Access to the Boulder-White Clouds

Yesterday, I joined Rep. Mike Simpson, the US Forest Service, one of my favorite activists, plus a suite of mobility-challenged trail users for something rare these days: genuine good news.

Yesterday we dedicated the rebuilt Murdock Creek trail off the North Fork Big Wood River near the Sawtooth National Recreation Area headquarters. The trail was rebuilt to allow for primitive access into the Boulders for mobility-challenged folks, including wheelchair uses. The Murdock Creek trail complements the new, similarly purposed trail to Phyllis Lake in the White Clouds.

The Boulder-White Clouds saga is a long and tough one, but from the beginning, Rep. Mike Simpson has advocated for a package to reflect a diversity of interests. One of those is people who love Wild Idaho but don't get around well.

Early in Simpson's considerations he connected with Erik Schultz, a force of nature in his own right. Erik is wheelchair-bound from a skiing accident, but still a passionate defender of wilderness. As director of a charitable foundation, he's a supporter of wilderness advocacy as well as access for the disabled community.

Rolling with Simpson's initial idea, Erik worked with the congressional office and Ed Canaday of the US Forest Service to do the trails right for wheelchairs, elderly and other challenged users—and also to do it right for wilderness. The trails are still dirt, still run through rugged terrain, and provide true access to wonderful country for everyone.

By now, by any measure the Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill should be law. If so, this would have been the nation's first such trail in a designated wilderness. Extremes on the left and right have—so far—kept the bill from passing, but Simpson kept the trail idea moving and secured the modest funding to see it through. Yesterday we got to see wheelchairs, a man permanently using crutches, another with a walker, a bunch of friends and more using the new trail and bridges.

It was a great day.