Roper Lake State Park is located in eastern Arizona.  It’s on the south side of the town of Safford, Arizona. Its a small lake and the park isn’t much bigger.   The location isn’t on any main highways so it’s not likely to be crowded anytime of the year.

The overall wheelchair access is good.  The terrain is pretty flat to begin with, and the park’s people have done a solid job making it accessible.  The first thing to like is the little cabins you can rent.  Of the 10+ cabins, three are right on the shoreline, and one of them is the Bass Cabin, which is their accessible cabin.

Just like the accessible cabin at Dead Horse State Park Lake, these are just a place to sleep for 4 people. We didn’t get to go in, but I’m sure they are similar.  The front deck of the Bass Cabin has a porch swing and a barbecue. It has a nice flat deck for hosting a herd of chair users.

The lake has some 70 RV/camp sites.  Many have water and electric hookups.  We stayed at the one site they designate as ADA parking.  I think most offer about the same functionality, but it is the closest spot to the very nice common bathroom and showers.  The bathrooms get high access marks. This spot doesn’t have the great view the cabin has, but it’s better than most.

There’s a road and a path that goes around the lake.  it’s great for taking a walk/roll.  The lake has an accessible dock that has good access.  There’s also a beach you can roll down to rather easily.  We launched the kayak here, and played whiffle ball.  The lake has a few section of trail that has pebbles too deep for most chairs to roll through.  I’d get stuck and need a lil’ push but in most cases you can find an alternate route.

A really nice feature at Roper Lake is the natural hot spring.  They’ve create a sitting pool out of rock for people to sit and relax in the warm water.  The tub isnt too accessible, but you can roll right up to it.

Roper Lake is a bird paradise.  We woke each morning to cardinals and quails.  There is water fowl always flying in and out of the protected waters.

Black Hills Back Country Byway
One afternoon we took a day trip over to the Black Hills Back Country Byway  This is a 21-mile scenic drive through the northern end of the Peloncillo Mountains.  This is a dirt road, but weather permitting, almost any car could cruise this road in 2-3 hours.  Bring a lunch because the Canyon Overlook Picnic Area (midway along the byway, about 10 miles in from either entrance), has great accessibility with an amazing view.

Near the northern end of the byway is the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area along the Gila River.  This has a great old concrete bridge and good wheelchair access to a small portion of the Gila River below.   If you have 4 wheeldrive, there’s numerous trails leading off to the Gila River and spectacular overlooks of the Gila River canyon.

Roper Lake State Park is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

First things first: The dead horse is long gone. This is a very clean and accessible park. I couldn’t even smell the carcass.

Located on the edge of a really cool little town called Cottonwood, at 3,300′ elevation, the park is in the high desert region. The park is part of the Verde Valley, and is next to the Verde River. Its easy to see why the early Indians loved the Verde Valley. It’s sorta like an oasis in the desert. There’s huge shade trees that probably where here 300 years ago when migrating tribes discovered the place. Thirty minutes away is Montezuma’s Castle.

The state park has three little ‘lagoons’ they stock with all types of fish. There is a nice trail around the fishing holes and numerous steel piers extend out into the water. These little piers are wheelchair accessible and really well designed for hauling in fish. There are shade trees every where and numerous picnic tables and ramadas. The Lower Lagoon has a larger pier and human-powered boats are allowed.

We barely covered any of the earth packed trails. The ones around the lake are great. We trekked down another that followed the creek, but never found to get near the creek. The park has numerous trails going in between the various camping sites.

An interesting feature at the park is the row of 8 cabins you can rent for $50 a night. They are basically sleeping quarters . Cabin #5, (aka The Eagle Cabin) has wheelchair access. Each cabin has 1 full bed and a set of bunks. They have a small table inside, but not much else. They do have have electricity and there’s public bathrooms (with roll-in shower) near by. There is a BBQ on the side of the cabin. I like the concept as its something between camping and staying at a hotel. The location of these cabins leaves a little to be desired, as the view isn’t scenic compared to other spots in the park, and its quite a walk to the fishing holes. The other bummer is that campers or motor homes can’t stay nearby so depending on how your friends roll, you could not ‘camp’ with them. But if your friends too grabbed a cabin, it would be fun. The cabins, and the entire park are pet-friendly.

What makes Dead Horse Ranch State Park most attractive is the weather. It’s never going to be scorching hot, and never too cold. It’s a year round place to roll around.

Link to Dead Horse Ranch State Park web site

The lagoons have flat wide dirt trails that go around the lagoons. There is shady trees and picnic ramadas as well.

