ADK announced the opening of those sites on Monday. Both are built on compact stone surfaces, which allow ease of movement for wheelchairs and other mobility aids. They also have wheelchair-accessible picnic tables and fire rings equipped with accessible tools. One site includes a six-person canvas cabin with a ramp leading to the platform, while the other site is a blank canvas for campers to make their own during their stays.

“We wanted to make sure that the property itself was not only achieving (its) educational goals but also reaching as many people as possible and helping or supporting as many people as possible in their desire to participate in programs and to explore the outdoors, more generally,” ADK Director of Communications Benjamin Brosseau said.

The new campsites come after ADK’s redesign of the High Peaks Information Center in 2018 to include more accessible features and the construction of an ADA-accessible washhouse in 2019. Both facilities neighbor the new campsites.

ADK’s new campsites were inspired by the completely accessible John Dillon Park near Long Lake, which is in its 17th year of operation.

The remodeled Campsite 7 at the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake near Lake Placid now features a compact stone surface, wheelchair-accessible canvas tent, accessible picnic table and a fire ring with accessibility tools. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

“I think that especially in recent years, there’s been a big paradigm shift across the board, really, of just people becoming aware that there needs to be more accessibility and rather than it be somebody’s obligation to comply with standards, it’s becoming more of a universal value among people as part of the whole diversity and inclusion movement,” John Dillon Park outreach coordinator Jason Thurston said.

Thurston, a quadriplegic who has used a power wheelchair for 19 years, also serves as the chairman of the accessibility advisory committee to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. According to Thurston, the outdoor accessibility movement has gained prevalence in recent years, especially in the Adirondacks. Both public and private recreation areas now have accessible campsites, fire rings, hiking trails, restrooms and fishing docks.

“The (John Dillon) park is literally the only thing like it in the country that we’ve found anywhere, as far as being fully accessible, backcountry, lean-to setup,” said Justin Demers, park manager at John Dillon Park. “So, as far as the Adirondacks go, of course there’s always large strides to be made, but they’re coming along.”

The park is set up for use by people of all abilities, according to Demers. Some features include nine accessible lean-tos, wheelchair accessible picnic tables and fire rings, accessible bear bags and accessible trails.

“(John Dillon Park) makes it so that people with disabilities can be independent while they’re there and, so that way, they don’t have to depend on their friends and family,” Thurston said.

Both Brosseau and Demers indicated that their campgrounds are in high demand.

ADK hosted 18,300 guests at the Wilderness Campground last year, according to Brosseau. Of those thousands of guests, Brosseau estimates that there are plenty who would benefit from enhanced accessibility at campsites.

“I have no doubt there are people who have wanted to come here in the past who maybe didn’t feel comfortable, didn’t feel like there was enough there to support them. We’re hoping now that there is,” Brosseau said.

John Dillon Park — which has fewer campsites overall but more accessible sites than Wilderness Campground — currently sees about 40 day users daily and more than an 80% booking capacity for its 10 campsites, according to Demers.

On the public side of accessible camping and recreation, the DEC’s 2023 accessible features inventory lists 83 accessible campsites, 12 accessible restrooms, 24 accessible comfort stations, seven accessible pavilions or picnic areas and eight accessible boat launches or piers on public lands in the Adirondack region.

Two DEC-operated campgrounds in the area — Scaroon Manor Campground and Day Use Area in Pottersville and Frontier Town Campground, Equestrian and Day Use Area in North Hudson — boast completely accessible facilities and a handful of accessible campsites each.

Closer to home, the Fish Creek Pond Campground and Day Use Area near Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake has 11 campsites, a seasonal restroom, a comfort station, a pavilion and a fishing pier that are all accessible. The adjoining Rollins Pond Campground also has an accessible restroom and comfort station, as well as nine accessible campsites.

Not all DEC campgrounds are set up for accessibility. Meadowbrook Campground and Day Use Area in Ray Brook, for example, has no accessible features or campsites, and the Wilmington Notch Campground and Day Use Area has a comfort station but has no accessible campsites.

