The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is its all-terrain track chair program by bringing the adaptive mobility devices to eight additional state parks, including Itasca State Park in the Lakeland viewing area.

The DNR launched the program in 2022 with five all-terrain track chairs. By August 1st, there will be 13 chairs available at state parks throughout the state. The battery-powered chairs enable visitors with mobility disabilities to explore trails and other areas within state parks that can’t be accessed using a regular wheelchair.

Track chairs will be newly available this summer at Blue Mounds, Father Hennepin, Fort Snelling and Frontenac, Itasca, Lake Carlos, McCarthy Beach, and Split Rock Lighthouse state parks. These eight parks join the parks that got chairs in 2022 – Camden, Crow Wing, Lake Bemidji, Maplewood, and Myre-Big Island.

Parks were selected based on a number of factors, including the presence of trails suitable for track chair use, availability of storage space and charging outlets near a trailhead, and the desire to locate track chairs broadly throughout the state.

Visitors can call a park with a track chair ahead of time to reserve that chair. There is no cost to use an all-terrain track chair, but visitors will need a state park vehicle permit.

More information on the track chair program can be found on the DNR website.

By — Lakeland News