Author: Cecilia

Louisiana Purchase State Park

Louisiana Purchase State Park
Louisiana Purchase State Park has an accessible boardwalk.  This National Historic Landmark at the junction of Lee, Monroe and Phillips counties marks the initial point from which all surveys of the property acquired from the French through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 were begun.
Brochure   Boardwalk Guide   Phone   870-572-2352   Here is their website.

Wheelchair AccessibleBoardwalk 950-foot  “leads to the beginning point from which the Louisiana Purchase was surveyed. The headwater cypress swamp is interpreted by signs and wayside exhibits along the boardwalk.”

Sabine National Wildlife Refuge

Sabine National Wildlife Refuge
Eight eight miles south of Hackberry, on State Highway 27 in Cameron Parish, the Sabine Refuge occupies the marshes between Calcasieu and Sabine lakes in southwest Louisiana.  It “encompasses 125,790 acres, consisting of 40,403 acres of open water and 85,387 acres of marsh grassland.   The Sabine Refuge “provides habitat for many species of wildlife, including ducks, geese, alligators, muskrats, nutria, raptors, wading birds, shorebirds, blue crabs, shrimp, and various fish” in “a number of habitat types from freshwater impoundments to brackish, intermediate & freshwater coastal marshes.”  Sabine website.

For information about Sabine and also the Cameron Prairie, Lacassine and Shell Keys National Wildlife refuges, call the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex at 337-598-2216.
Wheelchair AccessibleThe Wetland Walkway  in the  Sabine National  Wildlife Refuge is described as  ” ….1.5 mile (round trip) fully accessible boardwalk offers walking access into and over saltwater marshes. Viewing scopes, observation decks, five rest shelters along the path and a two-story observation tower offer exceptional views.  Excellent site for nature photography with alligators and numerous bird species most often spotted. Restrooms available on site.”

Kisatchie National Forest

Kisatchie National Forest
This Ranger District contains over 102,000 acres of forest southwest of Natchitoches.   “Visitors to this Ranger District can enjoy panoramic views from the sandstone bluffs of the Longleaf Vista Recreation Area; feel the cool currents, white sandy beaches, and rocky rapids at Kisatchie Bayou Recreation Area; experience a wilderness challenge in the nationally designated Kisatchie Hills Wilderness Area, and so much more. ”    Phone 318-472-1840  Brochure.  Here is their website.    The website also gives contact for each ranger district within the Forest.   Some trails are described as easy, but that isn’t enough information for me to include them here.

To learn more about accessibility than is given on their website, here is the contact information for the Forest Supervisor :
Kisatchie National Forest:
2500 Shreveport Highway,
Pineville, Louisiana 71360-2009
Phone: (318) 473-7160   TTY: (318) 473-7254

Louisiana’s Public Recreational Land list

Here is a list of all of Louisiana’s public recreational land.   This includes State Parks, forest and wildlife management areas and refuges and also the Federally run National Forest and  wildlife areas and refuges.  Looking through these, I am not seeing accessibility addressed, but there is contact information for each place so you could call or write to learn more.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park has a paved accessible interpretive trail.  The  hydrothermal features in Lassen Volcanic National Park include “roaring fumaroles (steam and volcanic-gas vents), thumping mud pots, boiling pools, and steaming ground.”  There are jagged peaks, mountain lakes, and meadows of wildflowers.
Here is the accessibility page for Lassen Volcanic NP and here a PDF of their Accessibility Guide.   Map    Phone 530-595-4480   Here is the park website.

Wheelchair AccessibleThere is a half mile paved interpretive trail in the Devastated Area.  The “easy, flat nature trail loops around a small section of the Devastated Area. Displays placed along the way explain various features of this area, flattened by the eruptions of Mount Lassen between 1914 and 1917. Excellent views of Lassen itself can be seen all along the trail as well.”

Know more about Lassen Volcanic National Park?
Have you visited this location and know of more accessible or easy trails?  Is any of the information given here incorrect?  If so, please contact me using the form to the left and let me know what should be changed or added so I can update this post.

Kartchner Caverns State Park

Kartchner Caverns State Park
The Kartchner Caverns are massive rooms dissolved from limestone and containing remarkable mineral formations. Throne Room contains one of the world’s longest  soda straw stalactites and a 58-foot high column.  The Big Room contains the world’s most extensive formation of brushite moonmilk.

Wheelchair Accessible

The cave tours at Kartchner Caverns State Park are wheelchair accessible, but there are a lot of restrictions as well as a requirement to book a tour, so be sure to call in advance. The number is 1-520-586-2283.  Crutches and walkers are not allowed, so again, call to be sure a loaner wheelchair is available for you.  Tours are $23 per adult.  From their website: “Most above ground and below ground areas on the park are handicapped accessible excepting most parts of the hiking trails.”    Here are some Google reviews for the park and its tours.
Accessibility   Here is the park website.

-Alaska State Parks

Alaska State Parks
Alaska’s “…diversity of landscapes is reflected in the parks, historic sites, recreation areas, trails, preserves, and special areas of the State Park System — a collection of 123 units ranging in size from the half-acre Potter Section House State Historic site to the 1.6 million-acre Wood-Tikchik State Park.”
Brochure     Accessible Facilities
DNR Public Information Centers phones:  Anchorage 907-269-8400, Fairbanks 907-451-2705

Whaler’s Cove Lodge, Angoon, Alaska

While waiting for a bus at the Juneau airport, I met a very happy fisherman, who with his wife, had just completed his 12th yearly trip to Whaler’s Cove Lodge and had caught over 400 pounds of salmon and halibut in six days.  He uses a wheelchair and said that every year The Cove seems even more accessible.   The Manager is Mark Powers and his email is mark.powers1968@gmail.com.  They also offer photo and wildlife tours, but I have no idea if any of these are accessible.  You could try calling their reservation line, 1-800-423-3123 for more information.

Piedras Blancas Light Station

Piedras Blancas Light Station
The beaches near the Piedras Blancas lighthouse, north of San Simeon, California attract thousands of elephant seals.
Wheelchair AccessibleThere are accessible boardwalks from which you can see and photograph the seals.  The site is governed by the Bureau of Land Management.  There is no fee for parking and viewing the seals.  Here are reviews from Yelp and Trip Advisor.   Phone for Friends of the Elephant Seal 805-924-1628      Website

Thank you Cathy and Gordon Illg for the photograph!

Photographing elephant seals from ADA wheelchair accessible boardwalk at Piedras Blancas Point
Photographing elephant seals from ADA wheelchair accessible boardwalk at Piedras Blancas Point © Cathy & Gordon Illg