Kirk Mickelsen, with David's Chair, demonstrates the track chair at an event near Mount Pisgah.
Rachael McDonald / KLCC
For people with disabilities getting outdoors in nature can be a challenge. But now, there is a tool available for visitors to Mount Pisgah near Eugene.
David’s Chair is an electric all-terrain track chair that can ride over trails, on snow, even on beaches. There are now chairs at eight locations along the Oregon coast and now there’s one at Mount Pisgah Arboretum in the Howard Buford Recreation Area.
Loren Cushing is a retired physical therapist who is part of a group called Wednesday Wheelers. He said you don’t have to be someone who uses a wheelchair like him to benefit from David’s Chair.
“If you have difficulty walking through the world and your world has shrunk and you don’t go into the natural world anymore, this is a way to do it,” he said.
Cushing and his friend Larry Craig tried out David’s Chair at Mount Pisgah Arboretum. He said they were able to go up and down some hills and enjoy the park. He hopes to venture up to the top of Mount Pisgah sometime in the near future.
Craig shared his experience of using a David’s Chair at Heceta Beach in Florence.
“I didn’t realize how much I had missed being on the beach,” said Craig. “It had been 53 years since I was able. And I started getting a little teary-eyed. Because it was such a happy experience to be back on the beach on my own.”
David’s Chairs are free to use with an advance reservation. There will eventually be two of them available for use.
The track chairs at Mount Pisgah Arboretum in Buford Park are funded by a combination of $12,500 from the Lane County Parks levy, and financial support from Mount Pisgah Arboretum, McKenzie River Trust and Travel Lane County.
Brad van Appel, Executive Director of Mount Pisgah Arboretum, said the park gets more than a half million visits a year.
“We all kind of take it for granted that we get to come out for a hike or to sit and watch the river or watch birds,” he said. “We’ve been working to make nature more accessible. We’ve been working on our trails to make them more accessible for people with mobility issues.”
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He said the opportunity to have David’s Chair was a large step to make the park more available to more people.
Van Appel said they’re still fundraising for the project.
Kirk Mickelsen, director of fundraising and development at David’s Chair, told KLCC the company was founded in 2017 by David Hartrick, an Eagle Point, Oregon, man who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. He said a group of people got together to buy Hartrick a track chair so he could get around.
Hartrick, who has passed away, wanted other people to be able to have the chair too.
“What we make sure that we remember as an organization is David’s vision that he wants people to be able to utilize these at no cost so they can enjoy the beach, enjoy hunting, fishing, whatever it is they want to do,” Mickelsen said.
Mickelsen said that in addition to the eight current locations on the Oregon coast, chairs will soon be available in Coos Bay.