My Thoughts While Hiking
I went hiking with Sandy this weekend and had these thoughts as I pushed myself to exhaustion while enjoying the scenery around me. I’ve always loved being outdoors and even as a kid would play in the woods. I never called it adaptive hiking or adaptive anything. I was just enjoying being outside. I often wonder if I will ever be able to drop the adaptive and just say I am hiking, climbing, skiing, or any of the other things I do. That is when I think the disabled community will have broken through into at least the sports world, when we will be seen as just people out hiking, biking, climbing, and just enjoying the outdoors.
Adaptive Hiking
While I was out hiking I also thought of a few friends who have really made hiking their thing. I also would like to tell you about an article I recently read about a blind hiker who has really pushed beyond the limits.
Mark Hehir – Adventures from a Wheelchair
I met Mark Hehir in the summer of 2016 when I was in the Bay Area. I had attained an internship in Palo Alto, CA with the ulterior motive that it put me in the perfect area to be able to visit Yosemite on weekends and go there when I had finished up. During my Internship, I had the idea to use Virtual Reality to take people on adventures who might not otherwise be able to do so. While doing an online search for organizations that serve the disabled community I found Marks’ blog. I realized I had found an amazing resource for my weekend activities.
Marks’ Blog
Mark has a form of Muscular Dystrophy and has been using a ventilator since 1996. He also uses a power wheelchair to get around. His blog is where he reviews area trails at various state parks in Santa Clara County California. I had been looking for things to do on weekends when I wasn’t going to be in Yosemite and this was the right place to find it. He has visited a staggering number of parks over the years and now even is officially on the county website as Mobility Mark. He has helped change the face of accessibility in the county to make the parks all inclusive. Definitely check out the link here to see what he is up to. Link to Marks’ Blog
Nerissa Dawn Cannon – GRIT Wheelchair
After Nerissa was diagnosed with Spinal Arthritis, which I admit I had never heard of, and fibromyalgia, she had a hard time finding the equipment she needed to give her back her abilities. She eventually found the GRIT Freedom Chair. After receiving the chair her whole outlook on the rest of her life changed. She could see the future and it wasn’t so bad. Instead of being physically challenged she now wanted to challenge herself and the limits of the chair.
The chair is designed with easy push levers so that you don’t push the tires. Instead, you use the handles allowing for much more leverage to put more power to the wheels. I haven’t had the opportunity yet to try one but am hoping to at some point. In the meantime, you can read Nerissa’s’ blog post about her experience with the chair.
Bjoern Eser – The Active Amputee
I have been emailing with Bjoern for a while now and you may recognize him from my What is Your Inspiration? post. He is an above the knee amputee. One of the many activities he enjoys is hiking. With the technology that is put into prosthetics, they are getting closer and closer to being like the human leg. He talks in his blog about the various pieces of gear that are needed to hike including trekking poles for balance but also things you may not think about. You should go and check out his blog after you read mine of course haha!
Trevor Thomas – Professional Blind Hiker
I recently read an article at the Outside Magazine website about Trevor Thomas. Before the age of 35, you may have referred to him as an adrenaline junkie. Starting skiing at 3 he was skiing out of bounds at Breckenridge in his teens. He also got into downhill mountain bike racing and skydiving.
At the age of 35, however, he started losing his sight and in a matter of 8 months had gone from thinking he just needed glasses to totally blind. Unfortunately, the people in charge of helping him make the transition from sighted to blind were less than encouraging. They were using phrases like “You shouldn’t do that anymore. You can’t. Blind people can’t do things like that.” A friend suggested hiking to get him back into life and the rest is history. He threw himself into it completely and has since had some amazing accomplishments. Those include The Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and many more. Check out the link here to get the full story of his ambitious accomplishments.
Closing Thoughts
After reading this blog I hope you are inspired of course but I also hope you have a different view of what’s possible. I hope that you see all of these people as humans just doing what they love and finding a way to make it happen. That is all we really can hope for in this life is to find something we love and make it happen. Remember “When you try, things happen!”
I will be back Friday with my hiking post covering my thrills, spills. and up and down hills!
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