Exploring off-road wilderness trails has historically presented steep logistical and financial hurdles for individuals with mobility impairments. Specialized equipment capable of navigating rough terrain, mud, snow, and steep inclines often comes with prohibitively high purchase prices. However, a sweeping movement across state park systems, federal lands, and regional nonprofits is breaking down these barriers by providing free access to heavy-duty, all-terrain track chairs.
Rather than requiring individuals to purchase expensive specialized gear—such as manual off-road frames or motorized track-driven wheelchairs—public land agencies across the United States are building lending fleets. These programs allow visitors with physical disabilities, mobility restrictions, or age-related limitations to explore unpaved trails, sandy beaches, and backcountry landscapes at little to no cost. Supported by state funding, philanthropy, and specialized accessibility initiatives, these initiatives are expanding rapidly, offering tailored booking systems, varied equipment options, and dedicated trail networks designed to welcome all outdoor enthusiasts.
Pioneering Models and Midwest Expansion
The blueprint for public-use track chair initiatives traces back to Colorado’s Staunton State Park, which established the country’s first state park track chair program in 2016. Located southwest of Denver, Staunton offers visitors access to specialized equipment free of charge, though standard park entry day passes ($10) apply. Running seasonally from June through October, the park operates its tracked equipment on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays across three designated trails—Davis Ponds, Mason Creek, and Staunton Ranch—ranging from two to five miles in length. Reservations for the season open on May 1. To accommodate diverse user needs, Staunton provides dedicated transfer equipment, including slide boards and a sling lift, setting an early standard for park accessibility that many states have since emulated.
Following Colorado’s model, several Midwestern state park systems have integrated all-terrain mobility devices into their core operations. In Missouri, a centralized program offers track chairs across six state park locations. Available to any visitor with a mobility need, these devices require advance reservations of at least two days. While Missouri’s program welcomes younger visitors when accompanied by a guardian, park staff do not assist with physical transfers, requiring users to manage their own seating arrangements or bring personal assistants.
In Minnesota, track chairs are deployed across more than 13 state parks statewide. The equipment is provided free of charge, though users must possess a standard state park vehicle permit, which is offered at a discounted rate for vehicles displaying a disability parking placard or license tag. Minnesota’s all-terrain equipment offers a battery life of four to six hours and operates at top speeds around three miles per hour, allowing visitors extended access to unpaved wilderness routes. No medical documentation is required beyond a signed waiver at pickup, though most parks limit reservations to one per day per user to maximize availability across the public. Complementing its terrestrial track chair offerings, Minnesota’s McCarthy Beach State Park independently maintains an adaptive floating beach chair, broadening access to aquatic recreation.
Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has similarly embraced off-road accessibility, deploying track chairs across numerous state parks and recreation areas. Built to handle rugged environments, Michigan’s equipment can traverse dense dirt trails, snowpack, loose sand, and shallow water up to eight inches deep. Depending on the park location, chairs are made available either through advance reservations or on a first-come, first-served basis. Due to battery constraints during extended off-road use, some Michigan locations enforce a two-hour session limit to ensure equipment reliability.
In Wisconsin, off-road mobility is supported through a hybrid public-nonprofit infrastructure. On state lands, parks such as Peninsula, Point Beach, and Buckhorn maintain on-site track chairs that visitors can reserve directly by phone or online. Running parallel to state-owned equipment, the statewide nonprofit organization Access Ability Wisconsin manages a mobile fleet of towable track chairs. The organization provides track chairs mounted on trailers at pickup stations across the state. Outdoor enthusiasts can reserve these units free of charge online with one to two weeks of advance notice, provided their personal vehicle possesses a towing capacity rated for at least 1,150 pounds.
Major Investments and Strategic Partnerships
As interest in accessible outdoor recreation grows, state agencies are securing major philanthropic and grant funding to build comprehensive, statewide track chair networks. One of the largest single expansions in the nation is taking place in Indiana, where the state Department of Natural Resources is implementing a major statewide rollout funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. The initiative is adding roughly 45 new electric track chairs to Indiana’s state park system, with the ultimate goal of stationing all-terrain equipment at every single state park. This surge of new equipment builds upon earlier grassroots donations that previously placed track chairs at sites like Indiana Dunes State Park.
In Georgia, all-terrain accessibility operates through a coordinated public-nonprofit system known as All-Terrain Georgia. Developed in partnership with the Aimee Copeland Foundation, the program supplies Action Trackchairs across multiple state parks, historic sites, and a state-managed wildlife center. The program requires users to complete a registration process that takes approximately seven days for approval. Under Georgia’s operational guidelines, track chair users must be accompanied by an adult companion—designated as a "Buddy"—who completes a short virtual training orientation prior to the visit. Unlike programs restricted solely to designated hiking paths, Georgia’s track chairs are equipped to support diverse outdoor activities, including adaptive hunting and fishing, in addition to standard sightseeing.
Virginia has funded its state park all-terrain wheelchair fleet through a dedicated mechanism: revenues generated by the state’s accessibility-themed specialty license plate program. Virginia State Parks maintain a diverse fleet that includes both heavy-duty tracked chairs and pneumatic-tired all-terrain wheelchairs, allowing parks to match equipment types to specific terrain features. Visitors are required to request equipment reservations at least 48 hours prior to their planned arrival.
