Handicapped Access

After spending several days with a mobility impaired individual in Yosemite I have come away with a few comments for those who are planning a trip with a handicapped person:

The NPS has a good summary at yose_accessibility@nps.gov (EDIT: error, that is the email address. the guide is available at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/access.pdf ). THIS SHOULD BE READ VERY CAREFULLY!
I admit that I downloaded this document, but I did not really read it as thoroughly as I should have. In retrospect, if I had been more familiar with the document, our trip would have been somewhat better. The best option for a good experience was the access to Happy Isles and, had I known that there were additional parking spots up the road near the Happy Isles Shuttle stop (these are mentioned in the accessibility document), I would have been able to get my care to the Nature Center and on the warren of trails at Happy Isles. I am not sure that the privilege of going to Mirror Lake is fully justified by the limited paved paths or the views, but it makes the park seem more open to the disabled.

There is detailed information about the best path for a wheel chairs to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls and an available handicapped route to Glacier Point from the parking lot.

I was initially hesitant to use the shuttle. However, the drivers were absolutely fantastic and extremely helpful. I cannot complement them enough.

I found Yosemite Lodge parking to be a problem and there seem only to be a very few handicapped accessible rooms there. However, requesting ground floor lodging near the shops and restaurants proved to be very helpful (need to speak to an actual person at Delaware North to get this attached to the reservation).

The DNC tours at Wawona and the Valley, strangely, did not have very convenient handicapped access, although they have handicapped section on the vehicles. The steps up to the vehicles are quite high and there is no portable step or ramp available. After one awkward event, I realized that I could use my box of tire chains as a step and that worked very well. (The NPS requires carrying chains, so even though I got tired carrying them around with my daypack, it did turn out to be finally helpful.)

I considered not bringing a wheelchair, and merely renting one. However, it proved very convenient to have one at hand in the vehicle.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2012 10:52AM by Frank Furter.

Wow! Tire chains as a step? I suspect some type of folding step stool would have weighed a LOT less.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3734231

Quote
hotrod4x5
Wow! Tire chains as a step? I suspect some type of folding step stool would have weighed a LOT less.

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3734231

Undoubtedly. I could not locate in the park a simple stool however. Part of the report was "tongue in cheek" as I intended to suggest that I had interpreted the NPS advisory to "carry chains" literally to mean that all visitors should actually carry chains around. However, they did make a good small step stool.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Quote
Frank Furter
...The NPS has a good summary at yose_accessibility@nps.gov (EDIT: error, that is the email address. the guide is available at http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/access.pdf ). ...

The Access Guide is also available at any entrance station. If you get one, please drop it off on the way out... you know.... save some paper and all that.