If these ever caught on the tree huggers would flip

[driver920]

I personally know a few people that are disabled and cannot get out in the woods as they would like to. But what if they had something like this. It will climb stairs, go over uneven ground and i am sure if they caught on it could be modified to fit alot of the foot pathes that crisscross the wilderness. Or say a disabled hunter was using it to recover game, put narrower tracks on it and it would do the foot path at say cascade springs. Do you think they would allow their use or would it be the tree huggers against the disabled community

 

[Jesser04]

Is that the track chair? Bill o'reilly is raising a ton of money to buy them for wounded veterans.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Not applicable as I read the laws.

The Wilderness Act prohibit mechanized (ie bicycles) & motorized (anything with gas or electric power) implements and they have already ruled against flat out ADA compliance in Wilderness area (as well as standard FS and BLM lands) with the exception of standard manual wheelchairs which were allowed per the 1964 Wilderness Act.

BLM's stance:

"Are wheelchairs allowed? Yes. In compliance with the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), wheelchairs are permitted in wilderness areas. “[N]othing in the Wilderness Act is to be construed as prohibiting the use of a wheelchair in a wilderness area by an individual whose disability requires the use of a wheelchair and consistent with the Wilderness Act, no agency is required to provide any form of special treatment or accommodation, or to construct any facilities or modify any conditions of lands within a wilderness area to facilitate such use.” [ADA, Section 507(c)(1)]. “[T]he term wheelchair means a device designed solely for use by a mobility impaired person for locomotion, that is suitable for use in an indoor pedestrian area.” [ADA, Section 507(c)(2)] "

As I recall groups tried this with ADA compliance and they further defined wheelchairs as a human powered or pushed device? Didn't dig that deep tonight.

 

[driver920]

I have never dug in to these types of laws, and that is my fault. I have a brother who is disabled and has been from birth a walk around cascade springs is an allday event with him and he loves it so we take allday and do it when we can. He also loves riding through the mountains but cannot get out and hike the hills this would get him more mobile in the hills and make him happy we take him camping and getting the razor has given him the abillity to see alot more of the back country that he has never been in, although i can understand laws like this ........ there will always be someone to say well if they can take that i can take this .......... I do enjoy when ........ i have a few tree hugger friends ....... one of said friends cant get to where they use to go be cause they cannot make the hike and say "well there use to be a road there" ............ its one of the I told you so moments when i can say you did it to yourself, and thank you for showing me that section of law Kurt

 

[jeep-N-montero]

They are already catching on and several organizations are using them, this is one of them http://chairboundhuntersut.com/

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I have never dug in to these types of laws, and that is my fault. I have a brother who is disabled and has been from birth a walk around cascade springs is an allday event with him and he loves it so we take allday and do it when we can. He also loves riding through the mountains but cannot get out and hike the hills this would get him more mobile in the hills and make him happy we take him camping and getting the razor has given him the abillity to see alot more of the back country that he has never been in, although i can understand laws like this ........ there will always be someone to say well if they can take that i can take this .......... I do enjoy when ........ i have a few tree hugger friends ....... one of said friends cant get to where they use to go be cause they cannot make the hike and say "well there use to be a road there" ............ its one of the I told you so moments when i can say you did it to yourself, and thank you for showing me that section of law Kurt

Sounds like your brother has supportive friends and family which is great.

Honestly given the topography of your typical Wilderness area and the likely capabilities of those track chairs (and admittedly I have zero real world experience with them)... I don't know that the Wilderness angle is that big of a deal, i.e. there are loads of actual OHV/bike trails where that thing would rock and allow some pretty unique access whereas previously impossible or at least difficult.

RME member and local 4x4 celeb Clay Egan recently got a track chair, really excited to see the crazy stuff he does with it.

 

[ID Bronco]

Sounds like your brother has supportive friends and family which is great.

Honestly given the topography of your typical Wilderness area and the likely capabilities of those track chairs (and admittedly I have zero real world experience with them)... I don't know that the Wilderness angle is that big of a deal, i.e. there are loads of actual OHV/bike trails where that thing would rock and allow some pretty unique access whereas previously impossible or at least difficult.

RME member and local 4x4 celeb Clay Egan recently got a track chair, really excited to see the crazy stuff he does with it.

I agree there are many other more applicable places for these chairs but the real question is will the environmentalists who raise all kinds of hell for every species under the sun, stand up for the disabled human and think this is a good idea. My bet is they will go against the disabled. It will be another example of the hippocracy they show all the time. They trample on everyone else and say they are noble, but really just move their own agenda forward.

 

[Jinx]

RME member and local 4x4 celeb Clay Egan recently got a track chair, really excited to see the crazy stuff he does with it.

He has already had it out elk hunting. He is loving it!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

He has already had it out elk hunting. He is loving it!

Saw a couple of FB pics and he was all grins

 

[STAG]

Saw one sort of like it at one of the gun expo's. it was pretty cool; it would stand you up to shoot from a standing position if you were not able.

I have been shooting competition trap for as long as I can remember and one of my friends from the shoots broke her leg and would shoot from sitting in her manual-wheelchair and that was some of the best shooting she has ever done haha

 

[sixstringsteve]

I don't see the tree huggers having more of a problem with these than any other ATV. Now, if they were required to make every singletrack trail wide enough and "accessible" for these, then I could definitely see them (and me) having a problem with that.

There are certainly areas of the state I enjoy exploring without running into other motorized recreation. There are also areas of the state that I would only want to explore via a mechanized vehicle. It's all about balance. I don't blame hikers for wanting quiet and solitude in their favorite spaces, and I don't blame motorized recreationists for wanting to be able to access their favorite camping places with their vehicle. It's got to be a balance, and sadly neither group will ever admit that it's balanced, or even slightly in their favor. That's why I hike and jeep.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I don't see the tree huggers having more of a problem with these than any other ATV. Now, if they were required to make every singletrack trail wide enough and "accessible" for these, then I could definitely see them (and me) having a problem with that.

There are certainly areas of the state I enjoy exploring without running into other motorized recreation. There are also areas of the state that I would only want to explore via a mechanized vehicle. It's all about balance. I don't blame hikers for wanting quiet and solitude in their favorite spaces, and I don't blame motorized recreationists for wanting to be able to access their favorite camping places with their vehicle. It's got to be a balance, and sadly neither group will ever admit that it's balanced, or even slightly in their favor. That's why I hike and jeep.

An electric tracked wheelchair would have very little affect on anyone's "solitude" on a hiking trail, it emits no fumes and very little noise.

 

[DOSS]

[video=youtube;k8NvJdIG85Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8NvJdIG85Y[/video]

 

[sixstringsteve]

james may looks like he belongs in a wheelchair

 

[jeep-N-montero]

A lot of good videos here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=off road wheelchair&sm=3

 

[roverrocks]

Here's what the disabled really need: The ultra small World War One French Renault FT-17 light tank with a machine gun and rotating turret to bag "tree huggers" on the trail.

 

[sixstringsteve]

So now we want to shoot people because they have different opinions than us?

 

[jeep-N-montero]

So now we want to shoot people because they have different opinions than us?

I think he was being sarcastic.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I know he wasn't serious, but we're only giving them more reasons to villainize us. The more they think we're backwards, redneck, ruffians, the worse it is for us. That's all I was trying to get across.

 

[roverrocks]

I think he was being sarcastic.

Quite. Though shooting a few in the butt with a jelly bean MG sounds................................................