Want to explore the outdoors? A new guidebook can help you find the right trail in Central Pa
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Asia Tabb
aired; August 26, 2026
For people with disabilities, families with young children, older hikers or anyone looking for a more manageable outdoor adventure, figuring out whether a trail is truly accessible can be difficult. A new guidebook is working to make that process easier.
On The Spark, Brooke Lenker and John Naylor, co-authors of the South Central Pennsylvania Accessible Adventure Guidebook, joined Kate Prisby, manager of events and programs with the Keystone Trails Association, to discuss the project and the growing effort to make outdoor recreation more welcoming to people of all abilities.
Lenker said the idea came from recognizing that the Keystone Trails Association didn’t have enough resources for people with disabilities, while also hearing from people looking for approachable trails in Central Pennsylvania. “We wanted to be a better partner to that community. And then I’d say maybe a secondary motivation was realizing that in our office, in Mechanicsburg at the time, we would get people coming into the office or calling that would say, where can I hike around here in a central Pennsylvania context?”
Creating the guidebook meant actually visiting and evaluating trails. Naylor said they considered everything from parking and restrooms to trail surfaces, slopes, roots and other obstacles. “We want to know that we can go to these places and we’re gonna be able to safely navigate, first and foremost, but also just that it’s available and going and exploring and finding new places is kind of, you know, something I do just as recreational activity for myself.”
The guidebook provides detailed information about each trail, including its surface, length, parking, restrooms, width and slopes, allowing people to determine whether an adventure fits their individual needs.
Naylor described it as a “choose your own adventure book,” giving people the information they need to make their own decisions about where they want to explore. “Something that I know is important to me and a lot of people in the disabled community that I’ve come in contact with is like, you know, we wanna be independent. And we wanna know that we can go to these places and we’re gonna be able to safely navigate.”
For Prisby, the project also represents a broader shift in the hiking community toward recognizing that outdoor recreation can—and should—include more people. “We needed to think a little bit more broadly… those rugged remote hikes are things I used to be into, but I can’t necessarily do those now. And is there still space for me in this organization?”
Listen to the podcast to hear the full conversation.