December 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Community Center
Sensory Sojourn

An inclusive trail at a Maryland state park provides an all-sensory nature experience
specifically designed for people with mobility, hearing and vision impairments
By Danielle Taylor

s program director for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource's Conservation Job Corps, Fred Banks manages a lot of
youth volunteers and has been privy to a number of off-the-wall
ideas. But last fall, when some of his teen volunteers with disabilities suggested they develop a nature trail for others with similar impairments, Banks
took notice.
" They asked us, 'Have you ever
thought about doing a trail for everybody?' " Banks recalls. " We ran it
past the park managers [at Patapsco
Valley State Park], and they thought
it was a good idea. "
Just west of Baltimore, Patapsco Valley State Park is centrally
located in Maryland, making it a
convenient spot for such a project.
The park also features a number of
elements that made it attractive for
a sensory trail, including climbable
rocks, gently sloping topography
and audible wildlife. " We have prob-

ably one of the foremost experts on
trails who works at the park, Ranger Amy Lutsko, " Banks says. " She
gave some insight on what type of
topography we'd want to look for
if there were existing unmaintained
trails that we could take over, which
is what we did, or if we should just
start from scratch. We went from
one end of the Patapsco to the other
to find a perfect spot, and found one
right outside the nature center. "
A grant provided by the National
Park Service and the Scrooby Foundation funded the initial phase of de-

The trail was designed so
people with disabilities
could safely navigate it solo.

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velopment, and Banks and his corps
of volunteers quickly got to work. To
develop plans for the trail, Project
Coordinator Chass Seymour enlisted
the unique perspectives of students at
the nearby Maryland School for the
Blind. " We got a lot of ideas from the
kids at the Maryland School for the
Blind, " Banks says. " They came out
on several occasions after school to
walk the trail and tell us what they
like and didn't like. That information
was invaluable - there was no way
we could have done it without them. "
Their input led to a number of
modifications to the original plans.
For example, the trail crews had
originally intended to take out a
number of rocks along the trail,
thinking they would cause obstructions for blind hikers, but it turned
out that the kids loved climbing on
the rocks and using them as places
to sit, so they were left in place.
" We had no idea what to look for, "
Banks freely admits. " The things that
we thought would be obstacles when
they got on the trail, they were just
like, 'Nope, we love it!' "
In addition to factoring in the
thoughts and opinions from the local
visually impaired population, Seymour also enlisted a group of community members in wheelchairs to
test out the surfacing and grade of
the path. " The grade goes downhill,
then there's a dip when they come
back up, " Banks says. " We looked
at people who use wheelchairs and
wondered, would the incline be too

December 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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