Thanks to a partnership between the Oregon Spinal Cord Injury Connection (www.oregonsci.org), Adventures Without Limits (awloutdoors.org/) and the Wiliamette Partnership (willamettepartnership.org/), a unique Outdoor Oregon Access Guide was recently released. The publication, which was funded with a grant from Travel Oregon, includes access information on six popular recreational areas in the Beaver State. Authors Evita Rush and Barton Robison sourced recommendations from wheelchair-users across the state, interviewed them about their experiences, researched access information on the sites, and compiled it all into a useable format.

The guide contains some general information about each area, details about accessible parking and bathrooms, a blurb indicating why the submitter liked it, and a short description of the submitter’s disability. And although it’s not a comprehensive guide to all the accessible outdoor areas in the state, it helps give wheelchair-users and slow walkers some recreational ideas and hopefully it will inspire more folks to get out there. The areas highlighted in the publication offer everything from kayaking and accessible trails to skiing and even a hot springs that may be accessible to many folks. They include:

• Beaver Creek Natural Area
• Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge
• Alvord Desert Hot Springs
• Mt. Bachelor Ski Area
• Crater Lake National Park
• Bonneville Dam Fish Hatchery

The Outdoor Oregon Access Guide is free, and can be found at willamettepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/OR_Accessibility_Travel_Guide_2020_Reduced-1.pdf. Additional information on more accessible outdoor spaces in Oregon can be found on the Travel Oregon website at traveloregon.com/things-to-do/trip-ideas/accessible-travel/