How to make engaging exploration in PbP?

Hi everyone. I think I've brought this up before, but it was centered around how to run dungeon crawls in PbP. I've learned that, generally, they are not popular in PbP based on how slow they are due to the high amount of back and forth required. However, this makes me wonder, how do you make the exploration pillar of fantasy TTRPGs like D&D and Pathfinder and such engaging if exploration is inherently very back and forth as exploration requires a lot of description and tends to result in lots of questions?

Here are some ways I run exploration without using dungeon crawls, but not sure how good they are either:

Skill Challenge. In short, the party is given a task that would take longer than one or two skill checks, like navigating a dense forest, escaping an avalanche, making a good impression at a party, etc. Everyone takes turns using skills and maybe some spells to rack up successes before getting 3 failures, with 3 failures either resulting in what the party wants but at a large cost or in grave danger.

Complex Traps. As the party gets to where they want to go, they find themselves in an area where, with or without magic, a trap was set up that must be either dealt with or escaped from. These can feel like combat, but with more skills at play (though sometimes smashing something is an answer).

High Level Dungeons. Like the dungeon crawl, but far less granular. The party is given all of the information they could find without skill checks about the current dungeon or dungeon area and then asked which elements they would like to engage with. As they do, they find more information or get more things to interact with. it can be seen as a giant puzzle of sorts that expands as the players interact until they find the exit that leads to the boss or escape they were looking for.

What do you think of the above exploration ideas? Have you used any that work well on websites like this?

Draw your players in and encourage them to interact with the environment.

One way to draw a player in and make them feel invested is to make them feel useful as an individual. Proactively Reward and acknowledge the effort they put into creating a character by providing them with information or other positives based upon their skills, background and backstories. No rolls or prompting by the PC needed. Take advantage of the passive.

Examples:

Soldier Background – Better reactions with other (friendly) soldiers even if they have a low charisma. Recognizing their insignia, or reputation of the battalion. Many town guards may be ex-soldiers. Maybe the PC a can get a feel for how a particular guard is was a soldier by the way he holds himself. That knowledge might be useful in dealing with guard.

Tool Knowledge – A PC with tool knowledge can get passive rolls that add flavor or maybe useful clues about a situation. Let a dwarf with masonry tools immediately recognize dwarven architecture, and unstable structures with a passive roll. Again no rolls by by the PC… just say "Grimhammer, you notice that although this is an ancient human dwelling… it was constructed by dwarves…it is truly old and you suspect some of the walls and supports are probably unstable"

Liberal use of Passive Perception, Investigation and Insight.
"Baki, You see the pickpockets hand dart quickly into the woman’s hand bag and then out again quite empty…surprisingly the smirk on his face seems to suggest he is quite satisfied."

He saw…he analyzed, and then concluded something unusual about the situation.
Someone with a very high Passive Perception Investigation and Insight, might be able to quickly point out plain clothes guards, or all the single ladies in waiting depending on the situation.

The point here is to make your PC’s feel special by treating them as individuals, rewarding them for their skills and backround and then giving them opportunities to engage and interact in your world.

Back and forth is just part of the game, be it dungeon crawls, exploration, or anything else. Possibly unpopular opinion incoming:

I like Basil's take. It feels nice when GM describes elements of the world your character instinctually notices without you needing to go "I have X background/skill, can I use it to examine Y?" every time. Obviously one can't expect GM to do it constantly, but it's delightful when it happens. Even if it's not something functional and is simply flavor text, it's a recognition of effort spent on creating the character in the first place.

I like building up successes/failures, too! I imagine it would work well for the times where characters navigate dangerous terrain - or maybe the perils of high society. :D Something where you have a timer for the number of turns and everyone gets to participate equally despite it not being combat.
..and now I want to play a game purely about wilderness travel. Welp.

(Also, I agree with MaJunior. No matter what, people who don't like slow pacing are unlikely to like game elements which are inherently slower. I sometimes wish the slower pace of PbP was more readily accepted, without attempts to change it; I personally don't mind drawn out exchanges in OOC, but every time they happen I remember that a lot of people dislike them and start feeling bad over holding everyone up. In the end, it all depends on specific preferences.)

I've been pondering this as well. There's an approach to dungeons called the five room dungeon. You can find the details HERE so that I don't have to copy/paste it. I would combine this with 13th Age's montage system, probably in place of room 3, the trick/setback. The 13A montage is where you go around the table, having one player set up a non-combat problem, and having the next player's character solve it. (Player 1 proposes problem, player 2 solves it and suggests a new one, and you go around til it gets back to player one again who solves the final problem - which only very rarely involves a waterfall.) No checks, no maybes, they DO solve it, it's just a chance for the characters to shine and gives you an idea of what the players would like to see more of.