This national park in Michigan has become the first to implement heavy-duty wheelchairs as a useful means of allowing disabled visitors to enjoy their trails.
The “track chair” is a wheelchair that’s been equipped with treads to navigate the steep hills and sandy trails of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The track chair program that was launched in May 2019 was created by Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes - an organization specialized in making the park more accessible to visitors.
The track chair can now only be rented out for use on the 1.5-mile long Bay View Trail; the organization, however, says the track chair has already been utilized by dozens of visitors.
According to Good News Network, the track chair is free for visitors to use as long as they reserve it some days in advance.
Photo by Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes
Friends of Sleeping Bear hope to soon purchase an additional track chair for young visitors to use by the end of summer 2019. They’re also hoping that other national parks will implement similar programs so that everybody can enjoy the beauty of nature—regardless of their disability.
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