Featuring miles of specially graded trails, accessible docks and lean-tos, and solar-powered battery carts to recharge wheelchairs, John Dillon Park is that rare place where the disabled can fully experience the outdoors.
Since its 2006 opening, the park, a visionary project of former International Paper Chairman CEO John Dillon, has drawn thousands of disabled outdoor enthusiasts to Long Lake, New York in the central Adirondacks.
John Dillon Park Main Facilities
- Lean-tos: accessible by ramp or transfer from a wheelchair; each has a fold-down bed, fireplace, and picnic table.
- Trail network: provide access to wooded paths for nature hikes or finding a quiet place to enjoy nature.
- Canoe/kayak dock: each has removable wood bumpers and carpeted deck for easy, comfortable transfer into boats.
- Pontoon boat: a dock ramp provides wheelchair access to the camp’s pontoon boat for lake tours, fishing, or birding (camp residents include loons, ospreys, bald eagles).
- Fishing dock: dock provides high rails for leaning fishing rods on while baiting a hook.
- Eco-friendly: the camp uses solar powered electricity and low-impact latrines with composting toilets.
Popular Campground for Disability Organizations
“We’ve had groups from as far away as Belarus, brought in for two days by Project Harmony of Vermont,” says park manager Stephen Cobb. “They didn’t want to leave.”
Cobb has also welcomed disabled visitors from Spain and throughout the United States, including Louisiana. The park is on pace to pass the 4,000-visitor mark by the end of the 2008 season.
According to Cobb, day trips by both group homes and organizations such as Stride, which facilitates camping for disabled youth, are among the park’s most popular uses.
“Some groups bring a busload out for the day,” Cobb says. “They hike, kayak, fish, or just have a picnic, either at one of the lean-tos or at one of the park’s three picnic sites,” he says.
Cobb says future enhancements include extending park trails to Handsome Pond. In the summer of 2008, one trail was extended from .8 miles to 1.4 miles, Cobb says.
The park is open 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day from May 1st to September 30th.
International Paper donated the land and construction, but the park represents collaboration with the State of New York, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation's Task Force on Accessibility, and Paul Smith College.
International Paper John Dillon Park
2150 Tupper Rd
Long Lake, NY 12847
Phone: 518.524.6226 (May 1-September 30)
Email: registration@johndillonpark.org
Directions
From the NYS Thruway (I-90), Exit 27 at Amsterdam; north on Route 30 through the villages of Speculator, Indian Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, and Long Lake. Campground is 4 miles north on Route 30 from Long Lake Village on the right side of the road.
Andrew Leibs - Andrew Leibs is Suite101’s Feature Writer for Accessible Recreation. He is a longtime chronicler of the disability movement with ...
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