NH mountain trail plans to become wheelchair accessible

From the Nashua, N.H. Telegraph:

GREENFIELD, N.H. – About a half mile down a trail in the woods from the Crotched Mountain rehabilitation center is a porcupine den.

Mike Cole hasn't seen it yet, but one day – possibly next spring – he'll drive his wheelchair down the trail that's being built, stop, look up to his right and see the small cave left in some granite by a glacier. He'll see the mound of porcupine scat outside the little cave.

And if it's the kind of day he envisions, his wife and sons will see it with him.If the people at Crotched Mountain have their way, Cole will be only one of hundreds – probably thousands – of people who, over the next several years, will have a chance to do something that few people in wheelchairs get to do: go out into the woods.

Really. Into the woods.

Crotched Mountain is building a 4-mile trail along the side of the mountain on which its facility rests. The first stage – a bit more than a mile – is scheduled to be finished next year, perhaps in May, maybe in June, and wheelchair-bound nature lovers will be welcome to check out the trail, the porcupine den, the Dutton Brook wetlands and the hills, and to meet people they've never met before.

And that, to Mike Redmond, is a dream.

"What is it like to experience nature up close?" he asked during a recent walk along the trail, about a quarter of a mile of which had been completed by late October. "I think that everyone should have that ability, and that should speak as a model for what trails can be."

This won't be the only handicap-accessible trail in the country, but Redmond, Crotched Mountain's vice president for advancement, believes it might be the only such trail built along the side of a mountain.

"It's easy to build an accessible trail on the salt flats of Utah," he said as he approached a large round boulder. "As far as we know, this is going to be the longest accessible trail system in a mountain environment in the world. We do not know of any others that are in a mountain-based environment."

In the fall, that environment is evident. In the spring and summer, it will be less so, because the trail is surrounded by trees that mask much of what's beyond them. That, too, is something Redmond finds important, because it's part of the natural environment that so many people with physical handicaps can't reach.

"A kid in a wheelchair has never been able to get next to a stone wall" in the middle of the woods, Redmond said. "He wonders, 'Why is this stone wall here?' Part of the story of the outdoors is that rock wall, so the trail comes up right next to it and tells a story."

And that brings Redmond to the round rock of which he is clearly so fond.

"We deliberately built this trail to this point right here to get past that round rock," he said, "because that is the coolest glacial erratic that we've seen – it's a round rock sitting on top of another rock, and we want people to get right next to it."

All of this began in 2003, when Crotched Mountain did a natural resources inventory managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests with help from the Audubon Society and the federal Natural Resources Council, and created a master plan for its wooded land.

"We didn't just want to build a trail in the woods," Redmond said. "We wanted to
think about this overall land we own. . . . We found that there are wonderful forest communities, many diverse communities and land around a wetland formed by beaver activity. We identified that this would be a great place for an accessible trail."

So, in 2005, they hired Tom Kokx, of Gilford, a former U.S. Forest Service worker who had gone into business for himself as a consultant.

"His specialty was accessibility in viewscapes," Redmond said, and he had designed a camping and hiking program in the Adirondack Mountains specifically for people with disabilities."So, he understood creating accessibility in the outdoors," said Redmond, and Crotched Mountain worked with him for two years on a master plan.

Kokx found eight distinct areas, each with its own character, for different activities, including camping, fishing, even hunting. Most important, Kokx said that because of the grade and the possible length of the trail, accessibility could be created.

That determined, Crotched Mountain brought in Peter Jensen, of Great Barrington, Mass., to design the trails.

"The whole idea is to have variability in the grades so the trail users have an opportunity to get a workout," Jensen said one day last month as he constructed a bridge over one of the two streams along the trail.

He explained that much of the trail was being constructed by hand – in other spots, machines could be used – so they would use small, motorized wheelbarrows to bring in dirt, and go into the woods to find rocks to use as bridge abutments.

And Redmond said the material for the bridge walkways has been donated by the Trex Corp., of Winchester, Va. – material that is designed to last forever.

One of the themes of the trail construction is respect for the environment, Redmond said. For instance, while they're using some pressure-treated wood, it never actually touches the ground.

Bridges across streams rest on rocks or on wood called white locust, which Redmond calls "the closest thing to a rock that's a tree."

"We think about our impact on the environment as we build," he said.

With that, of course, they think about the long-term impact on the students at Crotched Mountain and the others who will come once the trail is built. But it will begin with the students, because the trail will become part of the science curriculum.

"It includes lots of practical science," Redmond said as he stopped to look at the wetlands formed many years ago by a colony of beavers.

The trail will bring them right up to pine trees, where they'll collect data to study the impact of pollution.The students at the school can't always get to where Redmond would like them to go – not now, anyway. Some of the students need residential support or therapy that they can't find at their local school.

They come to Crotched Mountain and, often, stay until they're 21. Some do, however, return to their own schools after a bit.But for those who stay, the trail could provide more than just a trip into nature, as important as that is.

"It can also create employment," Redmond said. "Someone's going to have to come out here every day, several times a day, and check on the trails to make sure there are no branches falling over that made them inaccessible.

"So, we have some students who, as they get older, are thinking about some things that they like to do, and they might like to be out in the woods, and we'll say, 'We have a job for you here: Go out and check the trails every day.'"

Naturally, with an endeavor of this magnitude, money is an issue. Redmond, in an e-mailed explanation of how the funding works, said the project is being funded entirely through gifts and grants.

So far, Crotched Mountain has received nearly $400,000 for this project. The most recent gift was from the Trex Corp. to support the purchase of the Trex decking material used for the boardwalks. Other grants have been received from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the New Hampshire Bureau of Trails.

In addition, Crotched Mountain will receive a grant of $250,000 from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program in connection with
the placement of a permanent conservation easement on more than 1,100 acres. These funds, which will help secure the federal grant for this easement, will be dedicated to the accessible trails project.

Crothed Mountain has established a budget of $2 million for trail building, camping areas and other amenities, Redmond said. Next year, the Dutton Brook Trail will be completed, as will a parking area and visitor information center at the trailhead. Future trail building is dependent on continued success in fundraising.

"We are tremendously grateful for the donations we have received for this project," Redmond said in his e-mail. "Our hope is that the completion of the Dutton Brook Trail will inspire others to support this project so that we can continue to make the outdoors accessible to everyone."

Financial issues are always present in such an endeavor, but this trail is more about hopes and dreams. Redmond talks about "children with a nature deficit disorder" and sees this as an opportunity to fix that.

"There are children who don't get outside enough; obesity is a problem," he said. "People with disabilities have the same challenges – they don't get outside enough, either. And they have the additional challenge of accessibility.

"This can create more ways for everybody to get outside, to have fun, to learn more about the outdoors. And rather than have a nature deficit disorder, they will get more exercise and make new friends."

In its literature, Crotched Mountain states a basic mission, to wit: "Transforming lives through education, rehabilitation, recreation and residential opportunities."

Once the new trail is open – even just the first mile – the "recreation" segment of that mission will be a lot more fascinating.