I just stumbled into this thread. I created W4F so might have some insight to why some of it is like it is. 😃
Of all the trails, the PCT is (by far) the one with the fewest photos per mile. It was the first one I photographed with the intention of MAYBE using for a virtual walk and I figured one photo per mile seemed like a good average. The website didn't exist, though--it was just a twinkle in my eye and I wasn't even entirely sure if I'd even bother to create it. But in any case, I tried to force myself to take a photo about once every 15 minutes or so of hiking.
Some sections ARE boring--you can't walk anywhere for 2,650 miles without passing through some boring areas. I didn't want to "sugar coat" the trail, though. I wanted photos that showed what I saw. When the terrain was boring, you'd see boring photos. When the trail was hard, you'd see photos of a hard a trail. Where it was scenic, the photos would be scenic. When I saw something interesting--be it a flower, snake, spider or whatever--that's what you'd see. This isn't a photo album of my best photos--this is a trail with WHAT I saw along the way! If ugly blisters and overflowing outhouses are part of my hike, then that's what you're going to see as well! 😃 I'm not creating an idealized version of what the trail is like--I wanted it to look as REAL as possible, warts and all.
But at the time I took the photos, the website was just a theoretical idea for me and taking photos for every mile of the trail is kind of annoying and monotonous. Especially when I wasn't even sure if I'd even bother to create such a website. But I kept taking the photos thinking I'd rather have them and not use them than not have them and later decide that I wanted to use them. Over the course of the entire hike, I averaged about 2 photos per mile. About half of them I didn't use because I felt that they were too repetitive, were too out of focus, or whatever.
The next hikes I walked were the Camino paths. I did it as one long hike but split it up into two hikes for W4F (Chemin Le Puy and Camino Frances), and it was during that hike when I finally decided that--when I finished the trail--I'd actually create the website. Knowing I was finally going to create the website, I took a lot more photos! And because the trail went through towns on a daily basis, there was a lot more variety of things to take photos of. I wound up taking about 10 photos per mile and again used about half of them for the website.
I liked the photo distribution there a bit better--4 to 5 photos per mile seemed like it worked well, and that's been my goal for all subsequent hikes.
I'm a little amused at some of your comments, comparing the photos from one trail to another like they were taken by different people. But they're all me. I hiked every one of them and took (almost) all of the photos. Occasionally a friend would share a photo with me that I particularly liked and I'd slip it in with the rest of my photos, but probably 99% of the photos you see are ones that I took.
As a general rule of thumb, the longer a trail is, the more likely there will be boring parts along it. A short trail like Crater Lake or Tour Mont Blanc are very limited in distance and stay in absolutely drop-dead scenery the entire distance. There isn't much along the way that's boring. The super-long distance trails like the PCT or AT have absolutely amazing areas, but you often have to walk thorugh comparitively boring areas to link them together. It's just the nature of the trail.
Another general rule of them, the trails that go through towns I think have a wider variety of photos that, to me, look more interesting. You walk through 700 miles of desert on the PCT (the first 700 miles is largely dry and arid desert) and the plants and terrain often look exactly the same the whole time. When I go through cities and towns, though, there's interesting architecture and statues to photograph. I can photograph where I did laundry or went grocery shopping. There's STUFF! It might not necessarily be pretty stuff, but it breaks up the monotony of the sameness of the trail.
On a personal note, I love the desert scenes. Cactus in bloom, the dryness that look like a desolate wasteland. The wide open spaces. I see a lot of comments by people in the registers on the first 700 miles of the PCT and nearly all of the Arizona Trail (both of which are largely deserts) who think it's ugly. I like it, though. They're among my favorite sections of trail. I prefer them over the claustrophobic trees of the Pacific Northwest (for instance). But I realize that I'm someone of an anomoly in that respect. Most people prefer to see a bunch of green trees rather than deserts.
So I wanted to create a large variety of trails, though, so people can do the types of trails that they would most prefer. Those who like deserts can do desert trails, and those who like lots of civilization can do civilized trails. I wanted trails that represented all of the different seasons (Crater Lake was for winter, Long Trail was for autumn, etc.) I wanted trails that were flat (Florida Keys), and I wanted trails that were mountainous (Wonderland Trail). I wanted trails that were cold (Crater Lake) and trails that were hot (Florida Keys). I wanted trails with lots of trees (Long Trail) and trails that were barren of them (Arizona Trail). I wanted trails that were short (Crater Lake), and trails that were long (PCT).
I know not everyone is going to enjoy all of the trails, but I wanted to give enough options so that everyone could find something that they would enjoy. Some people have told me that my photographs have improved over time, and perhaps there's some truth to that. I'm not sure. I don't know that if I did the PCT again if my photos the second time around will turn out any better than the first time around (although I'd certainly take more photos).
Speaking of individual photos... I rarely spend much time on the vast majority of them. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail this summer and took about 25,000 photos along the hike. I can't exactly spent 10 minutes working to get the perfect photos for every section of trail. Many photos I've taken I don't even stop to take! I literally took the photo while I was still walking! Of course, if I saw something particularly interesting or had a particularly brilliant idea for a photo, I might climb a tree or lay down on my belly to get that shot. Those are comparitively rare, though. I would do that maybe once or twice a day. Most of the time, I just paused for a few second, snapped a photo, then kept on walking. You see what I see. 😃
Anyhow.... my mind is drifting.... in terms of sheer scenic beauty, if you want my opinion, these are the trails that I think have the best photos mile-for-mile:
* Crater Lake Trail
* Tour Mont Blanc
* Wonderland Trail
* Tahoe Rim Trail
Close runner ups would include:
* Arizona Trail (provided you enjoy desert views--if you don't like deserts, you won't like this trail. I love it, though!)
* Camino de Santiago (provided you enjoy a lot of farm country)
* GR 20 (although it does have a somewhat desert-like feel)
* Scottish Highlands
My least favorite trails would include:
* Long Trail
* Appalachian Trail
* Florida Keys
The Long Trail and Appalachian Trail, I just find the endless parade of trees exceedingly boring. The Florida Keys is really "too civilized" for my taste.
The PCT I find difficult to categorize. I loved hiking the trail and the adventure of it all, but it has some admittedly boring sections as well. I actually like the Southern California section which is what most people tend to bad-mouth. It's the Oregon and Washington sections I enjoyed the least (where the trail is largely stuck in trees), but those also have some of the grandest view of all when they do pop out of the trees or above tree line. Jaw-dropping! So I kind of have a love-hate relationship with that trail. It's too long and diverse for me to stick into a single category. (The AT is quite long, but it's not actually all that diverse.)
Anyhow.... I hope that helps y'all decide which trails might be best suited for your tastes! 😃
And.... just a reminder, none of these trails are intended to show an "idealized" view of the trail. I liked the idea of showing the trail exactly like I saw it, warts and all. You've probably seen documentaries and photos of many of these trails and see a bunch of spectcular photos, but those are all contrived to show the best the trail has to offer. They're showing you the places that are truely spectcular, always on a beautiful day, then skip over the boring and monotnous parts. They're taken by professional photographers who will wait HOURS for a single shot just when the clouds or the lighting is perfect. I'm a thru-hiker who has to hike 20+ miles per day and if the light isn't perfect or there are clouds or fog in the way. Oh well! I take the photo and move on. It's a much more real-life example of what you'd see if you really hiked these trails.
Happy trails, everyone! 😃
-- Ryan
