This past June, my family and I embarked on our two-year-long Adversity Into Adventure World Tour. A few months into our adventure, we found ourselves in Utah for an extended period of time, coming in and out of the state after visiting our friends, Access Unlimited, in Montana.
If you are looking for adaptive sports programs in the area, we had two great experiences.
Adaptive Sports Programs in Utah
First, we met with the Wasatch Adaptive Sports group at Woodward Park City, Utah. Wasatch Adaptive Sports empowers people with disabilities to realize their potential through outdoor recreation. Along with a group of new and experienced adaptive riders, we dared down the bike trails, jumping and carving our way through the dirt. Woodward, Park City, is a premier lift-served downhill mountain bike park with freestyle features, offering an all-inclusive action sports experience, promoting intuitive growth and safe progression for riders of all levels. It was amazing to spend a summer evening with a new group of friends and riding partners. The Utah skyline is best seen on a mountain top on a bike!
On our second occasion, we toured the beautiful National Ability Center facility. We explored over 26 acres of adaptive lodging, equine therapy stables, rock climbing walls, trail heads, and so much more. Olivia, our contact at NAC, invited us on a rafting trip down the Colorado River… as long as we could get to Moab in a few days! In true adventure fashion, we packed up our motorhome and made the drive to Moab, Utah. We were looking forward to the reprieve of the hot earth.
National Ability Center “empowers individuals with disabilities through the transformative power of adaptive recreation and adventure.” And rafting class two rapids in a “duckie” (inflatable kayak) with my wife and two other adaptive adventurers was transformative! It was magical to venture down the river amongst large red mountains that were carved by the very water we were on. The NAC team broke up the day by hosting and serving an abundant Mediterranean lunch which filled our bellies for the grandest and longest rapids yet.
As we continue on this road of awareness, impact and giveback, we are constantly amazed by the incredible adaptive programs that invite others with different levels of ability to reengage back into an active lifestyle.
Share in the comments below if you have experienced a great recreation program that we should know about!
In Health,
Aaron Baker
