Wheelchair-Accessible Campground in Adirondacks

 

Don White, who helped build John Dillon Park, hopes other disabled people will finally will be able to create the same memories he enjoyed before his accident, gazing up at the stars and breathing the fresh air in the Adirondack Mountains.

Don White, an accessibility engineer who suffered a spinal cord injury in 1992 after a car accident, helped build John Dillon Park, the first campground in New York State to fully accommodate the disabled. His hope is that other disabled people will finally will be able to create the same memories he?EUR??,,????'???s enjoyed in the Adirondack Mountains before his accident, gazing up at the stars and breathing the fresh air on Saranac Lake. When it opens next spring, Dillon Park will be the first and only wilderness park in the state to comply fully with the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 300-acre, $2.6 million park is part of a 15,800-acre conservation easement International Paper donated to the state. The land outside the park will remain working forestland, International Paper officials said. Paul Smith’s College will manage the park through a $1.5 million endowment that creates a hands-on park management program for students studying forestry and recreation. The park’s bear-proof food boxes, picnic tables and nine lean-tos are all designed for wheelchair accessibility. Since the park has no power lines, solar panels power a charging station for motorized wheelchairs. The three miles of gravel paths are angled so people can manually travel in their wheelchairs without getting tired. The park is named for former International Paper CEO John Dillon. Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News