Each lagoon has 6-10 piers that perch over the water. The pier offers good wheelchair access for disabled anglers.

Cabin #5 had good wheelchair access. The public bath room is 30 yards away.

Its pretty tight inside the small cabins.

Dead Horse Ranch State Park is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

It’s beautiful, it’s popular, but Slide Rock State Park is one of the few Arizona state parks that really have nothing to offer people in wheelchairs. As the name implies, Slide Rock Park offers guests the ability to visit a section of Oak Creek that over time has naturally carved a fun and refreshing series of water slides and pools for we mere humans to enjoy. Unfortunately the creek is down there and park is up above.

The park begins on a plateau on east side of Oak Creek, where homesteaders built a farm in the early 1900′s. The park people have put in a nice asphalt trail that leads through the homestead. At the far end of the trail (appx 1/4 mile), there is a set of stairs down to the creek below. Unless you have two good spotters with strong backs, forget it.

Perhaps as a token gesture, and so you do not demand your eight dollars entry fee back, the park people have put in a “wheelchair accessible look out” where you can see how much fun everyone is having below. I was tempted to take a leak.

Off to the side of the lookout, is a narrow dirt trail, which we naturally decided to explore. It follows the side of the canyon and in about 100 yards comes to a rock outcrop. Check your brakes, because one slip and you will get to enjoy the rocks 200 feet below with a great impact.

Slide Rock State Park doesnt offer any wheelchair access to Oak Creek, but the view is scenic.

One good thing about going to slide rock is the drive itself. From Sedona you are in for a real treat as you head up state Route 89B towards Flagstaff. The winding road takes you through the gorgeous canyon with its sheer cliffs of amazing colors. As the road ascends and descends down towards the creek, you wont beleive you are in Arizona.

I’m the type that likes to get my feet wet.  Unfortunately none of the parks have much access to the river.  Red Rock State Park has a great trail,  and if you are adventurous you can forge the river at  Cresent Moon Picnic Area, but the slickest way to enjoy the water as I’m doing below is to continue past Slide Rock Park  towards Flagstaff a few miles.  Along the way you will see numerous driveways leading to cabins and lodges.  Most have a concrete driveway that forges the creek.  So we just parked and rolled right in!

Photo taken from a driveway that forges Oak Creek. Perfect wheelchair access.

Slide Rock State Park is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

Kartchner Caverns State Park

[July 2009 note: This entry was the first one ever published at Accessing Arizona (2005). We are doing some house cleaning and have revised it slightly. Unfortunately, there's some gawd-awful photos at the bottom so be warned.]

Let me start by saying something pretty self-evident, this place rocks! These two caves are so big that its difficult to imagine from the outside. Beyond just being a big cave, the place looks as if someone spent maybe a billion years designing and crafting all the formations. I’m going to offer up a few links for everyone to get more intrigued by whats inside, and focus this entry on the accessibility.

Just to summarize, a few people discovered a hole in the earth about the size of a basketball some 30 years back. They crawled in and discovered the marvel inside. What is almost just as amazing is that they managed to keep it secret long enough to get the state to buy the land and turn it into a state park before all of us screwed it up. The state should get plenty of credit for creating Arizona’s best state park. And when it comes to access, this place, even considering how difficult a task they faced to to turn two caves on the side of a mountain into any type of public attraction is the state’s most accessible park.

Because the inside of a cavern is alive, the park people have to preserve it. This means there is plenty of rules and policies you must follow in order to experience the caves. Such law and order isnt always my thing, but the park has many volunteers who are working hard to get everyone herded up and through one or both of the caves. The parking is plenty accessible and the Discover Center which is where everything starts is also well laid out for wheeling. From here, everyone boards a tram that climbs up the hillside. Once unloaded, you enter a chamber that is sealed behind you before your leader escorts the group through either The Big Room or The Throne Room. Kartchner Caverns could almost be considered a pair of trails. The designers have painstakingly carved an accessible paved trail for everyone. In a few places its a bit steep but even in my Quickie I was able to traverse the paths pretty well.

For anyone, Kartchner Caverns is worth the effort to visit. Its off I-10 an hour south of Tucson and its definitely a half day trip that requires reservations well in advance. A few points; They dont allow cameras inside the caves. As a psuedo-journalist I was given permission to take some shots (Note: my most recent trip to the caverns was 2005, and looking back at these photos I can hardly believe they didnt laugh me out of there). They also dont allow dogs which only makes sense, but given the heat its important that no one even considers leaving fido in the car.

