The Influence Of Weather On The Use Of An Urban Wilderness Trail System.

Abstract

The natural environment can play a crucial role in providing opportunities for increasing physical activity. Understanding how weather relates to use of different trail types (gravel trails vs. dirt trails) can provide information on how people use trails in varying weather conditions. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between varying weather conditions with use of an urban wilderness trail system. METHODS: Data were collected using nine infrared counting stations located on multi-use trails, both gravel and dirt, throughout the 50+ miles of trails within the Knoxville Urban Wilderness in Knoxville, TN. Trail use was measured as both daily user and hourly counts for 94 consecutive days from September through December. Weather variables measured included temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, and precipitation. Poisson multiple regression were used to examine relationships. RESULTS: Daily trail use was a median of 46 (IQR = 112), hourly counts was a median of 2 (IQR = 8). After controlling for other covariates in regression, only rain (β = -1.06) and cloud cover (β = -0.006) contributed significantly to predicting daily trail use. Specific to trail type, gravel trail use was significantly impacted by rain (β = -0.70), cloud cover (β = -0.004), and temperature [max temperature (β = 0.11) and max temperature squared (β = -0.001)]. For every 1-degree Fahrenheit (F) increase in daily max temperature, gravel trail counts increased by a factor of 1.12 (95% CI 1.03, 1.22) up to 73.4 degrees F, at which point trail counts began to slightly decrease. Dirt trail use was only significantly impacted by rain (β = -1.22) and not temperature (p = 0.30). Hourly trail use showed rain significantly reduced dirt trail use (β = -11.06) more than gravel trail use (β = -7.88). Hourly trail use for all trails increased by a factor of 1.13 (95% CI 1.10, 1.16) for every 1-degree F increase up to 77 degrees F, then began to decrease slightly. CONCLUSIONS: Dirt trail use, compared to gravel trail use, is impacted more by rain. This makes sense for the area studied as dirt trails, although multi-use, are more heavily used by mountain bikers than runners or hikers. Gravel trails in the area studied are more utilized by runners and hikers and are impacted by both rain and temperature.