A motorized wheelchair designed to climb over rocks, roots and mud opens the trails in our largest state park to many more people, including some who were not in the target audience.
“We expected it would be people with limited mobility. But we’ve also heard of people who need oxygen and can’t walk the trails normally. They want to go with their family but can’t,” said Christina Pacuk, manager of Bear Brook State Park. “Some older people are saying, ‘I haven’t been able to go out like I used to and I want to experience that again.'”
Then came the chair.
“It opens up a world of possibilities for so many different people,” Pacuk said.
One of those people is Kyle Boule of Goffstown, NH, who has cerebral palsy that makes walking very difficult for him. He was the first person to use the motorized trackchair at Bear Brook, spending an hour and a half on the trails with his parents, Lisa and Stephen, earlier this month.
“It was a lot of work for him, but it was good work for him. It was like a maze – how do I get around this track, how do I get over this hill? He had to think about it,” Lisa Boule said.
The trackchair is like a motorized wheelchair – the controls are the same as Kyle’s wheelchair, which made it easier for him to operate – only with tracks like a tank. Bear Brook is the first state park to get one. It was donated by America’s State Park Foundation with support from the Bronco Wild Fund.
The trackchair will be on display this Saturday, August 24th, during the annual Built Wild Days celebration from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for visitors to view and try out. The park’s day-use fee will be waived for visitors.
The Boules learned about the Trackchair through social media posts from Bear Brook State Park and decided to try it out.
“My husband loves to go into the woods and walk the trails, but that can be difficult for us,” Lisa Boule said. They have used adult jogging strollers to get around with Kyle, but they are not suitable for uneven trails and Kyle, 30, no longer likes to be pushed around and wants to go his own way.
Boule said the family stayed out longer than planned and the trackchair’s battery was almost dead by the end, but otherwise it was a great success.
“He was so focused. He was smiling and laughing. I asked him, ‘Are you OK? Should I do this?’ And he said no, he wanted to do it himself,” she said. “He loves walking through mud and dirt and climbing rocks.”
“If you like hiking on the trails, you should give it a try,” she said. “But bring bug spray!”