If I had two days to spend anywhere close to southern Arizona, I’d visit the caverns and the Sonoran Desert Museum. And if I had 3 more hours, I’d get over to Sabino Canyon (with my dog).

Learn more at theState Park Web Site and a well designed Explore the Caverns site.

The tram takes you from the Explorer Center to the cavern entrance.

The tram ramp is a tad steep but there is volunteers keeping the group herded together and assisting everyone.

This is the entrance to the cavern. Everyone first enters a chamber that adjusts the temerature before you enter the cavern.

The cavern first starts out like a path into the abyss. But at least it's the accessible abyss.

This is one very bad photo, but you get the picture hopefully. The caverns are seemingly out of a science fiction movie.

Kartchner Caverns is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

Its not too often you visit a 100-year old schoolhouse and find a wheelchair-accessible trail out back. And I’m not talking about your garden variety semi-accessible trail either. This may be one of the best short trails in Arizona.

Groom Creek is 6 miles south of Prescott. It’s at 6,200 elevation so we’re in Ponderosa pine tree country. The Groom Creek Schoolhouse was originally built about 1896. Today the stone building is not open to the public, but is used by the Prescott National Forest as an administrative site, although I found a site that said it can be rented for group outings.

The first thing you notice is that it is very peaceful and quiet here. Some time back, some pretty ambitious people from the local Lion’s Club put in a 1,500’ long asphalt path the wonders through the pines. What makes this a great path is that these people didn’t just find the flattest patch of earth nearby and slap some asphalt about and the call it accessible. They plotted out a very scenic path that takes you in and around some tall pines and very large boulders. It’s boggling to think how these big rocks got here. And the designers didn’t take shortcuts either. The path has two very sturdy wooden bridges that span a creek bed.

One very interesting feature of this interpretive trail is the molded signs for blind folks. The signs basically have a miniature statue of the native animals. People can feel the animal to better understand the animal’s appearance. There is a squirrel, bird, and deer depicted. The last sign is of a mountain lion, and I couldn’t help but imagine a real cat perched up atop one of the nearby boulders just watching us feel the cat. I got the feeling I was being watched.

Today I brought a power chair which traversed the trail easily. There is a number of spots along the oval which are steep enough to give a manual chair user some difficulty. But this is a well planned trail for everyone’s needs. The trail has logs positioned as guard rails and there is plenty of flat areas and benches for catching your breath.

This trail is a real gem. Arizona has other trails that are more scenic, but this quarter mile trail really allows you to get close to nature. We saw a red headed woodpecker and some beautiful Blue Jays in the trees. We watched two squirrels chase each other, and there were rabbits scurrying around everywhere.

For directions visit Recreation.gov.

Groom Creek Schoolhouse Trail is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

I have witnessed the beast. And today it beat me.

Thumb Butte Loop Trail #33 is a 2-mile loop on the west side of Prescott. Most trail organizations consider this a moderately challenging trail. There’s no wheelchair access mentioned.

In a wheelchair this loop has a pucker factor of 10+. It’s the most challenging trail I’ve tried. Its steep! As in black-diamond holy-poop ski slope steep! Today, I made it half way and opted to return to base. I think it is surmountable but I want to get a helmet, some elbow pads and an extra person to spot me when things start sliding towards the edge. Towards some pain.

This is the trail head. I you look in the back you will see the peak that you will climb. It's one mile up, and one mile back. And if you think it's seep going up, wait until you start coming down!

Recently I purchased a used Quickie V-521. Jeff, chief mechanic at Leeden Wheelchairs in Phoenix installed the biggest batteries available and some beefy rear tires. It’s a light chair with some pretty good torque. Not much suspension (a Roho cushion helps) but she gets high marks for this rock crawl.

The trail is a loop. The trail leading up the west slope starts out paved and steep. The earth has pushed up the asphalt in 2 places that create some difficult speed bumps. Hit’em too slow, you wont make it or perhaps flip if you apply any addition power. Hit them too fast and you may nose dive. I found the best way was to crest them and immediately angle the chair towards the side then angle your self down the back side and turn it hard back up hill.

The asphalt ends pretty quick and the trail turns to dirt, rock and gravel. The parks web site states the trail is s a steady grade of 9%, 3% cross slope, 4-foot minimum width of packed gravel punctuated by gravel water bars with dips. I was motoring up the gravel pretty good. I’d lean forward to improve my center of gravity but if I went too far, the back tires would begin to slip a bit. I don’t think I ever came close to flipping backwards. I could definitely feel the motors being stressed.

