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Off the pavement: Adaptive riders teach trail accessibility

Off the pavement: Adaptive riders teach trail accessibility

By Katie Klingsporn, Wyofile.com — At BLM area near Lander, disabled athletes illustrate to land managers and trail builders how they can better accommodate adaptive…

Monday, Oct 28

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By Katie Klingsporn, Wyofile.com — At BLM area near Lander, disabled athletes illustrate to land managers and trail builders how they can better accommodate adaptive outdoor recreation needs.

FREMONT COUNTY, Wyoming (September 6, 2024) — Joe Stone struggled momentarily with the chain latch as he closed the gate behind him. He held his hands up, and a time-keeper called out how long it took him to open, traverse and re-secure the swinging pipe fixture.

“Forty-seven seconds,” Stone repeated. “That is actually pretty good. The last one we did, it took me like five minutes.”

This gate at the entrance of a Bureau of Land Management trail system south of Lander likely wouldn’t give pause to an able-bodied recreator. But for an adaptive athlete like Stone, who is paralyzed from the chest down and rides a heavy three-wheel adaptive mountain bike, the task of passing through a gate can seriously disrupt an outing. Joe Stone closes a gate at Johnny Behind the Rocks, a BLM trail area south of Lander, Wyoming in August 2024. Photo by Katie Klingsporn/WyoFile This is exactly the type of challenge that Stone and his business partner Quinn Brett set out to illustrate to a crew of trail builders, outdoor advocates and BLM staffers on a hazy late-August day at Johnny Behind the Rocks — a popular biking and hiking destination near Lander.

During a day-long clinic, the two disabled athletes took to the trails to show their students how trail design considerations like turning radius, trail width, rocks […]

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