Quinn Brett, paralyzed in a Yosemite fall, helps the BLM map accessible backcountry trails
Former National Park Service climbing ranger Quinn Brett, then 36, fell 120 feet while ascending El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in 2017 and was paralyzed from the waist down. Returning to parks and trail systems in a wheelchair, she found that many wild places—and even basic street crossings—were no longer usable. She founded accessibility firm Dovetail Trail Consulting to make outdoor spaces more usable for everyone.
With her help, the Bureau of Land Management launched an interactive accessibility map on October 13 after a three-year project involving Kevin Oliver, chief of the BLM Division for Recreation and Business Services. The map links visitors to trails, bathrooms and campsites suited to people with mobility disabilities, and lets users submit photos and infrastructure notes so others can judge conditions before they go. It currently lists 50 accessible recreation sites—McCoy Flats in Utah, for example, notes packed-gravel parking, extended picnic tables and vault-toilet entrances—and flags 74 more where the BLM has proposed upgrades. Colorado’s Blue Valley Ranch Trail is fully funded and underway; New Mexico’s Glade Run Adaptive Trail still needs money. Oliver said the aim is trip planning without surprises from site conditions, and that the work is ongoing.
Nearly one in ten Americans have mobility issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brett argues access is not only about devices but about trails built for wheels, and that people with disabilities want more than a one-mile paved loop in a park’s busiest corner. Julia Ray, chief operating officer of adaptability nonprofit Move United, said trail data must be kept current because conditions change with weather and seasons. Move United has assessed more than 17 miles of trails at Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon National Parks and offers a free course on federal accessibility standards for local land managers. For Brett, the details mean less guessing and more choice about where to go, what equipment to bring, and how much challenge to take on.
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