Mobility assistance vehicles spread reach across Colorado Springs area trails

More Terrain Hoppers are coming to Colorado Springs-area trails.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park recently announced acquiring two of the electric vehicles appearing like small ATVs and "designed to carry mobility challenged people at walking speed across a variety of surfaces," according to a news release.

Starting Memorial Day weekend, the park will make the Terrain Hoppers available for online reservation — similar to El Paso County's Trailability Program.

“We are excited to get our guests out on trails that they’ve been unable to hike due to mobility limitations,” Cheyenne Mountain State Park Manager Jason Hagan said in the release.

The intent has been the same for El Paso County, which this month opened online reservations for summer and early fall tours on trails around Bear Creek and Fountain Creek nature centers. This will mark the second full summer of the Trailability Program. The tours have been alongside trained volunteers, as will be the case at Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

A similar program has run at Staunton State Park since 2017. Rather than Terrain Hoppers, the park near Conifer has offered Trackchairs, which navigate terrain with tank-like wheels.

Last fall, Colorado Springs' city parks department announced acquiring two Trackchairs. In February, the department posted a seasonal position, "Trackchair program administrator," who "will be part of the process to finalize and launch the program with an anticipated start date in late spring," city spokesperson Cassie Melvin told The Gazette.

Melvin added: "In conjunction with parks staff, (the administrator) will also be responsible for assessing trail accessibility and working to upgrade trails to accommodate the Trackchairs."

Such work has been underway in the city's Bear Creek Canyon Park, said to entail about a mile of widened trail construction and realignment. The work was identified in collaboration with El Paso County, which manages neighboring Bear Creek Regional Park and has expressed interest in guiding Terrain Hoppers up to Gold Camp Road.

City officials have also floated Red Rock Canyon Open Space as another possible place for guided Trackchairs.