COLUMN: Trailing or Leading: Stand up and be counted

When leaders from the Owen County Community Foundation, YMCA and McCormick's Creek State Park first dreamed of the MyPath Trail System, they thought it would be a great asset for the community. They envisioned walkers and cyclists being able to enjoy the town of Spencer and Owen County while going to the state park and back.

MyPath does not connect to the park yet. But on Sept. 27, we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first section of new trail, the first step toward the park. Would people use the new trail, even if it is less than a mile long? Wouldn't it be nice to know how many people are using the new trail? Can we install a turnstile and make all the trail visitors walk through it?

Well, we are not going to install a turnstile. But we have the next best thing. In April 2023, thanks to a grant from the Greenways Foundation, we purchased trail counters that I personally installed in three locations along the trail. These are not cameras, and have no resale value or recording ability, other than that something has passed. Your privacy is safe, because they don't identify you in any way, even as a species. But let's look at how many times something has passed by the counter.

To start, let's look at the counters. The Trailhead counter is near the beginning of the trail, near the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District building. The New Meadow counter is on the other side of the Elliston Creek ravine. The Wetlands Loop is not on the main trail, but it has been used to cross a wet area on a boardwalk and loop back to the main trail instead of crossing the creek.

In August of 2024, the trail had new pavement. It did not go all the way to the future bridge to the trail, near the Owen County Soil and Water Conservation District building. The trail had nice traffic from trail users. The Trailhead recorded 1,401, and the New Meadow recorded 472. The Wetlands Loop, which is not good for bicycles or strollers, recorded 256.

September 2023 recorded 556 at the Trailhead, 117 at the New Meadow and 261 on the Wetlands Loop.

On September 18, 2024, a new bridge was set in place, allowing walkers to cross Elliston Creek. By the end of the month, the pavement was completed to the bridge, opening both sides of the creek to bicycles, strollers and wheelchairs. The Trailhead recorded 1,910. The New Meadow, which included pre-bridge numbers, was 754. The Wetlands Loop, which was out of the bridge, still recorded 252.

In October 2023 had beautiful fall colors and nice walking temperatures. The counters recorded 742 at the Trailhead, 248 at the New Meadow and 328 at the Wetlands Loop.

October 2024 was the first full month of a completely paved, ADA accessible bridge across Elliston Creek, to River Road. The Trailhead recorded 1,838. The New Meadow welcomed 1,532.

The numbers recorded by the counters, while exciting, have limits. The counter doesn't differentiate between a person, bicycle, deer or Bigfoot. We don't know that YOU were out here. We just know something was out here. It counts the same person going out and back, both times. If two or three people are walking side-by-side, they might count as only one. Not everybody comes back through the Trailhead since we opened the Tree at the Trail at the end of May. In fact, the 20 people who participated in the MyPath 5k only went by the Trailhead once.

The Wetlands Loop counter was a good control item, because it was along the boardwalk, where people walked single file and were only counted once. But not every visitor goes through the non-ADA compliant Wetlands Loop. And trail counter was stolen sometime in October.

Despite the limitations, we are thrilled with the numbers. The trail counters show that MyPath is being used, a lot. They show that pavement increased use. The installation of a bridge increased use even more. This helps us plan the trail expansion. Every month, I share these numbers with the Department of Natural Resources. Now I am sharing them with you.

Imagine how much usage will increase when we take the next step toward McCormick's Creek.

Kyle Hannon is the project manager for the MyPath Trail System. He has served in many community development and trail connection roles throughout the state. On many weekends, he serves as an interpretive specialist at McCormick's Creek State Park.