Ready to roll

Trail improvements funded by the Great American Outdoors Act increase accessibility

Crystal Young

Intermountain Region

August 23, 2023

Selfie photo of a woman in a bike helmet, sunglasses, and exercise shirt. Her shaggy, panting dog is on a leash behind her on a trail with pine trees in the background. — Charlene Kynaston takes her dog for a walk on the recently renovated trails made possible by Great American Outdoors Act funding. (*Photo courtesy of Charlene Kynaston*)

For weeks after the Caribou-Targhee National Forest announced they would be repaving the trail at Cherry Springs Nature Area on the Westside Ranger District near Pocatello, Idaho, Charlene Kynaston would get on her bike, ride down to the trail head, and pepper the construction crew with questions about how much the trail through the area was going to be widened.

Kynaston worked at Portneuf Medical Center and was an avid outdoorswoman who spent countless hours riding, running, snowshoeing, backpacking, and cross country skiing the trails on the district at every opportunity.

“I've been up and down West Fork so many times on a mountain bike, hiking, or running that I can visualize that whole trail,” Kynaston said. “My foot placement, every rock, every little trough, every ravine, getting water at the spring, get into the gate. I just knew I wanted to be outside in some capacity.”

A freshly paved path that leads through a creekside deciduous forest canopy dotted with pink, white and blue flowers. — Crews repaved the non-motorized trail through the Cherry Springs Nature Area widening the path to about four feet, which allows a wider variety of adaptive technologies to access the trail. This project is part of the East Mink Creek Corridor project partially funded by the Great American Outdoors Act. (*USDA Forest Service Photo by Crystal Young*)

Since a car accident in 2020 paralyzed her from the chest down, Kynaston reveled in those memories, but had to sell all of the cherished sports equipment she could no longer use. A spate of volunteers and donors helped her purchase a recumbent bike that was customized for her needs, enabling her to pedal with her hands. It brought her hope that she would be able to experience the outdoors in a new way. But she met with some difficulty keeping up with her love of the outdoors, partly because her bike couldn’t overcome the worn trails and bridges in the forested areas near Pocatello.

According to Kim Obele, Westside District Ranger, one of the main goals of the $1 million request for Great American Outdoors Act funds to upgrade the East Mink Creek Corridor was to complete deferred maintenance on several recreation stops along the five miles between the Kinney Creek Trailhead and the Scout Mountain Campground, which included the Cherry Springs trail work. Another goal was to ensure as many sites as possible in the project corridor would follow Forest Service accessibility standards (LINK: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/national-forests-grasslands/accessibility/resources) and be accessible to persons with disabilities.

A wooden bridge with alternating dark and sun faded lines on the planks showing where large wear boards used to run the length of the bridge. — One of the ways to make bridges ABA compliant was to remove the boards that ran the length of the bridge to allow handicap accessible devices to move easily from the trail to the bridge. Crews finished trail improvements in the Cherry Springs Nature Area in July 2022. (*USDA Forest Service Photo by Crystal Young*)

“We focused on specific modifications that would make accessibility easier. For example, it was very difficult to get onto this bridge from the paved trail,” Obele said. “There were some simple modifications that made a really big difference, like taking off the wear boards from the decking so that it was just a smoother surface for people with wheelchairs or any kind of mobility device.”

The project thrived with the help of local government partners like Bannock County Department of Public Works that chipped and sealed the road to the top of the mountain, installed new signs, and replaced and repainted cattle guards. It included state partners like the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation that provided grants to help replace three bridges on the East Mink Creek Trail and update all the tables and fire rings at the Scout Mountain Campground to be compliant with the Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Standards.

A brown, wooden, connected vault toilet facility that is only big enough for a person to stand in without assistive devices. — Old bathroom facilities like this one are difficult for people with assistive technologies to access. Ten facilities have been replaced with wheelchair accessible vault toilets within the project area to provide greater access to resources for people with disabilities. (*USDA Forest Service Photo by Crystal Young*)

As soon as the trail was complete, Kynaston tried it out and realized she was able to fit her bike and her dog on the trail with her as she rode. Kynaston let the district know that with the work done along the corridor, they’d really listened to the needs of people like her while maintaining recreation opportunities for people with other recreation interests.

“That's my mental health. That's what keeps my soul filled. Being able to be out and exercising, being able to walk my dog,” she said. “[Having] the independence and being able to leave my house and come down and go through Cherry Springs all on my own.”