Our kind of trails
Manual wheelchair user on a double-track trail through a forest in Chickamauga Battlefield, GA
What kind of trails can adaptive hikers enjoy?
We are concentrating here on a loose definition of "wheelchair accessible trails". There are great commercial trail-mapping websites that have categories of trails such as "easy", "moderate", "difficult", and "wheelchair accessible" and "wheelchair friendly". What does their "wheelchair accessible" mean? You won't know until you experience the trail yourself. It usually only means paved. We have experienced those paved "wheelchair accessible trails" with up to an extremely dangerous 22% grade. That doesn't show up in their published GPS trail profile of averaged data. Similarly, if a grade is calculated from elevation differences at the beginning and end of a trail using Google Earth, your 7% average grade might miss that 19% grade in the middle as one website did for a prominent trail in Rome, Georgia.
That is why we are here! To provide user experiences of trails by adaptive hikers with disabilities. To separate out the various qualities of "wheelchair accessible trail" based on wrong perceptions and based on data provided by the adaptive hiker.
Many parks have their token "accessible" trail. However, there are many other trails that can be enjoyed by individuals with disabilities, if we know know what they are like. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has over 800 mile of hiking trails but only 0.5 miles of "accessible" trail. However, there are wonderful trails that can be enjoyed by someone using a wheelchair, but they are not paved. Our trails include backcountry trails that most people would never consider as a "wheelchair accessible trail", only because no one has described its characteristics for us to consider. Help us find those trails and describe them!
For our purposes, a trail is a named, publicly available, pedestrian footpath or multi-use path designed, built, and maintained by a public or private organization for the enjoyment of natural or historic settings. Our definition includes access routes to noteworthy features, such as scenic overlooks or historical points, as long as the path is at least 0.2 miles (320m) long.
We do not include neighborhood sidewalks, city street bike lanes, or someone’s exercise GPS track around a neighborhood. While important for our individual mobility, these paths are not named, designated nature trails.
We are differentiating here two kinds of trails for individuals with disabilities: frontcountry trails and backcountry trails:
Frontcountry trails
Frontcountry trails are those designed for the greatest number of people to enjoy in our parks. These trails generally have low gradient, low cross slope, and a wide, firm, or paved surface. Most of the designated “wheelchair accessible” or “ADA” trails are frontcountry trails. They typically can be enjoyed by individuals with standard mobility equipment such as manual or powered wheelchairs.
Backcountry trails
Backcountry trails are typically more challenging, more remote, and are generally thought of as non-“wheelchair accessible” because of higher gradient, higher cross slope, or obstacles such as roots or rocks. However, some of these backcountry trails might be enjoyed by individuals with greater mobility, especially with the assistance of selected adaptive equipment and/or a companion. Our backcountry trails:
We recognize that many individuals with physical disabilities may not appear to be disabled and may be ambulatory. Some ambulatory individuals may be able to enjoy narrower, single-track hiking trails described in other hiking trail websites. Some of these hiking trails are described in a wonderful website at disabledhikers.com.
Mountain bike trails? Sorry, not here.
We do not include trails designed primarily for use with mountain bikes or adaptive mountain bikes because of potential conflicts of use and safety of adaptive hikers. Some heavy duty handcycles are built to function as mountain bikes for individuals with disabilities. These handcycles can serve as adaptive hiking equipment on hiking trails if they allow for access that you otherwise would not be able to enjoy because of a disability. Check with the trail managing agency to be sure.
Caution
We present here frontcountry trails that loosely meet U.S Access Board standards for recreational trails, although meeting those standards does not mean that a trail is “accessible” to most individuals with disabilities. We use the standards as the upper limits of gradient and cross slope for our group of trails. See those standards here. We also include frontcountry trails that should be more accessible because of their location in providing access to an important feature but that have a hazard which will be noted. We encourage you to also include trails with hazards, but be sure to note the hazards in the trail description section.
Backcountry trails, by nature, are more challenging. We present only those that are near the upper end the federal guidelines for your consideration, but not the more extreme.
All trail descriptions on this site include features important to individuals with varying disabilities so that we may decide for ourselves whether or not a trail is appropriate for our enjoyment and safety. Because a trail is included in this network of selected trail descriptions does not mean that it is appropriate for any particular person. Inclusion of a trail in this network does not indicate that Trail Access Project has totally verified descriptions and any measurements submitted by the public for inclusion. Consider trail descriptions and data as opinions of the contributor based on their personal strengths and their experience on a particular day. Those may not be your strengths. Those may not be current trail conditions after adverse weather conditions.
We are concentrating here on a loose definition of "wheelchair accessible trails". There are great commercial trail-mapping websites that have categories of trails such as "easy", "moderate", "difficult", and "wheelchair accessible" and "wheelchair friendly". What does their "wheelchair accessible" mean? You won't know until you experience the trail yourself. It usually only means paved. We have experienced those paved "wheelchair accessible trails" with up to an extremely dangerous 22% grade. That doesn't show up in their published GPS trail profile of averaged data. Similarly, if a grade is calculated from elevation differences at the beginning and end of a trail using Google Earth, your 7% average grade might miss that 19% grade in the middle as one website did for a prominent trail in Rome, Georgia.
