Staunton State Park is the only state park in Colorado to offer a track chair program that enables trail access to people with disabilities. It is the first such program in the country, and inspired Michigan and Kansas to have parallel programs funded by state funds. However, this local Colorado program has been funded entirely through private donations to the Friends of Staunton State Park, a 501(c)(3) non profit, dedicated to preserve, promote and protect the wildlife, natural beauty and historic legacy of Staunton State Park for present and future generations.
The idea for the program started with a Staunton volunteer who worked at Craig Hospital. Craig had acquired track chairs (motorized wheel chairs with snowmobile tracks instead of wheels) as part of their rehabilitation program which serves military veterans with disabilities as well as others who are mobility limited. He arranged to borrow a track chair for his friend, Mark Madsen, a resident of the neighborhood adjacent to Staunton, and take him on several of the trails in the park. Mark was paralyzed from a vehicle accident several years ago and had not been able to access the park property since then. These chairs can travel on battery power for up to 5 miles on Staunton’s trails that have significant elevation gains, and allow visitors with disabilities to see more than the small area around the parking lots. The Friends of Staunton and the Park Manager saw this as a great opportunity to increase accessibility of the Park, and raised private donations which have been used to buy three track chairs, a trailer to transport them to events at other locations, a garage to store them in and fund a seasonal employee to manage the program.
The program began in 2017 with trips offered to those visitors who have mobility limitations. The trips are available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June through October. The use of the track chair is free to qualified visitors. There is an on-line reservation system, and that system as well as other program information is available on the Staunton State Park website
A Staunton volunteer accompanies the chair and participants on each trip, guiding them on the trails designated for the track chairs and advising them of potentially dangerous situations encountered on the trails. The volunteer can also drive the chair with an attendant joystick if the visitor is not able or gets fatigued during the trip. Each volunteer has a radio for communication to the Park rangers if assistance is needed as well as to keep abreast of changing weather conditions. A caregiver must accompany the participant on the trip, which usually lasts from 2 to 4 hours, depending on trail length. For the volunteers who help with the program, the broad smiles from the track chair participant is well worth the time invested. The visitors really enjoy being able to spend time at special places such as the location of this geocache, and feel the cool shade and listen to the babbling brook in a peaceful setting. This is a popular rest spot for trail users, and stealth will be necessary for accessing the cache.
This cache is located within Staunton State Park, which has one public entrance along S. Elk Creek Road, six miles west of Conifer, about 1.5 miles off U.S. Highway 285. Parking along either side of S. Elk Creek Road and Upper Ranch Road adjacent to the park boundary is prohibited. All vehicles entering the park must have a daily park pass ($10) or a CO state park annual or special pass.
The Park is open year-round, and day use hours at 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. A walk-in campground (up to ¼ mile from parking) is open for public use, and overnight parking is currently permitted only for those staying in the campground. During summer and autumn weekends, the park may reach capacity, and cars are allowed to enter only if a parking space is available. Horse trailers are admitted if space is available for parking trailers in the new, dedicated, unpaved parking lot. All Park trails are natural surface, some trails are hiker-only, but other trails are multiuse for bicycles and horses also. Information about the park can be found on Staunton State Park website
All visitors must follow park rules and regulations. These include dogs on leash at all times, clean up after pets, travel on developed trails to the extent feasible, leave no trace, respect areas closed for resource management, and be careful around wildlife (especially mountain lions, coyotes, and black bears). Fires are strictly prohibited, except for camp stoves with an on/off switch in the designated campsites and grilles found in the picnic areas. No motorized vehicles are allowed on trails within the Park. An exception is the special track chairs that the Park offers to visitors who cannot access selected trails on their own mobility. Pack your own trash out of the back country, and trash receptacles are located near the parking areas. Also, be prepared for changing weather, bring adequate water and footwear, and trails may be snow-covered or icy in winter.