Pictures dont offer enough perspective to show you how steep this is trail is for a wheelchair. In the background you can see some hikers.

Half way up we came to some lateral ruts from water flow. These got me. I hit the first rut and slid off the path and realized I needed to take some precautions. Next time I may let the air pressure out a bit in the rear. I’m going to experiment at home with low pressure and see if I can avoid pulling the tire of the rim. But for sure a bike helmet, gloves and elbow pads are in order. I think a 6-8’ rope with a hook would be smart. A spotter could hook it to the high side of the chair and pull you back if things stated going in the wrong direction.

Coming down is really the hair raising part. Free-spinning front caster have a tendency to head towards the lowest point and damn if that isn’t the lower edge of the trail. Turning requires power and it gets dicey quick. So we backed down the steep ones which was actually pretty uneventful. Karla spotted me and was mostly accurate in telling me which way to turn.

The east slope trail is paved the entire way. The catch is the path is a steady grade of 12-18%. I opted for the west side initially to see if the chair could muscle up 12% even. Having made it up 12% on the west trail, 18% slope sounds almost crazy. But given its all asphalt, it may be a better way to ascend the Butte and avoid the ruts. I tried the first 100 feet or so and again opted to return with a helmet.

Even if you don’t attempt the trail, this is a very accessible, clean park to check out. The park has a number of accessible picnic tables and ramadas. There is a road that goes out back where camping is allowed and I forgot to head back there.

If anyone else ever tries this trail in a chair, please let me know. I might even want to meet you there.

Click here for more about wheelchair access in Prescott.

Thumb Butte Park is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

Prescott’s Lynx Lake has great wheelchair accessibility.  Prescott  is just a mere 80 miles north of Phoenix heading towards Flagstaff. And Lynx Lake is 10 minutes out of town. The lake is managed by the National Parks. Its a small lake by any standard, but when its 108 degrees in Phoenix and you are enjoying afternoon showers and 69 degrees, the lake can be the size of a bathtub and I’m still enjoying it.

At the south end of the lake the lake is an excellent ramp leading out to a wooden floating dock. The dock has lowered rails for we sitting fishers. This is actually an exceptional picnic area for wheelers. It is flat with paths everywhere, and easy access to bathroom facilities. The picnic tables are covered and even the barbecues are accessible. The parking is perfect.

Sarah True is a volunteer at New Horizons Independent Living Center in Prescott. She wrote me about the lake and also mentioned the path leading back to the cafe and bait shop was a challenging dirt path for wheelers.

From the Lake, Trail 311 starts of pretty flat. Its a narrow asphalt trail that follows the west bank of the lake. We’re over 5000′ elevation and the inclines come pretty quick. Almost immediately I was huffing and puffing. I am calling this a black diamond trail. If you ski, you’ll know why. It’s not that the trail is too steep, if that it is rather narrow in places, and the drop-off is not something you want to experience. In many places it is probably a 30 foot drop right into the lake. In-shape paras like Sara will find this a challenging path. Pushing a manual chair, this old quad had to get plenty of assistance, and there were some corners where my breaking abilities were not enough. I plan to come back and try this path in a powered chair. 24 volts may not be enough to get me back the 1-mile trail, and those same corners may make me nervous as with one wrong flick of my wrist and I’m going to be in the lake for sure. This is definitely a trail where you utilize the buddy system.

Enough with the precautions. This trail is very scenic, and a great place to escape. The entire one-mile path goes along the lake shore, hence the name. And in three spots they have created some great concrete overlooks where you can fish. There’s 2 or 3 wooden bridges as well. We saw birds and a few squirrels.

We made it as far as the boat rental location (no accessible boats) and turned around with looming rainclouds approaching. You can see a path goes around most, if not all of the lake and it may not be paved. Lynx gets high marks. Its in the cool pines and is dog-friendly so we’ll be back.

Lynx Lake Offers Great Wheelchair Accessibility is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

Location: Southern Arizona

[Revised 3/16/08] Patagonia Lake is off the beaten path. It is located between Tucson and Nogales on Scenic Highway 82. Too many people imagine southern Arizona as sand dunes, sidewinders and searing heat. In fact, the lake is at 4,000 ft elevation and is surrounded by rolling hills scattered with Juniper trees and in the distance are some rugged mountains. Route 82 and its sister, Route 83 are great roads to explore.

The lake is 10 miles outside of the fun little town Patagonia and only 17 miles from the border town of Nogales. The lake isn’t too big (2 ½ miles long), but it’s definitely beautiful.

