What's SST stand for? Sweet Smelling Toilet - you had to ask. Believe it or not, the new style of vault toilet pretty much lives up to its name.
Now what about those accessible bathhouses? During the summers of '94 and '95 I had the unique opportunity to survey every campground in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and the White River National Forest in Colorado. I found a lot of inaccessibility, but there were a few truly accessible campgrounds. My favorite two campgrounds are Mountain Park and Redstone.
Mountain Park Campground is west of Fort Collins along the Poudre River on Scenic Highway 14. Most of the sites are level and have accessible picnic tables. My favorite amenity at the campground is the accessible bathhouse. One of the stalls on each side has a hand-held shower hose and a fold-down bench. When the bench is folded up, the stall can be used as a wheel-in shower. Additionally, there is a single-user accessible shower room in the center of the building. This is an especially nice feature as a companion or family member of a different gender can help out if needed. All of the showers are coin-operated, so bring lots of quarters. Campsite electricity is available for an additional fee.
Redstone Campground is west of Carbondale along the Crystal River. Carbondale is located between Glenwood Springs and Aspen. All of the campground sites are level and have accessible picnic tables. I suggest using sites 5 or 13 as these are closest to the bathhouse. The campground is on the side of a hill; it may be difficult to get from one site to another. This campground also has accessible single-user showers with hand-held shower hoses, and fold-down benches. The cost of the shower is included with your campground fee. Both water and electricity are available at most campsites for an additional fee.
The following campgrounds in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest have an accessible SST vault toilet; however, they may be lacking other accessible features:
You may want to call ahead to get current access information. The main office is located at 1311 South College, Fort Collins, CO 80524 (970) 498-2770.
White River National Forest
also has a number of campgrounds with an accessible SST vault
toilet:
A free lifetime Golden Access Passport is available to those with a disability, they can be picked at most district offices. The passport is good for half-off your campground fees!
Contributed by Rob Gilkerson - fellow wheelchair
user and ADA consultant. 2-22-97
Rob Gilkerson is a wheelchair access consultant who lives in Canon City, Colorado. In addition to his work with the Forest Service, he has been an integral part of access implementation for numerous businesses, governmental entities, and universities. He has researched and published several wheelchair access guides and is a popular speaker on access issues. He can be reached by calling 719-269-7412.
From the Editor: For more information, visit the Forest Service web site, www.fs.fed.us. Both Arapaho-Roosevelt and White River National Forests have web sites which can be accessed from the main Forest Service site.
We stopped by the information center for Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest in Fort Collins, Colorado, to see what additional information they have regarding accessible features. We were provided with valuable and informative handouts, including a Visitor's Guide to Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grasslands and maps of several campgrounds.
The Wheelchair Access Guide to Campgrounds rates campgrounds in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest by challenge level, with "easy" meeting most ADA guidelines, "moderate" providing some access, "difficult" having some usable elements, and "most difficult" probably being unusable by most wheelchair users. Toilets are also ranked for usability and a comment section gives additional information such as "Most sites fairly level - #5 best choice." The information center also provided us with Wheelchair Access Guides to Forest Trails, Picnic Areas, and Fishing Areas. Simply write or call the Forest Service offices to obtain copies of this information; most Forest Service districts have similar brochures.