Friends Of Sleeping Bear Dunes Preps New Wheelchair Bike Program For 2025 Summer Season

In 2019, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore became a trailblazer in park accessibility, establishing the first-ever all-terrain “track chair” program at any National Park. This spring, the park will up the ante in its quest to serve visitors of all abilities with the introduction of a brand-new wheelchair bike program. The new initiative will allow visitors who require mobility assistance to experience the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail from the front of a state-of-the-art $13,000 two-seater electric bike.

The new program is the brainchild of Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes and its accessibility team, which also worked to establish the track chair initiative at Sleeping Bear six years ago. Friends of Sleeping Bear is a nonprofit that operates independently of the National Parks Service (NPS) but collaborates closely with National Lakeshore staff on a shared mission of “protecting resources and heightening visitor experience” at the dunes.

The track chair program played into that mission by bringing a new kind of motorized wheelchair to the park – one equipped with treaded tracks rather than wheels. The first chair cost $13,000 and made it possible for visitors with mobility challenges to experience some of the National Lakeshore’s scenic trails. Fast-forward to today and the park has three all-terrain wheelchairs, all of which are free of charge and available to reserve for anyone who needs them.

According to Laurie Pope, a Friends of Sleeping Bear volunteer and part of the accessibility team, the special wheelchairs have made a big difference. On average, the program sees 50-60 users per season, ranging in age from 10 to 95 years. The program has also earned kudos for Sleeping Bear Dunes – last year, Reader’s Digest named the National Lakeshore one of the “8 Most Accessible National Parks for Travelers with Disabilities” – and has helped spur a movement to make these types of chairs commonplace at parks across the United States.

Around the same time the track chair program was launching at Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pope discovered another type of accessibility concept: a nonprofit called Joy 2 Ride Benzie, which operates a free wheelchair bike program on the Betsie Valley Trail in Benzie County. Described as the first program of its kind in Michigan, Joy 2 Ride “allows individuals who are physically unable to pedal/ride a bike the opportunity to enjoy our fantastic Betsie Valley Trail by using a specially designed wheelchair bike and volunteer ‘pilots.’” The hybrid bicycle/wheelchair design enables one person to pedal and steer the bike while the other person rides in a seat up front.

“My husband and I went out to the Betsie Valley Trail, saw the bikes in action, and thought it was really cool idea, but at the time, we were still in the middle of getting the track chair program going [at Sleeping Bear],” Pope tells the Leelanau Ticker. “We really didn't have the time or money to put into a separate bike program.”

“Fast forward to a year or two ago,” Pope says, and the track chair program was stable enough for the nonprofit to start pursuing something new. Now Friends of Sleeping Bear has its first wheelchair bike in hand and is  recruiting volunteers. The program will launch on Friday, May 23, to coincide with Memorial Day weekend and the kickoff of summer.

In terms of what it took to make this program a reality, obtaining the bicycle was the hard part. According to Pope, this type of bike – which not only has a hybrid bicycle/wheelchair design but also an electric pedal-assist system – is not made in America. 

“These bikes come from the Netherlands, and the closest vendor was in the Detroit area,” Pope says. “Fortunately, the Cyclery in Glen Arbor were able to become a vendor for us. Which is cool, because now, if people see us out on the trail and are interested in getting their hands on this type of bike, they can go to the Cyclery to ask about ordering one.”

As for the $13,000 price tag to buy and ship the bike, Pope says Friends of Sleeping Bear was able to raise the funds from its own membership. Last year, the organization tallied 13,000 volunteer hours from its 450 volunteers. That same group came together to buy the wheelchair bike, with a $500 contribution from the Cyclery helping to grease the wheels.

Once launched, the wheelchair bike will be available to Sleeping Bear Dunes visitors at the Dune Climb via an online reservation system. Reservations will be available four days a week, and Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes will staff each reservation with two volunteers – a “pilot” to drive the actual wheelchair bike, and a “safety rider” to “ride out in front and look for any possible hazards.” The person in the wheelchair will ride at the front of the bike (pictured) and will be taken from the Dune Climb to Glen Arbor and back – about eight miles in total, according to Pope. The Friends are currently seeking volunteers for the program.

“I think the volunteers get as much out of these programs as the guests do,” says Missy Knebel, another part of the Friends of Sleeping Bear accessibility team. “It’s an amazing feeling to be able to assist these people in experiencing the trails with the track chair, and now we'll be able to add the Heritage Trail with the bike. It really makes you feel good to be able to provide that experience for somebody that otherwise might not be able to enjoy the park like most of us do.”