Colorado Official State Vacation Guide - 2025
5 Outdoor Activities For All Abilities
2024-12-05 13:20:59
Colorado’s mountains and parks welcome visitors of all abilities. From skiing and biking to horseback riding and camping, there are many adaptive ways to venture through the Rockies, and many organizations that make it easy to do so.
1 Skiing in Colorado’s High Country
As one of the top winter-sports destinations in the country, Colorado provides endless skiing opportunities, from Vail and Beaver Creek to Breckenridge and Eldora. Learn how to ski or snowboard on Aspen Snowmass’ world-class slopes with a private adaptive lesson through Challenge Aspen. Trained professionals will show you how to shred gnarly powder using specialized equipment. Try out a mono-ski or buddy-board as you descend from what feels like the top of the world. Book in advance to reserve your spot — especially during peak season.
2 Biking in Breckenridge
Feel the cool mountain breeze on your face as you cycle on an adaptive road bike from Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. Ride tree-lined concrete paths around the education center, traverse paved trails along the blue waters of Lake Dillon or cruise through downtown Breckenridge to admire Main Street’s Gold Rushera buildings. Be sure to call at least two weeks ahead of time for private rentals. Two trails in town, Reiling Dredge and Sawmill Reservoir, are newly wheelchair friendly and have parking spaces at the trailheads that are accessible.
3 Horseback Riding in Steamboat
Bond with your own trusty steed on a therapeutic horseback ride with STARS Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports. At their Zen Ranch in Steamboat Springs, you’ll develop basic horsemanship skills and learn how to communicate with your animal companion in a group or private lesson. Trot in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains as you uncover a bounty of aspen-lined pathways, sun-colored wildflowers and rolling green foothills.
4 Camping Near Kenosha Pass
There’s nothing like an evening beneath a sky of glittering stars. At Wilderness on Wheels near Grant, campers of all ages and abilities can spend a night in the great outdoors with five affordable, wheelchair-accessible huts, plus the Ridge Top Cabin, which has space for a portable Hoyer lift and an in-bathtub transfer bench. During the day, visitors can travel along the mile-long boardwalk to the summit. There are some steep climbs, so wheeling yourself can be a fun challenge with rewarding views of Pikes Peak across the valley. Or just hang out at the base and drop a line at the wheelchair-accessible fishing pier.
5 All-Terrain Wheelchairs at Several Parks
In Colorado Springs, visitors can register to use free Trackchairs — motorized wheelchairs with tank-style treads — to navigate the rocky trail of Red Canyon Open Space. Delight in the flaming-red rock formations, meadows of vibrant-yellow wildflowers and glimpses of bighorn sheep as you cruise along. In Rocky Mountain National Park, the GRIT Freedom Chair conquers the park’s terrain to give guests in wheelchairs expansive mountain displays. Explore fields of towering sand dunes with the balloon-tire chairs at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Mosca. These chairs help prevent sinking on the soft, shifting sands; you just need a strong companion to push you.
Share Our Parks & Trails
Everyone experiences and enjoys the outdoors in different ways. Be mindful: Wheelchair users, adaptive cyclists and equestrians always have the right of way. In all other instances, always yield to the uphill hiker and biker — they need the momentum.
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