The lake has 2 accessible docks for we rollers to enjoy. One near the main picnic area, and one near the very small marina. For a lake, there’s good access all around the cove where the marina (ie bait shack) sits. The dock and pier has been adapted to allow a wheeling angler easier access to their catch and the additional dirt trails are flat and well packed.

We rented a pontoon boat for the afternoon. I rolled right on and we shoved off. The lake sits in a very scenic canyon with some nice coves to explore and plenty to photograph. They also offer paddle boats, row boats and kayaks to rent, and the Park Service offers daily pontoon boat tours.

If you look in the photo’s background, you will see one very inaccessible pedestrian bridge. I went to the bridge thinking I’d coax enough people to push me to the top. But it’s steep as in sheer plunge down and people seemed to disappear when I began looking for recruits. There’s a road that gets you around to the other side as well so lets hope the ADA lawyers stay way away.

Patagonia Lake web site

Patagonia Lake is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is not the most wheelchair accessible state park in Arizona, but that aside, it is a really interesting place. Having lived in Arizona most of my life, I am use to seeing a lot of desert, but here is like a tiny oasis with pine trees and palm trees growing right next to cactus and fruit trees. Adding to it, is the sheer rock cliffs surrounding the park and the little lake and stream running through it. It gets high marks because it is dog friendly too.

If you have a power chair or a good Sherpa (ie friend who can push), then you will be able to get to 99% of the park. The trails are wide and well kept. There are places where the trail is quite steep, but in late February with the temperature around 70, the pushing wasn’t bad. The park has a great layout and you can easily spend 4 hours rolling about. There is a really elaborate suspension bridge across the creek that is fun. We didn’t head up the far side but my hunch is that its not chair friendly.

Here’s the bummer. As you get towards the far end of the main trail, you are cruising right along the side of the creek. The trail reaches a jagged rock cropping and gets narrow. Too narrow. I tried it and got stuck. Some beach! So you have to head back and go around the other way to see the lake and the rest of the park but it is not all that bad. I can’t believe they cant get some Boy Scouts or someone to come in with some blasting caps and make the trail 6 inches wider.

The Arboretum was founded in the 1920s by mining magnate Col. William Boyce Thompson. The park encompasses 323 acres, and has some shopping, a snack bar and plenty of shade. The Arizona State Parks Board entered into agreement with the Boyce Thompson Arboretum Board and the University of Arizona in 1976 to cooperatively manage the Arboretum, and they are doing a good job.

The park is due east out of Phoenix on Highway 60, near Superior. It is about an hour from the east valley.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

One final comment: If you even sorta like photography, this place is an all day stay.  Enjoy!

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.

[Update: Feb 2009, Its rumored this park may close due to budget cuts. Thats a shame because its definitely not one of AZ's worst or least visited parks. So check ahead]

The Tonto Natural Bridge is reported to be the world’s largest natural bridge. It is plenty big and all rock so I’ll take their word its #1.

This is a state park and given Mother Nature did its engineering in a rather non-accessible spot, the state folks seem to have tried their best to make the place accessible. But unlike Kartchner Caverns State Park, wheelers don’t get the same experience as our bi-podded amigos.

The drive to the bridge is very scenic. Highway 87 north of Payson takes you from junipers to tall pine trees as you climb towards the Mogollon Rim. Half way to the town of Pine, you’ll see the park exit. The road then takes a steep plunge down from 6000 feet to 4500 feet elevation.

The park itself has a big grassy area with plenty of access-parking. It costs $3 per person to get in, but here’s the catch. The coolest part of the bridge is at the bottom where the creek runs. To get there you need to traverse a ½ mile dirt path that is beyond steep and includes numerous steps. I can see a really neat wooden bridge down there, but forget it, it’s a non-accessible trail.

Up top there is 4 view points on paved walkways you can get a good view of how the flow of water formed the bridge. None of the view points offered complete independent access. It’s just too steep of terrain but with my trusty friend, Karla we made it to all four points. It’s a pretty impressive bridge or hole in the earth depending on how you see it.

With a little work, they could make the four view points more accessible. For example, all the photos are from my legged friend because the safety rail is too hi and the steel mesh too dense. A few cut outs in the railing so we shorties could stick a camera through would be helpful.

If you go, plan on a 1-2 hour stay. Your friends will get more out of this one than you, but its beautiful country, and worth the admission.

Flickr photo borrowed from “Styggiti”

Tonto Natural Bridge is a post from: Wheelchair Arizona eMag Accessing Arizona.