UNH Department of Recreation Management and Policy

By Sharon Keeler
UNH News Bureau

August 24, 2000

If you build it, they will come.

And they did. Three hikers in wheelchairs and two on crutches, with incredible effort and determination, completed a 9.2 mile round-trip journey this month to the Gale Head hut in the White Mountains. They proved wrong critics who said they would never use the Appalachian Mountain Club facility -- the first made accessible for people with disabilities.

Their journey was aided by UNH's Northeast Passage, a program run through the Department of Recreation Management and Policy, which provides sports and recreation opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities.

"I've always been obsessed with mountains," says Geoff Krill, a ski instructor and hotel clerk, who was one of the three hikers in wheelchairs who made the trek. "Part of our motivation was wanting to send a message to the critics of the hut. But, most importantly, I wanted to challenge myself, and also show people in wheelchairs they can get out and enjoy the woods."

The 38-bed Gale Head hut, at an elevation of 3,800 feet, was recently constructed to be accessible. Modifications included a ramp, "grab bars" in bigger toilet stalls, lower bunks and wider doorways. AMC officials estimate they paid an extra $30,000 to $50,000 to make the modifications to comply with the accessibility rules for new buildings in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Some club members and New Hampshire newspapers ridiculed the new lodge, calling it a "waste of money," and "ludicrous," says Jill Gravink, assistant professor and director of Northeast Passage. "They said no one in a wheelchair would ever hike the steep and rugged trail to reach the hut, and we said, 'You're wrong.' Nicole Haley wheeled into my office and said, 'I'm doing this, are your guys coming?' They took it as a real slap in the face, like, 'Who are you to tell me I can't do this?'"

After almost a year of planning, and with help from We Media, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, along with other sponsors, the group of 25 hikers set off to tackle the Gale River Trail. Haley would be joined by Krill and Craig Gray, who hiked in wheelchairs, and Souley Marzouk and Susan Murray, who made the hike on crutches.

Along with Northeast Passage staff members Gravink, Tom Carr, Patti Craig and David Lee, the able-bodied team members included family, friends and volunteers who hauled gear, set ropes and supplied pushing and pulling power.

There was no carrying, as critics said would be necessary. Those in wheelchairs used Terra Trek models engineered for rugged ground. A variety of methods were used to maneuver over tough terrain. Marzouk, who had polio as a child, walked on his hands over a difficult river crossing. Wheelchairs were modified to include protruding bars in the front that allowed helpers to pull over rocks and through mud. Simple planks were laid over stream crossings. They tried a modified Tyrolean traverse, lifting the wheelchairs off the ground with ropes, to allow the hikers to pull themselves upward with a pulley system. It worked, but not well.

As thoughts of dusk weighed on people's minds, the group made its final push up the grueling last mile of the trail. Reporters stopped writing and hauled gear, and one volunteer, donned in pajamas, carried pitchers of water to thirsty hikers. Under their own power, all reached the hut at sundown, completing in 12 hours what takes an average able-bodied hiker five hours.

Marzouk, who, with Haley, brought in the final team, said he joined the hike for the challenge, and because there are people who believe in him. As he reached the hut, he said, "This shows how determined we are, and how far determination can take you. It wasn't easy but I guess we figured it wasn't going to be, and that's why we did it."

Over a dinner that evening of potato soup and cheese steaks, Walter Graff, deputy director of the AMC, welcomed the group. "Little did I know that two months later you'd be here proving that the decisions we made were the right ones. Not only did you accomplish it, you had fun. That's what the AMC is all about -- getting people outdoors."

After spending the evening and the following day relaxing at the hut, nursing bruises and stretching sore limbs, the group made the trip back down the trail. Some teams made it in six hours, others took as long as eight. But, while it was exhausting for everybody, Gravink said, "even in the final hours...there was nobody who wanted to be anywhere else...None of these guys would have been there if they didn't absolutely love being in the woods. That was the whole point."

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