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On the game for which I once programmed, I wrote a system that was fairly robust for tracking. I added an array to each exit which kept account of the player/NPC ID, direction of travel, pace of travel and a series of other data, including sex, encumbrance, height, and a decay factor, which was computed based upon the terrain, weather, and amount of travel through the area - the more travel which occured, the higher the chance of decay.
Thus, not only could NPC's track players (or other NPCs), but players could track others. Depending upon their ability in tracking, they would be given more information. If they knew the person they were tracking really well, they may even recognize those tracks as belonging to that person:
A woman walked to the east recently.
A man ran in from the west not too long ago.
KaVir dashed in from the west quite awhile ago. His tracks appear as though an attempt was made to erase them.
Some poor soul dragged themselves through this area quite some time ago. Dried blood provides mute testimony of their passage.
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