Author: Cecilia

Joan M. Durante Community Park

Joan M. Durante Community Park

Wheelchair Accessible?   Joan M. Durante Park, is a 32 acre site on Sarasota Bay two miles from the north end of Longboat Key.    “The park is the result of a private/public partnership to enhance and restore one of the few remaining vacant island properties on Longboat Key to a viable wetland and coastal hammock forest.”  Thank you to Diane McConnell who wrote that the park is a “lovely walk through mangroves and along Sarasota Bay with lookouts and lots of benches.  Paths are crushed hard shell or wood.  No stairs….”   Phone 941-316-1988 or call Longboat Key at 941-316-1999

Castle Island

Castle Island 
Castle Island is a peninsula in South Boston on the shore of Boston Harbor. In 1928, Castle Island was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land and is thus no longer an island.  It has been the site of a fortification since 1634, and is currently a 22-acre recreation site and the location of Fort Independence. (From Wikipedia )   Phone: 617-727-5290. Here is their website.   Trail Map   According to AllTrails the trails are paved, about six feet wide in gentle terrain.
Thank you to Mark Dionne for bringing Castle Island to our attention.
Wheelchair AccessibleCastle Island Loop 0.79 mile

Wheelchair AccessiblePleasure Bay Loop 1.84 miles

Disabled Hikers

Disabled Hikers is “… a disability-led organization building community and justice in the outdoors.  The website includes detailed trail guides – currently primarily in the PNW but we accept submissions from anywhere.”  Thank you to founder Syren Nagakyrie for telling us about it.  She “also leads group hikes and provides other resources and does advocacy work.”

Marjorie Turner Hollman

Marjorie Turner Hollman
Ms. Hollman has written four very useful books to help you find places to walk in Massachusetts and Rhode Island:  “Easy Walks in Massachusetts” 2nd Ed., “More Easy Walks in Massachusetts” 2nd Ed., and “Easy Walks and Paddles in the Ten Mile River Watershed”.  Her latest is “Finding Easy Walks Wherever You Are”.   Here are her facebook page and her website. Thank you for contacting me, Marjorie!

Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society sponsors Birdability.  
“Please explore this website, where you can find ways to connect with other birders who experience accessibility challenges, as well as helpful links and resources. We invite you to add a Birdability Review to the Birdability Map, and complete the Birdability Birders’ Survey 2020 if you experience accessibility challenges while birding (check out more information below). We hope you’ll watch, listen and learn more about Birdability, what an accessible trail really is, and the steps you can take to make birding more inclusive for everybody! We look forward to birding with you!”

City of Georgetown

City of Georgetown

Wheelchair Accessible?  The Bennhoff Lake Trail circumnavigates Georgetown Lake.    Thank you to the local resident who brought this lovely trail to my attention. “There is a 1.4 mile trail around Georgetown Lake that is flat, wide and paved with crushed gravel.  There is no erosion.  There is one little steep spot next to the dam.  There is also an accessible platform for fishing.  One side is next to the highway, but on the other side you can pretend it’s not there.” Here is a description from UncoverColorado.
Georgetown makes no claims that this trail is wheelchair accessible.  However the surface is perfect and there are only two short rises.  I have seen steeper trails than this labeled wheelchair accessible.

Accessible Fishing Pier on Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
Wheelchair accessible Fishing Pier on the Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
Hiker and dog walking the accessible Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
Hiker and companion walking the accessible Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
View from the accessible Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
View from the Bennhoff Trail around Georgetown Lake, CO
Side trail by the accessible Bennhoff Trail, Georgetown Lake CO
Side trail by the Bennhoff Trail, Georgetown Lake CO

RVing Accessibility Group

RVing Accessibility Group
This is a great resource of “accessible resource information to disabled RV travelers and caregivers who want to experience the joy and freedom of RV travel by being able to access accurate information about RV parks and rest areas that are ADA accessible, which meet the needs of physically challenged RV travelers.”  Here is their website.   Phone 970-903-7442  Brochure

Raven Ridge Natural Area

Raven Ridge Natural Area
The Nature Conservancy’s Raven Ridge Natural Area, Moncton, Vermont has 15 diverse natural communities in its 365 acres.  It is described as a “…craggy green oasis perched above a sea of civilization in the Champlain Valley.  It remains a place where bobcats, ravens, and federally endangered Indiana bats find seclusion.”  “The calcareous cliffs, outcrops and caves, vernal pools, shrub swamps, cattail marshes, seeps, plus streams like Lewis Creek, all offer extraordinary habitat. ”  Thank you Lynn McNamara for alerting me to this accessible natural area.
Here is their website.   Phone 802-229-4425
Wheelchair AccessibleFrom Green Mountain Club: “Traveling a 935-foot accessible boardwalk to a 0.3-mile-long accessible trail gives you a chance to spot bats, bobcats, and rare plants.”