Accessbility In Our National Parks

Joshua Tree National Park | Photo by Will Strathmann
By Enock Glidden
My climbing journey was inspired by a friend who worked as a rescue ranger at Mt. Rainier National Park. I marveled at the pictures he would post on social media and it made me want to see those views for myself. Unfortunately, my friend lost his life during a rescue. That day I decided I wanted to experience the places he had shown through his pictures.
That inspiration pushed me to try climbing which has afforded me the opportunity to visit some of America’s most beautiful outdoor spaces – and the most amazing places I have visited are our national parks. To my surprise, a lot of our national park system is very accessible to everyone.
The most accessible park I have visited so far is Yosemite National Park. If you have followed my blog enockglidden.com you will know I have spent a considerable amount of time in this national treasure. I climbed Washington Column in 2015 and El Capitan in 2016 and had the good fortune to spend almost two months total in the park over those two years.
During my time in Yosemite I have learned that I could literally live there on my own and function quite well.
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I was able to make use of the excellent bus system to navigate from place to place; each bus has a wheelchair lift in it and a space to park a couple wheelchairs.
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The cafeteria at Yosemite Lodge served as a great place to get my meals (unless I could find a generous friend cooking around Camp 4 which actually happened quite frequently – it is amazing how generous and helpful the climbing community is!).
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There are lots of accessible bathroom facilities and even an accessible shower at housekeeping camp.

El Capitan, Yosemite Valley | Photo by Craig Muderlak
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