Kayaking at East Canyon Reservoir with TRAILS.

Putting water to good use.

Last week I went kayaking at East Canyon Reservoir with my wife Jayne and my friends from TRAILS (Technology, Recreation, Access, Independence, Lifestyle and Sports). TRAILS is the comprehensive outreach program of the Rehabilitation Center at University of Utah Hospital for individuals with spinal cord injury or disease.

Dr. Jeffrey Rosenbluth healing mind and body.

It’s the brainchild and passion of Dr. Jeffrey Rosenbluth, director of the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Center. The goal is to get patients reactivated and socially plugged in through recreation, education, and wellness programs. Spinal cord injury or not, everyone needs the opportunity to go outside and play to be healthy in mind and body.  

Tanja Kari in her natural habitat, winning gold at the 2002 Paralympics.

TRAILS, under the daily guidance of  Paralympic gold medal winning nordic skier and Finnish wonder woman Tanja Kari, has put together year round programs and adaptive equipment that make it possible for everyone to get out and go whether on land, in the water or on the snow, regardless of physical ability.

There's a floating craft for everyone regardless of ability.

That’s why they sponsor events like the annual Kayaking and Sailing Camp every summer.  It was mega fun. They have an array of water toys suitable for everyone, from people like  me--mobile quadriplegics who can walk and have full, but impaired use of all their limbs--to true quadriplegics, who cannot use any limbs and rely on technology like sip and puff.

Sip and Puff technology makes sailing accessible to everyone.

Sip and puff is a high tech system that allows someone who can't move any limbs to put things into motion by sipping or puffing air into a straw.  They can control the direction of a sailboat by sipping or puffing, which causes electric motors to move rudders back and forth. With a little help from somebody who can help launch the boat and tend to the sails, they can have the same sailing experience as an able bodied person.  It also works on snow, on a sit-ski.

My wife Jayne paddling in the front seat.

On this day I shared a tandem kayak with my wife Jayne, me in the back seat.  It was a perfect day-- calm water, sunny, not too hot.  Paddling along in the quiet morning with just the sound of the oar slapping the water is one of those times you’d like to bottle and save for a cold wintry day.  It took a while, but we finally got our cadence synchronized and made some good headway.

Adaptive equipment like outriggers make kayaking accessible to everyone.

We were joined by Andy Dahmen, another spinal cord injury survivor, and Wendy, a volunteer with TRAILS, and an expert kayaker.  East Canyon reservoir is only 41 miles from my home, yet we were a million miles from our everyday existence.  Mother Nature has a way of cleansing our souls if we only give her the opportunity.

Removing the wheels from Andy Dahmen's kayak.

I’m fortunate to have fairly good balance, hand and arm strength, so I didn’t need any adaptive equipment, just a stable kayak with a slightly wider hull.   Andy’s injury is more severe than mine, so he needs a bit more help.  No problem.  A kayak with outriggers and paddles with Velcro straps to aid hand strength were readily available.  It also had removable wheels, so he could transfer from his wheelchair into the kayak and then be wheeled into the water.

Andy Dahmen getting underway.

We all paddled together and I can promise Andy's enjoyment matched mine, based on the smile on his face.  Truth is, Andy does a lot of river running and is a true outdoorsman, wheelchair or not. He’s the perfect example of how the strength of the human spirit can overcome just about anything given the right support…the kind that TRAILS provides.

On the water, with Andy and Wendy leading the way.

It didn’t take long for my arms to start feeling the effects of paddling, so we returned to shore after about ninety minutes of gliding across the smooth green waters of East Canyon Reservoir. When we got to shore, we were greeted by Tanja and Dr. Rosenbluth, who dragged our kayak far enough up on shore so I could get out on dry land.  They make it so easy to have fun.

Jayne and me with tired arms and big smiles.  

Driving home, we basked in the calm that descended upon us while on the water.  We both commented on the powerful uplifting we felt from such a brief interlude from our daily routine.  That’s the beauty of living in Salt Lake City, which is literally surrounded by mountains, lakes and rivers.   Mostly, it's the desired result that TRAILS wants for all of its participants: a life changed for the better, regardless of physical ability.  Once again, mission accomplished,