California state and local parks are designed for everyone to enjoy, but ensuring everyone has equal access to outdoor recreation has been a challenge.
A Pew Research Center analysis of 2021 U.S. Census data found that roughly 42.5 million Americans, or 13% of the population, have some kind of disability. Despite this, many struggle to enjoy the outdoors because many parks are not easily accessible by public transportation, locations lack sufficient amenities, information about trail features is hard to find or unavailable, and trails are often not designed to accommodate people with various disabilities.
For this reason, disability advocates across the country have been working to make outdoor recreation more accessible. But current state and federal guidelines for making trails and parks “accessible” don’t always take into account all the factors that need to be addressed to make a place accessible to all. What makes a trail accessible to one person may have little impact on its accessibility to another. Disability advocates say they also don’t want to see these guidelines result in changes that diminish the natural beauty of parks.
Ed Price, president of the Trail Access Project, a Nevada nonprofit focused on equitable access to trails, said park managers are open to expanding access, but want to make sure that doesn’t mean building more paved surfaces.
“What we really want is not to put paved trails all over the West, so we’re looking for natural, paved trails where people with disabilities can get outside and feel like they’re on a hiking trail just like everyone else,” Price said.
The U.S. Access Board, an agency that promotes disability equality, sets federal guidelines for accessible trails. These guidelines include trail gradient (how steep is the gradient, cross slope, level of slope on one or both sides, hardness, width, presence of obstacles, adequate rest areas, etc. California State Parks have similar accessibility guidelines.
Price, a geologist, has long been an avid hiker and often took college students on geology field trips. But when complications from polio left him in a wheelchair as a young man, he began looking for new ways to enjoy outdoor spaces. Now he works with members of Las Vegas’ disability community to find and visit nearby recreation areas that are maintained for everyone to enjoy. He says there are often two main barriers when it comes to accessible recreation: information and transportation.
For many people looking for accessible trails, the biggest barrier is knowing which trails to go on. Many hiking routes that are listed online as “accessible” may not actually meet the requirements of a particular person, and trail conditions may be changing due to weather, erosion, or improper maintenance.
Even if a trail is considered accessible, barriers can include getting there, finding parking, whether paratransit is available and figuring out what other facilities are available.
In the East Bay, one woman is working to provide comprehensive information about which trails in Northern California meet practical and equitable access requirements.
Cataloging accessible trails in Northern California
For more than 40 years, Bonnie Lewkowicz has been working to increase access to outdoor recreation and sports for people with disabilities. Lewkowicz began her work in the 1980s as an intern with the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP), an organization dedicated to improving the health and independence of children, youth and adults with visual and physical disabilities through sports and outdoor recreation.
After working there for a few years, Lewkowicz left to found Access Northern California, an organization focused on digitally cataloging the accessibility features of trails throughout the Bay Area, which merged with BORP in 2016.
“I always say, ‘The information barrier is the first barrier we have to overcome,'” Lewkowczyz said.[I focus on] “The idea is to bridge the gap between, ‘I want to go out and hike somewhere,’ and, ‘Where can I go?'” Lewkowicz said.
Because accessibility can mean many things, Lewkowicz lists each trail’s features on the organization’s website, even if they don’t meet the strict accessibility guidelines of federal and state accessibility standards. Whether the trail has hard or soft terrain, how rough the trail is over hills or mountains, and how steep it is are all relevant, as are features such as whether there are picnic tables reached from an accessible path, accessible restrooms and ample parking. Access Northern California also allows users to search for campgrounds, lodging, activities and birdwatching locations based on accessibility features.
“I think about it from the time it takes to get there to everything we do there,” Lewkowicz said.
When you’re out and about, Lewkowicz says it’s just as important to look for what makes a trail inaccessible as it is for what makes it accessible. A trail may have the perfect features that meet the guidelines, but without a way to find parking, rest on a bench or use a restroom, all of its other features may be meaningless.
Lewkowicz says she has a bit more leeway when it comes to looking at a trail and judging its accessibility than land managers or park officials, who must follow strict guidelines: She often uses her own wheelchair as an informal gauge for whether other wheelchair users can access a space, facility or trail.
In her experience, East Bay park officials have not made accessibility a priority, and she said she doesn’t want to see them avoid making accessibility adjustments for fear they won’t be able to meet all requirements.
“I get a lot of feedback from different people. [park agencies] “There’s so much work to do, it’s hard to know where to start,” Lewkowicz says. “Just start somewhere. Take small steps. Don’t get overwhelmed by the big picture.”
“It’s not about how far you go, it’s about what happens along the way.”
Lori Gray, Adventure and Outings Program Manager at BORP, has been involved in outdoor recreation for more than 40 years. Previously, she worked as a whitewater rafting, kayaking and ski guide. She worked for BORP for a short time in the 1980s and then served as the company’s director while a student at UC Berkeley. When a seizure disorder prevented her from attending classes, she joined BORP full time and has been there since 1999.
She now organizes, plans and leads outings for BORP program participants. Her role is to find accessible parks and trails and plan activities, which for Gray means being in nature as much as possible.
“It’s not about how far we go, it’s about what happens along the way,” Gray said. “We might only go a mile, right? But it doesn’t matter. We’re sitting in the sun and listening to the birds.”
Gray and his participants take part in a variety of activities around the Bay Area, from sightseeing to hiking and camping. Gray himself is visually impaired and often seeks out recreational activities that allow him to experience touch and hearing.
She has led many groups in guided visualization when participants cannot physically go to a place, narrating imaginary scenes to participants and asking them to picture a specific place and imagine the sights, smells and characteristics of that place.
“What I saw from the participants was a love of nature that comes from spending time in nature, a sense of belonging, and a sense that the park is theirs as well as everyone else’s,” Gray said.
While Gray believes there is still a long way to go to achieve equitable access to outdoor recreation, he has seen many positive experiences in the Bay Area, and he praises the East Bay Regional Park District for its efforts in finding ways to get participants engaged with nature.
The East Bay Regional Park District has its own guidelines for ADA accessibility within the park district, and also hosts an annual Trail Challenge, a self-guided tour of 20 trails. The challenge guidebook ranks the trails by difficulty and lists the accessibility features available.
Gray and Lewkowicz stressed the importance of making accessibility a top priority in park management. Improvements and adjustments are great, but making areas and trails as accessible as possible should be the first priority, they said. And new projects should be planned with an accessibility perspective, not an afterthought.
“When you’re building something new, whether it’s a program or a trail, think about accessibility as you build it,” Gray said.