Rules
Part of Slow travel mistakes seen from the repair side
Accessible slow travel: the mistakes worth avoiding
Accessibility errors on slow road trips: trusting a label, missing a closure, and skipping the published detail that says exactly what a site provides.
What to take away
- Some agency pages publish parking counts, path surfaces and sign heights. Use those pages first.
- A gap in a paving stone path is the sort of detail that decides a visit. It is often written down.
- Confirm the site is open at all. A closed center is the most common accessibility failure.
- Where detail is missing, phone. A single word telling you a place is accessible is not a plan.
The usual accessibility mistake on a road trip is trusting a label. The second is planning a whole day around a facility that turns out to be shut. Both are avoidable, because a number of agency pages now publish the specifics.
Read the pages that publish measurements
Some site pages describe their facilities in real detail. The BLM's page for the Kanab Visitor Center in Utah, one of four centers in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, states that the paved parking lot has 33 striped spaces, that two of them near the main entrance are marked accessible and share an access aisle for vehicles with a ramp or lift, and that paved sidewalks lead from the parking area to the center, where three exterior restroom entrances each contain an accessible flush toilet.
It is equally specific about the parts that do not work. Some paths to interpretive signs are made of paving stones separated by small gaps with loose stones on the surface, and one sign can only be reached by traveling on gravel or climbing uneven steps cut into a stone wall.
That is what a usable accessibility description looks like. It lets you decide before you drive.
Check that it is open before you plan around it
Detail is worthless if the doors are locked. The BLM's page for the Cannonville Visitor Center in Utah carries a notice that the center is closed until further notice, while also describing two accessible paved parking spaces beside a cement path to the main building, a ramp at the main entrance, and a covered kiosk and interpretive signs set at appropriate heights along the path.
The same page notes that the center sits at the north end of Cottonwood Canyon Road, a rugged 47 mile dirt road connecting Utah State Route 12 with Highway 89, and that it is generally open from mid March to mid November.
A well described facility, a seasonal window and a current closure notice, all on one page. Read all three.
The mistakes, in order of how much they cost
- Trusting a one word label instead of a description.
- Not checking the current status of a facility before a long drive.
- Assuming a toilet is accessible because the site is.
- Planning without a second option for the same day.
- Leaving the phone call until you are already out of signal.
Building the day so a failure is survivable
Choose one primary stop and one alternative within a reasonable distance, and confirm both. Keep the unpaved section, if there is one, in the middle of the day. Note the field office number on paper. If the primary stop turns out to be closed, you lose an hour rather than the trip.
Where to go next
The general errors that spoil slow trips, including unchecked closures, are in how to avoid slow travel mistakes. For how to judge whether a route itself works, see accessible options for slow road travel.
Common questions
Why do some pages have detail and others none? Descriptions are added site by site over time. Absence of detail means unknown, not unsuitable.
Is it worth asking for photographs? Yes. Some sites publish accessibility photographs, and field offices will often describe a surface over the phone.
How far ahead should I confirm? Within the week, and again the day before if the drive is long or the season is marginal.
What if a site is closed until further notice? Ask the field office what the alternative is. They usually know which nearby site offers the same facilities.
