Wheelchair Accessible?

Steven and I have been trying to get out more and be more physically active. We decided we would try the Wheelchair Accessible Hiking Trails around the Valley. I had heard that Phoenix was paving some trails in order to make the Mountains of Phoenix more accessible. Neat. We looked on the Parks and Recreation Website to find out which one to do first and to our surprise, there was one just down the road at North Mountain. Woo Hoo!

One Saturday Morning; Brinkley, Steven, and I piled into the car and set out to find this Hiking Trail. We found it but in spite of it being blacktopped, it did not really look like it was too wheelchair friendly. We were bound and determined to give it our best effort anyway. With Steven in his wheelchair holding on to Brinkley's leash, I began pushing Steven up the trail. I could see an area of the trail further along, where it leveled out into switchbacks. I thought that if we could just make it up to that part, we would be fine and Steven would be able to wheel his chair along and I would just walk Brinkley at that point.

The first part of the trail was so steep, I had to stop every few yards and have Steven put on his brakes so that I could catch my breath. It was ridiculous. How could anyone in a Wheelchair make it even a few feet up this trail? How could this be ranked as Wheelchair Accessible? Yikes! We never made it all the way up to the Switchbacks. When I finally decided I could not push Steven any further up the trail, I looked back down. Hello! It was then that I realized it was so steep that if I turned Steven's Wheelchair around to go back down, he would fall out of his Wheelchair. Double Yikes! We got back down the trail but I had to wheel Steven down... you guessed it... BACKWARDS! My calves hurt for Days.

Needless to say, we will not be doing that trail EVER AGAIN. It took a few e-mails over the course of more than a month to get the Parks and Rec. website to remove the Wheelchair Accessible ranking from this trail. Hopefully nobody will ever be in our situation on that trail ever again. Of course, anyone with half a brain and less stubborness than the two of us, would never have attempted it in the first place. In spite of the pain in my legs, we laughed about it then and still laugh about it today. Now we are determined to try the other trails and see if they are really Wheelchair Accessible.