Track, Trail or Walk

One thing I have got myself into a flap about recently is the increasing use of the word "Trail" in the vocabulary of officials in the Department of Conservation and others. I was recently reviewing the BOP Conservation Management Strategy and after finding nothing in it that was really contensious I realised that I was being annoyed by comming across the word "trail" all the time. The Strategy has 29 instances of the word trail. Two of them refered to trail-bikes which I deemed acceptable but many of the instances it was being used to refer to "trail networks" or "trail systems" etc. Then it was used to refer to the proposed "Tarawera Trail" which is a multimillion dollar project by DOC along with Maori Land Owners here in Rotorua. I ended up writing a submission on this issue to the Management Strategy that the 27 instances of the word "trail" should be changed to "track" or "walk" and especially in the case of the Tarawera Trail which will be an indigenous cultural experience. For our overseas members, the reason I object to this is that in New Zealand outdoor culture we tend to talk about "tracks" or "walks. eg. Milford Track, Routeburn Walk, Heaphy Track. Trail starts to sound to me like a creeping American influence that doesn't reflect Kiwi culture. However I see we do refer to the Central Otago Rail Trail, the Te Araroa Trail and various Heritage Trails. Maybe that culture change is here. What do others think or am I just flapping on about nothing?