This is a fairly densely populated area, at least before everybody became a zombie. I'm not sure if they ever mentioned the exact geography in the show, but as I remember it was somewhere fairly close to D.C., thus the "woods" there aren't going to be much like similar areas here, and presumably much easier to navigate through. I do know they stumble across a subdivision or town every few minutes when out driving, so maybe finding your way in the dark is somewhat easier there. As for the other group tracking them, again not hard, as the Rick's group is traversing through Negan's territory, which his group has controlled for a while. Also, don't forget that Rick and the group were being "funneled" all day to specific locations, a fact easily discernible while watching the plot unfold but one in which our favorite group of survivors were apparently unable to fathom despite the massive evidence in front of them ...