)
There’s also the International Appalachian Trail which is a possibility. I’ve already hiked the distance from Key West, Florida, to Mount Katahdin, Maine. Continuing on along the International Appalachian Trail into Canada seems like a natural extension of that hike, but admittedly, I don’t have any plans in the near future to do that. A lot of other hikes I want to get done first!
The Great Divide Trail sounds pretty nice as well. But, for now, there are a couple of small trails in Canada that you can enjoy until I get a chance to do a longer one!
What about the Te Araroa Trail? Will you add that?
That definitely sounds like an awesome trail, but at about 3,000 kilometers through the entire length of New Zealand, it would require a huge time commitment.
I’d love to do the trail someday, but I have no plans to do it anytime in the near future.
If I change trails, do my miles move?
No, the miles stay on the trail you were on when you entered them. If you want to move miles to a different trail, delete the miles from the day that you want to move, switch trails, then re-enter the miles for that day. This will remove the miles from the old trail and add them to your newly selected trail.
If I change trails, will I lose my place on the original trail?
No, we’ll save your position on the trail you left so you can rejoin it later, continuing from the same place where you got off.
Can I start a trail over before I’ve finished walking it?
Yes! In the past, that wasn’t always possible but now that W4F tracks treks (see below for more about that term), you do not actually have to finish a trail in order to start over at the beginning. Just start a new trek on the same trail and you’ll be back at the beginning.
This question often comes up when someone is already walking a trail then later a real-life friend joins W4F and they want to go back to the beginning to walk ”together.“ This is entirely possible now without losing your previous steps. You can also return to your original trek to complete it at a later date.
There is no limit to the number of times you can restart a trail, regardless of whether or not you have completed previous attempts.
Can I add a trail of my own hike?
Maybe! Although all of the trails currently supported were hiked by myself (Green Tortuga), I’m not opposed to adding thru-hikes by others and even built in functionality to support trails created by others. You do, however, have to contact me (use that Contact Us button at the bottom of the page) to get the ball rolling. There’s a lot of work and setup involved—even after your hike is over!
Also, before your hike, it might be a good idea to send a message my way to make sure it’s something I’d be interested in adding in the first place. Here are some considerations in adding a trail:
- Look for a trail of at least 100 miles in length. Yes, I added the Crater Lake Trail which is a mere 36 miles, but that’s an exception to the rule because it is absolutely spectacular, world-famous and unique as the only snowshoe/winter hike on this website. And even then, I seriously considered not using it.
- Only complete trails are allowed. From end-to-end, all completed in the same direction. If you’re section-hiking a trail, that’s fine, but it won’t get added until you’ve finished all sections. You can do the sections in any order, but always keep the direction of travel the same so the sections can be seamlessly merged together into a single, long hike.
- There will be no sort of compensation except for the joy of seeing your photos used on this website and the gratitude of everyone who virtually thru-hikes your trail. You will, of course, have official credit for being the person or persons who hiked the trail and took all of the photos.
- Since it is disruptive towards anyone virtually walking the trail to have it removed out from under them, once a trail is added, you can never delete it! If you ever decide that you do not want your trail featured on Walking 4 Fun, it can be closed. Those who are already on it will be able to finish your trail and those who have completed it will always keep it in their historical records, but no new walkers will be able to join your trail.
- Although your trail will become a permanent addition to Walking 4 Fun, we claim no copyrights on your work or photos.
What is the difference between a trail and a trek?
A trail is a trail is a trail. You’ve probably heard of many of them that this website supports.
You will, however, sometimes see references to a “trek.” For the purposes of this website, that is a specific instance of virtually walk along a specific trail. You are more than welcome to repeat trails here, and each time you do, you complete another trek along the trail. Treks are always attached to a specific account and a specific trail. They have start dates and end dates, and we also keep track of how many days you’ve been on a particular trek.
For the most part, the distinction isn’t very important. Most of the time, we’ll use the terms interchangeably. For instance, you’ll see a link to “change trail,” but technically, you’re actually changing treks. Most of the time, the trek will be on a different trail, but it doesn’t have to be!
But when the distinction is important or it might be confusing to use the term trail when we actually refer to a trek, we might refer specifically to treks, and that’s the difference between the two terms on this website.