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The trail to accessibility

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What is a camping trip without a hike? Accessible trails and other accessible interpretive features have been added across the region, with many more in development.

At the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center, which opened in 1989, there’s the Barnum Brook trail, an 0.6-mile loop built at a 3% grade with a crushed-stone base. It was constructed to be completely ADA compliant and almost always remains so — except right now. Due to summer rain, parts of the trail are currently washed out and are now at a slightly steeper grade of 4 to 5%. A trail crew is expected to visit in September and restore the trail to its original ADA-compliant grade. Until then, the trail remains open, but some wheelchair users may find portions difficult.

Parts of the VIC’s Boreal Life trail — a one-mile loop — are also accessible. In addition, the VIC recently installed a forest megaphone, a large wooden structure that can help those who have difficulty hearing or experience sensory processing issues to hear the sounds of the forest.

Planning is also underway at ADK to build a completely accessible trail loop around Heart Lake, a redevelopment of the current trail. The project will require a lot of work due to the mountainous terrain that surrounds the lake, according to Brosseau. Following the planning process, ADK will likely bring machinery in to grade the trail according to accessibility guidelines.

“It’s a very labor-intensive process. It’s a capital-intensive process but absolutely worth that investment so that more people can benefit,” Brosseau said. “There are not that many truly accessible trails in the Adirondack Park. Considering that, according to New York state, one in five people live with a disability, there need to be more ways that we can help people get outside and enjoy the outdoors because, you know, these are their lands, too.”

Across the region, parts of the forthcoming Adirondack Rail Trail — almost nine miles, according to Thurston — will be accessible, as well as a trail in development at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site.

Demers, who has helped build and redevelop accessible trails, believes that the future for accessibility lies in the willingness of developers to make trails and recreation areas accessible from the start.

“Instead of reverse-engineering … ‘How do we make this accessible?’, when you go to engineer a project, it should just be thought of to be accessible for all from the get-go because it’s so much easier to plan ahead and everything from the economic standpoint — money spent and everything — if you plan ahead rather than refurbish. So rather than say there’s one feature here, it’s not a whole lot more to make the whole thing that way,” Demers said.

The Adirondack Land Trust, based in Keene, has plans for accessible trails at two new projects in the Tri-Lakes: the 238-acre Glenview property 5 miles north of Saranac Lake, which offers views of Whiteface Mountain and the McKenzie Range above meadow, forest and bog lands; and its newly purchased property at the corner of state Route 73 and the Adirondack Loj Road near Lake Placid.

“We believe the terrain is conducive to accessible trails with a wide, durable surface on low-grade inclines,” the Adirondack Land Trust states on its website. “These types of trails welcome people using wheelchairs, strollers, or walking aids, as well as those who prefer a walk in the woods to an alpine scramble.”

The Adirondack Land Trust says there are fewer than five miles of free wheelchair accessible nature trails within an hour’s drive of Lake Placid.

“Addressing this unmet need will provide significant benefits to surrounding communities,” the website states.

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The power of nature

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Many guests who visit the park share how much the accessible backcountry means to them with staff. Demers and Thurston shared the story of one guest, a disabled veteran who served in Vietnam, who was so moved by his stay at John Dillon Park that he wrote a thank-you letter to park staff.

“Life has thrown a few curveballs along the way and age has caught up with me,” the guest wrote. “I am no longer able to camp at a lean-to on Long Lake … I had to sell my boat and thought that camping, listening to the loons and all the wonders of the Adirondacks were in my past … I have been looking forward to this camping trip all year and have brought my friend along. There are many great cathedrals but none compare to my cathedral without walls — the Adirondack back country.”

Thurston agreed that the therapeutic nature of the woods, especially the Adirondacks, is important to people of all abilities.

“When I am at the park and I encounter people who, for whatever reason, haven’t been able to get a true wilderness experience … and they finally get back to our trails at Dillon Park, which are amazing as far as accessibility goes, but also the true backcountry get-away-from-it-all feeling that you get is unparalleled,” Thurston said. “I’ve shed tears of joy with other people, and that’s my lifeblood right there — to see how much of a difference it can make for people to get back in the woods.”