Have you ever wondered how many people use the trail every year or any particular day? The Friends group has been monitoring trail use for many years through the use of counters that beam across the trail. As technology advances and data becomes more important for justifying grants and survival of the park, so does our need to adapt.
On a beautiful Wednesday morning, Rick Forrester (FLMSP) and Wade Johnston of the Tri-State Trails Green Umbrella Organization met at the site of our current counter to install a state-of-the-art infrared counter with WiFi capability, superior to the current counter.
Selecting a spot near the current fence, two holes were needed. One fits the wooden pressure-treated post containing the sensors embedded in a chamber inside the post. The second hole houses a heavy-duty plastic chamber connected to the sensor post via an underground cable. Wade provided additional protection for the cable via plastic conduit.
Installation was generally straightforward although digging in the railroad bed rubble is always challenging. Rick had brought a five-foot iron straight pry bar that greatly sped the process. The electronics package is quite robust (weather protected) and, after a mistake of not threading the cable through the proper hole in the plastic chamber, all went well. Installation took about two hours.
After a short call to the support team at the manufacturer’s website to register the serial number and get the wifi talking properly, the counter fired right up. We could watch the counter work right on-site with a laptop Wade had brought. Tri-State Trails will coordinate the ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and data analysis on a per-year cost basis.
The original counter and the new counter will be run side-by-side for about a month to compare data.
Editor's Note: Last year, our counters recorded 1.3 million trail uses. This year has seen greatly increased trail use due to the coronavirus.
August 2020
