Attendance as a Negative Function of Distance, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Campgrounds

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ATTENDANCE AS A NEGATIVE FUNCTION OF DISTANCE, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK CAMPGROUNDS Robert L.S. Cole, Jr. and Lisle Series Mitchell° INTRODUCTION. The number of studies dealing with the principle of least effort or the distance-decay concept are numerous. Von Thiinen, in his famous work, examined the relationship between the intensity of agricultural land use and distance. (1 ) Clark discovered that urban popula­ tion densities decline in a negative exponential manner with increasing distance from an urban center in both the time and space dimensions. (2) Berry investigated the population density gradients of western and nonwestern cities and found that in general the negative exponential rule was valid. (3) Bogue demonstrated that rural-farm population densities decline with increasing distance from cities in the United States. (4) Morrill and Pitts used various curve fitting techniques to analyze relations between distance and different types of movement. In all cases the general trend of the curves was declining with increasing distance. (5 ) Browning evaluated land use in the Chicago area, and the use of the distance-decay concept enabled him to make generalizations about various land use categories. (6 ) Research in the field of Recreational Geography is on the increase; (7) however, in such a context the principle of decreasing density or use with increasing distance has been little employed. Fussell, in an article on the coastal recreation of South Carolina, implied the principle by the use of concentric circle analysis, and he stated that “. . . a definite inverse relation­ ship exists between distance and the number of tourists. . .” (8 ) Mit­ chell, in a study of urban recreation, noted “. . . that there is a signifi­ cant negative relationship between distance from the playground and the number of registrants within various distance zones.” (9) John E. Trotter, in the article “Some Factors Influencing Attendance at Illinois State Parks,” states that geographers could add to the knowledge of outdoor recreation “. . . by studying travel patterns (routes and distances) and tributary areas of recreation facilities.” (10 ) PURPOSE. The purpose of this paper is to add to the knowledge of outdoor recreation and to geography in general by an application of the principle of 'M r . C ole is a graduate a ssista n t in geography at the U n iv e rsity of South C arolina, C o lu m b ia. Dr. M itch e ll is an a ssista n t professor at the sam e school. The paper w as accepted fo r p u b lica tio n in N ovem ber 1968. 14 S o u t h e a s t e r n G e o g r a p h e r least effort to the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between attendance at national park campgrounds and distance of camper resi­ dences from them. This work is an attempt to expand gradient analysis into an outdoor recreation context, (11 ) and to begin the task of discovering the interrelationships and interactions between recreationalists and sites of recreational activity. This will be a rudimentary step toward the solution of the broader question of why individuals in a population engage in certain recreational activities. The study covers the months of June, July, and August 1966 for two Great Smoky Mountains National Park campgrounds, Smokemont on the North Carolina side of the park and Elkmont on the Tennessee side. These campgrounds were chosen for the following reasons: (1 ) they are reached from U.S. Highway 441 between 6 and 8 miles from the major tourist towns near the Park entrance (Fig. 1); (2) one or the other of these camp­ grounds is the first camping opportunity for over 90 per cent of the campers entering the Park; (12) (3) the campgrounds are used to capacity from June 1 through Labor Day; (4) there is a seven-day limit on visits during the summer months; and (5) the facilities of the campgrounds are similar. HYPOTHESIS. The hypothesis is that attendance at Great Smoky Moun­ tains National Park campgrounds decreases as the distance that must be traveled to reach them increases, i.e., attendance is a negative function of distance. This hypothesis will be tested with the use of simple...

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