That is why we are here! To provide user experiences of trails by adaptive hikers with disabilities. To separate out the various qualities of "wheelchair accessible trail" based on wrong perceptions and based on data provided by the adaptive hiker.
Many parks have their token "accessible" trail. However, there are many other trails that can be enjoyed by individuals with disabilities, if we know know what they are like. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has over 800 mile of hiking trails but only 0.5 miles of "accessible" trail. However, there are wonderful trails that can be enjoyed by someone using a wheelchair, but they are not paved. Our trails include backcountry trails that most people would never consider as a "wheelchair accessible trail", only because no one has described its characteristics for us to consider. Help us find those trails and describe them!
For our purposes, a trail is a named, publicly available, pedestrian footpath or multi-use path designed, built, and maintained by a public or private organization for the enjoyment of natural or historic settings. Our definition includes access routes to noteworthy features, such as scenic overlooks or historical points, as long as the path is at least 0.2 miles (320m) long.
We do not include neighborhood sidewalks, city street bike lanes, or someone’s exercise GPS track around a neighborhood. While important for our individual mobility, these paths are not named, designated nature trails.
We are differentiating here two kinds of trails for individuals with disabilities: frontcountry trails and backcountry trails:
Frontcountry trails
Frontcountry trails are those designed for the greatest number of people to enjoy in our parks. These trails generally have low gradient, low cross slope, and a wide, firm, or paved surface. Most of the designated “wheelchair accessible” or “ADA” trails are frontcountry trails. They typically can be enjoyed by individuals with standard mobility equipment such as manual or powered wheelchairs.
Backcountry trails
Backcountry trails are typically more challenging, more remote, and are generally thought of as non-“wheelchair accessible” because of higher gradient, higher cross slope, or obstacles such as roots or rocks. However, some of these backcountry trails might be enjoyed by individuals with greater mobility, especially with the assistance of selected adaptive equipment and/or a companion. Our backcountry trails:
- include those that may be rated as “easy” or “intermediate” in hiking difficulty within other trail literature
- never include trails rated as “difficult”
- have maximum gradients less than or equal to 12%
- have cross slope less than or equal to 7%
- are at least 30 inches wide
- are moderately firm most of the year.
We recognize that many individuals with physical disabilities may not appear to be disabled and may be ambulatory. Some ambulatory individuals may be able to enjoy narrower, single-track hiking trails described in other hiking trail websites. Some of these hiking trails are described in a wonderful website at disabledhikers.com.
Mountain bike trails? Sorry, not here.
We do not include trails designed primarily for use with mountain bikes or adaptive mountain bikes because of potential conflicts of use and safety of adaptive hikers. Some heavy duty handcycles are built to function as mountain bikes for individuals with disabilities. These handcycles can serve as adaptive hiking equipment on hiking trails if they allow for access that you otherwise would not be able to enjoy because of a disability. Check with the trail managing agency to be sure.
Caution
We present here frontcountry trails that loosely meet U.S Access Board standards for recreational trails, although meeting those standards does not mean that a trail is “accessible” to most individuals with disabilities. We use the standards as the upper limits of gradient and cross slope for our group of trails. See those standards here. We also include frontcountry trails that should be more accessible because of their location in providing access to an important feature but that have a hazard which will be noted. We encourage you to also include trails with hazards, but be sure to note the hazards in the trail description section.
Backcountry trails, by nature, are more challenging. We present only those that are near the upper end the federal guidelines for your consideration, but not the more extreme.
All trail descriptions on this site include features important to individuals with varying disabilities so that we may decide for ourselves whether or not a trail is appropriate for our enjoyment and safety. Because a trail is included in this network of selected trail descriptions does not mean that it is appropriate for any particular person. Inclusion of a trail in this network does not indicate that Trail Access Project has totally verified descriptions and any measurements submitted by the public for inclusion. Consider trail descriptions and data as opinions of the contributor based on their personal strengths and their experience on a particular day. Those may not be your strengths. Those may not be current trail conditions after adverse weather conditions.
Why no trail ratings?
We prefer to describe trail characteristics with information such as grade %, instead of giving trails a rating such as "wheelchair accessible", “easy or moderate”, Challenge level 1, or amount of energy expended by an individual. Such rating terms are subjective and are more dependent on the hiker’s personal abilities or adaptive equipment being used than as a feature of a trail. What is easy for you may not be easy for me. A set of steps may be easy for some hikers, even some with disabilities, but would end a hike for many others. With trail info such as grade, cross slope, obstacles, and surface firmness, hikers can decide for themselves whether a trail is appropriate for their safety and enjoyment.
We prefer to describe trail characteristics with information such as grade %, instead of giving trails a rating such as "wheelchair accessible", “easy or moderate”, Challenge level 1, or amount of energy expended by an individual. Such rating terms are subjective and are more dependent on the hiker’s personal abilities or adaptive equipment being used than as a feature of a trail. What is easy for you may not be easy for me. A set of steps may be easy for some hikers, even some with disabilities, but would end a hike for many others. With trail info such as grade, cross slope, obstacles, and surface firmness, hikers can decide for themselves whether a trail is appropriate for their safety and enjoyment.