SOUDAN — For many people, enjoying Minnesota’s state parks can be as simple as lacing up a pair of hiking boots and heading down a trail. But for visitors with mobility challenges or other disabilities, getting outdoors often requires accommodations that make parks and recreational facilities more accessible.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has expanded accessibility features at parks and recreation areas across the state in recent years, offering everything from accessible campsites and lodging to adaptive equipment and specialized recreation opportunities.
Those efforts are particularly evident in the North Country, where both Bear Head Lake State Park and Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park offer a variety of amenities designed to help more visitors enjoy the outdoors.
At Bear Head Lake State Park, visitors will find two accessible camper cabins, along with three accessible restroom buildings and two accessible shower facilities. The park also offers an accessible fishing pier and picnic shelter.
While camper cabins do not include indoor plumbing, the nearby restroom and shower facilities are designed to accommodate visitors with mobility limitations.
Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park features one of the state’s most unique accessible attractions, its underground mine tour.
The tour is fully accessible, allowing visitors with mobility challenges to travel deep underground into the historic Soudan Mine. Assistant Park Manager Jim DeVries said the park can accommodate visitors from the cage ride underground to the train ride and elevator access used during the tour.
“We can make sure that the entire tour route is available to anybody with mobility needs,” DeVries said.
The park maintains both manual and powered wheelchairs that visitors may use on a first-come, first-served basis.
While guests may also use their own wheelchairs, DeVries noted that some wheelchairs with smaller wheels can have difficulty navigating portions of the underground route.
Visitors who are able to transfer can instead use one of the park’s wheelchairs, which feature larger wheels that are less likely to get hung up on the rocky surface underground.
Accessibility accommodations at the park extend beyond mobility needs as well. Hearing-assistance devices are available for tour participants, while visitors with visual impairments can use audio-pen technology in the visitor center that reads exhibit text aloud.
Park officials note that restroom facilities are not available at the mine level.
Accessibility improvements extend throughout the park’s campground and lodging facilities as well.
Three ADA-accessible campsites are available in the Vermilion Ridge Campground, while three additional accessible campsites are located in the new Pyrite Off-Highway Vehicle Campground. Two of the park’s eight year-round camper cabins are wheelchair accessible and include heat, electricity, and Wi-Fi service. Accessible showers and flush toilet facilities are located nearby.
The park also includes an accessible trail in the Armstrong Bay day-use area, providing a route from the parking lot to the waterfront.
The local facilities are part of a broader statewide effort to make outdoor recreation available to more Minnesotans.
Visitors can reserve accessible campsites, lodging, and camper cabins through the state’s online reservation system, where qualifying facilities are identified with the familiar ADA accessibility symbol.
Minnesota residents with qualifying disabilities may also be eligible for discounted camping rates on certain nights, while reduced-cost annual vehicle permits are available for some visitors with disabilities.
The DNR has also expanded access to adaptive recreation equipment in recent years. Twenty-four state parks now offer all-terrain track chairs, motorized wheelchairs designed to travel over trails and other natural surfaces that standard wheelchairs often cannot navigate. The chairs are available at no cost through a reservation system.
Other accessibility initiatives around the state include adaptive beach equipment, accessible kayak launches, sensory-friendly visitor center exhibits, and interpretation services for park programs and events.
State park officials say accessibility improvements often benefit a wider range of visitors as well, including older adults, families with strollers, and people recovering from injuries.
For North Country residents and visitors, the list of accessible features at Bear Head Lake and Lake Vermilion-Soudan parks means more opportunities for everyone to enjoy some of the region’s most popular outdoor destinations.