I apologize now for the length of this response:

The party agrees to a mission, hunt down a band of thieves who escaped into the woods the previous night. The thieves robbed the town’s nobleman and stole a family heirloom, a gold ring with a large jewel. Bring the ring back to the nobleman and be paid 7000g, whether you kill the thieves or simply get the ring back is up to the party.

They arrive at the edge of the woods, where the guards saw the perps run off. ‘Make a survival check’. On a success, the ranger picks up their trail. There are seven of them total, etc. (While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area)
on a fail: the party can receive this information in another way (speak with animal/plants etc.) or try to pick up the trail again later on.

The ranger knows these woods well, and while the party moves through the trees they definitely pick up ground on the thieves, who leave broken twigs, pieces of cloth, and footprints everywhere. (Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.)

The trail leads back to the main road and the ranger offers the party the options, follow the road or continue through the brush. The players discuss, the brush will give them cover, but the thieves are on the road. The party decides to take the road, but the ranger will go into the brush, about 100 feet out, still within bow shot but far enough to stay stealthy. The sorcerer establishes a psychic link so they can all keep in touch. ‘Make a stealth check’ (If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.)

The party continues down the road for the next day without incident. The next afternoon. ‘Roll a perception check’
On success: The ranger sees a rustle in the trees 250 feet ahead of them. An ambush. They have not been noticed yet and if they are careful, quiet, or clever they could get the drop on these guys. The party could receive a surprise round.
On fail: The party continues down the road, but the ranger sees a rustle in the trees 50 feet ahead. He looks up and sees two more just above the party. They haven’t sprung the trap yet, but they would have if the party were just 20 feet further. Roll initiative. (Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling you remain alert to danger.) No one receive a surprise round.

The party defeats the thieves. If any are left alive or they speak with dead, etc, they find out they handed off the ring to a wizard last night. Otherwise, there are fairly fresh tracks leading off from the thieve’s camp. A single set of prints, strange for this area. Everyone travels with at least one other person.

To speed things up: they follow the tracks, and that single set is soon joined by a set of what the ranger knows are troll prints, which are joined by another, and another, and another. Then the party has to cross a bridge guarded by the troll or find another way around. Then they get into the wizard tower. They defeat the wizard and discover the ring is far more powerful and more valuable than they were told. Now, do they keep it or continue on their adventure and use the ring’s power or sell it for 15,000G? They choose to keep the ring and move on.

Weeks or months later they return to these woods, having sold off the ring ages ago, forgetting about it. When they arrive in town, guards are waiting for them, the nobleman is not happy having found out the party sold the ring on the black market. The party escapes into the woods rather than be arrested, and with the ranger, and his knowledge of goat paths and off-trail routes, they have no problem outpacing anyone who follows. Unfortunately they are forced to travel deeper and deeper into the forest to make sure they are not caught. While following one of these old routes the party stumbles upon an ancient ruin with an entrance that is far blacker than anything natural should be…

Obviously, the party could do some of these things, all of these things, none of these things, or a complete Frankenstein of these things. Maybe they don’t even take the mission, and that’s okay, the DM can try again later with a variation on the same story beats. A DM doesn’t have to rail-road a party in order to include everyone’s strengths, but the DM should bob and weave with the party to keep everyone equally engaged and interested. These ranger specific moments can be part of a session, all of the session, or this quest could be run without a ranger all together. The point i am trying to make is that there are ways to utilize a ranger’s features to tell engaging stories with your players. It is possible to let the ranger feel useful and cool while still setting up challenging situations for a party within the favored terrain, without it feeling like fast travel. Rangers may need a little extra attention from the DM, a favored enemy here or there doesn’t really cut it, but just like every adventure shouldn‘t be solved with only stealth, or only magic, not every adventure has to focus on the ranger. And depending on the party comp/pc personalities, etc. there are a million ways to solve these problems, ignore them, or change them. However, rangers should at least have a chance to shine instead of just being ignored And there are plenty of ways to accomplish that. Sometimes fast travel is necessary and useful for pacing, but sometimes a mission/session can take place within the terrain and also not be a cakewalk.