Rating trail difficulty is complicated.\u00a0 Gradient, width, surface, passing turnouts, trail edges, and obstacles such as roots and rocks all play a role in how \u201ceasy\u201d a trail is perceived to be.\u00a0 I don\u2019t pretend to be an expert on this and plan to have just two descriptors for trails I have visited in person.\u00a0 WCh is for trails that are either officially designated for wheelchair use or appear to be appropriate.\u00a0 Easy is for trails that might be too narrow and\/or rough for a wheelchair, but could be negotiated by someone with limited strength or balance, but not dependent on a wheelchair.\u00a0 This is pretty fuzzy, I know, so whenever possible I am putting in contact links so you can find out more.
\nI am not responsible for any injury you may incur using trails recommended on this website.<\/p>\n

The National Forest Service\u00a0\u00a0<\/a> \u00a0uses a rating system adjusted to the mode of travel.\u00a0 For example, an Easy hiking trail might have a gradient up to 20% and a surface with \u201cspot gravel\u201d (I have no idea what that means), whereas an Easy wheelchair trail has a gradient no more than 3% and a paved surface.<\/p>\n

For anyone interested in making a trail accessible, here is a link to the Forest Service\u2019s\u00a0Accessibility Guidebook for Outdoor Recreation and Trails.<\/a><\/p>\n

A popular trend in describing trail difficulty is adoption of ski slope ratings:\u00a0\u00a0 green circle for Easy, blue square for Moderate.\u00a0 The International Mountain Bicycling Association<\/a> (IMBA) uses this system and adds a white circle for Easiest.<\/p>\n

IMBA gradients for Easiest are an average of 5% with a maximum up to 10% with a trail width of 72\u201d or more and no natural obstacles.\u00a0 Sounds like all of these would be wheelchair accessible.<\/p>\n

IMBA Easy trails have unavoidable obstacles of 2\u201d or less,\u00a0 a width of 36\u201d or more, \u00a0with gradients averaging less than 5%, with a possible maximum of 15%. \u00a0The steeper of these trails might be too much for a handicapped hiker as well as those using wheelchairs.\u00a0 Some wheelchairs are better than others handling obstacles such as the step up from a dirt trail onto a bridge or boardwalk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating trail difficulty is complicated.\u00a0 Gradient, width, surface, passing turnouts, trail edges, and obstacles such as roots and rocks all play a role in how \u201ceasy\u201d a trail is perceived to be.\u00a0 I don\u2019t pretend to be an expert on this and plan to have just two descriptors for trails I have visited in person.\u00a0 … Continue reading Rating Trail Difficulty<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trails"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}