Bellingham’s trails give us places to walk, run and ride, providing a valuable resource for having fun and exercising, and providing a place for outdoor recreation. Whether you are out for a leisurely stroll or are commuting to work or school, trails are widely used by people of all ages and all abilities. Quantifying the number of users on the city’s trail system helps us understand the demand for trail facilities and maintenance needs.
The Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department began collecting trail data in February of 2011. Data is collected from infrared trail monitoring equipment that have been installed at various locations in the city. The counters collect data, which is manually downloaded into electronic data readers by Park’s staff. This data may be used to assess maintenance needs and may also be used to address demand for new facilities.
The data results include user counts by day, hour, and minute in any type of weather. This data is an approximation of how many people are using trails on a given day and time. In most cases, the actual user counts are higher than what is recorded by the equipment. This is due to the way the equipment is set up and the walking patterns of people in larger groups (i.e. multiple people walking side-by-side may only be counted once).
Typically, Park staff collect data on a weekly basis. During peak usage, Park staff collect data on more frequent intervals. Occasionally, trail usage is so high that the storage capacity of the electronic data counters are “maxed-out” and data is missing for a particular time interval.
Data collectors do not take photographs and do not record sound.
2024 Data Summaries
2023 Data Summaries
2022 Data Summaries
2021 Data Summaries
2020 Data Summaries
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – December 2020 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – December 2020 (PDF)
- Lake Padden – December 2020 (PDF)
- Maritime Heritage Park – December 2020 (PDF)
- Wildflower Bridge – December 2020 (PDF)
- All – December 2020 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – October 2020 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – October 2020 (PDF)
- Lake Padden – October 2020 (PDF)
- Wildflower Bridge – October 2020 (PDF)
- All – October 2020 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – September 2020 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – September 2020 (PDF)
- Lake Padden – September 2020 (PDF)
- All – September 2020 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – August 2020 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – August 2020 (PDF)
- Lake Padden – August 2020 (PDF)
- All – August 2020 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – April 2020 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – April 2020 (PDF)
- Cornwall Park bridge – April 2020 (PDF)
2019 Data Summaries
- All Trail Counters Summary – December 2019 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restrooms – December 2019 (PDF)
- Civic Field Gates – December 2019 (PDF)
- Cornwall Park bridge – December 2019 (PDF)
- Silver Beach bridge – December 2019 (PDF)
- Julianna Park – September 2019 (PDF)
- Sunset Pond – September 2019 (PDF)
- Waypoint Park – January 2019 (PDF)
2018 Data Summaries
- Boulevard Park Restroom – January 2018 (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – January 2018 (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – January 2018 (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – February 2018 (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – February 2018 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – March 2018 (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – March 2018 (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – March 2018 (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – April 2018 (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – April 2018 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – April 2018 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – May 2018 (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – May 2018 (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – June (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – June (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – June (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – July (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – July (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – July (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – August (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – August (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – August (PDF)
- Boulevard Park Restroom – September (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – September (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – September (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – October (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – October (PDF)
- Cornwall Park North Bridge – November (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – November (PDF)
- Squalicum Trail – November (PDF)
- South Bay Trail – December (PDF)
- Waypoint Park – (PDF)
- Silver Beach Bridge – (PDF)
- Boulevard Railroad Overpass – (PDF)