In Connecticut, a statewide program operates across seven state park locations from the first Saturday in June through the end of October. Each participating Connecticut site maintains both one tracked all-terrain chair and one wheel-based off-road chair. The state enforces precise operational protocols: users must present identification, execute a same-day liability waiver, and utilize a mandatory four-point safety harness at all times during operation. Connecticut’s equipment carries specific operational limits, including a maximum weight capacity of 300 pounds for track chairs, 350 pounds for wheel-based chairs, and a maximum reservation length of three hours per session.
Regional Initiatives Across the Plains, South, and Mid-Atlantic
Across the Great Plains and Southern states, track chair availability varies between structured regional networks and targeted individual park investments. In Kansas, the Department of Wildlife and Parks partners with the Adaptive Sportsmen of Kansas to offer track chairs across eight state parks. Unlike many state systems that rely on advance booking portals, Kansas operates its equipment primarily on a first-come, first-served basis. Because equipment is assigned regionally, prospective visitors are encouraged to contact their destination park directly or reach out to the state operations office in Pratt to verify availability. Kansas’s equipment configuration features a right-side, chair-mounted joystick control, requiring operators to have functional use of their right arm to steer the device safely.
South Dakota operates a two-pronged accessibility model through South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. Track chairs are permanently stationed for day-use at major outdoor destinations, including Custer State Park and Good Earth State Park, where equipment must be returned prior to park closing times. Concurrently, the state offers mobile track chairs stationed at its Outdoor Campus facilities in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. These campus-based chairs come equipped with transport trailers and can be reserved up to two weeks in advance for use anywhere across South Dakota. Users are required to sign a liability waiver upon pick-up and must provide their own support personnel if physical assistance with transfers is required.
In Oklahoma, all-terrain equipment access is currently concentrated at a single municipal wilderness area. The Keystone Ancient Forest, located in Sand Springs, maintains two public-use track chairs available through an online reservation portal, serving as the state’s primary public track chair location.
In Montana, Fish, Wildlife & Parks offers track chairs at Lone Pine State Park in Kalispell and Lake Elmo State Park in Billings. Montana’s program requires visitors to present proof of disability and be accompanied by a non-disabled companion. Reservations must be made directly with individual park offices over the phone, and equipment operation is restricted to designated primary trail networks within each park.
Texas is steadily expanding its trail accessibility capabilities, anchored by an established track chair program at Purtis Creek State Park. Texas Parks and Wildlife manages requests on a first-come, first-served basis, accepting reservations by phone. The state is actively working to integrate additional track chairs across its broader park system, updating individual park accessibility listings as new equipment becomes operational.
In Pennsylvania, outdoor accessibility is delivered through a combination of municipal non-profit initiatives and commercial rental avenues. In Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy operates a dedicated track chair program at Frick Park. Designed for youth (ages five and older) and adults with mobility limitations, the Frick Park program operates seasonally via advance reservations, maintaining a waitlist as popular dates fill. For individuals seeking off-road mobility elsewhere in Pennsylvania or neighboring states like New Jersey, private medical equipment vendors, such as Mobility on Wheels, offer Trac-Fab tracked wheelchairs for daily rental fees.
Federal Access and National Park Integration
At the federal level, the National Park Service does not maintain a single, centralized track chair lending administration. Instead, equipment availability is managed on a park-by-park basis, dependent on local terrain requirements, partner donations, and park-specific accessibility budgets.
Several prominent national parks have integrated off-road track chairs into their trail operations. Visitors to Redwoods National and State Parks in California, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Georgia can access specialized tracked devices designed to navigate forest soil, steep grades, and unpaved pathways.
In coastal and lakeshore park units, federal accessibility investments often focus on specialized beach wheelchairs equipped with large pneumatic tires designed to roll over soft sand without sinking. The National Park Service offers beach wheelchairs at numerous locations across the country, including Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Channel Islands National Park, Acadia National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park, Gulf Islands National Seashore, and Canaveral National Seashore. Because equipment offerings and reservation policies vary widely across federal sites, national park visitors are advised to contact specific park accessibility coordinators well ahead of planned trips.
Essential Visitor Guidelines and Logistics
While the expansion of track chair programs has made off-road wilderness exploration accessible to thousands of visitors, successfully navigating these programs requires careful advance planning. Equipment specifications, reservation windows, and operational rules differ significantly between states and individual park units.
Prospective users must carefully evaluate physical requirements before reserving equipment. Many track chair models feature fixed joystick controls—most commonly mounted on the right side—which require functional arm or hand movement to operate. Additionally, while some state parks provide mechanical lifts or transfer boards, the vast majority of park systems explicitly prohibit staff from assisting with physical transfers, requiring visitors to bring personal care assistants or family members if transfer help is needed.
Logistical preparation is equally critical. Reservation lead times range from same-day availability in some parks to several weeks or months in high-demand systems. Users must also review battery life constraints, weight limits, and trail restrictions specific to each location. For programs that utilize towable trailers, visitors must ensure their personal vehicles are equipped with appropriate hitch setups and towing capacities.
To assist travelers in locating public-use equipment across North America, crowdsourced mapping tools, such as the national Trackchair Finder, provide updated listings of public and non-profit track chair locations nationwide. As state agencies continue to invest in adaptive outdoor recreation, these specialized vehicles are fundamentally changing how people with mobility impairments experience public lands.
