THE TERMINUS:
DREAM TO GET OUTSIDE
How a Montana nonprofit is breaking barriers to accessibility in the outdoors By Julia Smit
Sun on skin, dirt under fingernails, deep breaths of fresh air after a steep climb: It’s a shared experience for people who love to spend time on the trail. And with over 30 million acres of public lands in Montana – including the wild areas that make up the Continental Divide landscape in the state– there’s a lot of space to share. The outdoors are for everybody. But not everyone has equal access. According to the CDC, one in four adults in the United States has some type of disability. Yet access to the outdoors for people with disabilities often comes with major barriers: everything from lack of accessible parking at a trailhead to the high cost of equipment. DREAM Adaptive Recreation is located in Whitefish, Montana, and helps people with disabilities find their way around, over and through some of those challenges. DREAM runs winter ski programs alongside summer mountain biking and water-based recreation in Northwest Montana’s Flathead Valley. “[Our programs] help people have direct access through us breaking down barriers, from adaptive equipment, adaptive instruction, providing a safe space to try something in the outdoors,” said DREAM Executive Director, Julie Tickle.
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This includes reducing the financial cost for participants to use adaptive recreation equipment like sit skis, adaptive paddle boards, electric-assist recumbent bikes, and other gear. The organization served nearly 350 program participants in 2023, according to Tickle.
“All of our programs are centered around each individual. Where do they want to go? Some folks literally want to get back for a hike in nature, and we use one of our adaptive mountain bikes as a tool to hike,” said Tickle. “That could be on a mellow, flat trail or a logging road.” “But others want to ride the Spencer [Mountain] freeride trails,” she added. The progression depends on the person. “Do they want to go backcountry camping and find a mobility device that they could go for miles and miles, get a backcountry permit in Glacier, and get to a campsite?” Tickle pointed to Bowhead, a company based in Calgary, as one example of exciting adaptive recreation equipment on the market that can help people with disabilities access some of those backcountry spaces. With an articulating front end and a full suspension, Bowhead’s fully electric bikes are designed to navigate