Statistical Snapshot of a Beautiful Trail

Photo: Because of the difficulty in taking pictures while running, this snapshot is from earlier in the summer.

When a complete video record is not possible, maybe a snapshot will do. With our busy lives, full surveys of trail use in all the daylight hours are labor intensive and hard to pull off. But that doesn’t mean we can’t count people in the brief time we are using the trails.

Case in point: Last Wednesday, August 5, between 10 and 11 am I went for a run on the Petoskey Bayfront and through the fabulous “Resort Bluffs” segment of the Little Traverse Wheelway just west of Petoskey. The temperature was in the mid 60’s. Skies were sunny and there was a moderate breeze. On the way out I kicked myself for not counting all the users since it was obvious that the Wheelway was very busy. OK, I thought, I’ll count them on the way back.

Here are the results: the 2.3 mile segment took me about 21 minutes to jog. In that time I observed 94 mammals (93 people and one dog.) There was a good representation of both walkers and joggers and two skaters but most were bikers. There were at least eight small children being carried or pulled by adults and several others riding their own bicycles. There were users throughout the segment but more in Petoskey itself and at the west end near East Park and Bay Harbor, suggesting that all three locations were being used as trailheads.

Pretty busy you may say. I’d agree. But there were far more in the 21 minutes it took me to run in the other direction. Moral of the story? Snapshots have their place but for accuracy nothing beats a full dawn to dusk survey.