Southern Utah’s scenic redrock country is opening its arms wider to wheelchair users, thanks to a rugged all-terrain chair now welcoming adventurers with mobility issues at Zion National Park.

The human-powered vehicle — crafted by the Payson-based company Extreme Motus — is designed to glide smoothly over dirt, sand and rock, carrying visitors with disabilities into spectacular backcountry spaces where standard wheelchairs are unable to tread.

“Zion is the first park in Utah — and among the first in the National Park Service — to own its own all-terrain mobility chair,” said Tiffany Stouffer, director of development for the park’s nonprofit partner Zion Forever Project.

Stouffer said that most other parks have to borrow these devices from nonprofits or community partners.

Zion may not be alone in Utah for long, though. Bryce Canyon, Arches and Capitol Reef national parks are also in the process of acquiring the chairs, according to Ryan Grassley, chief marketing officer for Extreme Motus. Nearly 700 of the company’s chairs are already “in the wild,” he said.

Beyond the sidewalks

Grassley said the need for mobility chairs should be evident to everyone.

“The most beautiful places in our country don’t have sidewalks,” he said. “They are at the end of trails in protected spaces like state and national parks. That’s why it is so important for these places to provide adaptive equipment. It doesn’t just benefit one person — it benefits your whole family, who can finally go and enjoy those special protected spaces together.”

Equipped with three balloon tires and weighing just under 50 pounds, the Extreme Motus is designed to roll over sand, gravel, grass and rocks and float in shallow water. While parents of children with disabilities typically foot the bill for the pushchairs, the devices are increasingly being placed in public spaces and made available for free.

Zion’s chair was purchased and donated by 2LIV4, a Colorado accessibility nonprofit. Stouffer said the Extreme Motus wheelchair is an entirely human-powered device designed for all-terrain navigation and requires an assistant to operate safely.

Before checking out the chair at the Zion National Park visitor center information desk, the user and their assistant meet with a park ranger to undergo a safety briefing and to walk them through the device’s features and operational guidelines.

First come, first served

The complimentary chair is available on a first-come, first-served basis; no reservations are accepted. Because the chair does not fit on park shuttles, rangers will issue an accessibility pass allowing users to drive their personal vehicle up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive during shuttle season, according to the park’s website.

While the Extreme Motus can go almost anywhere, it can’t go everywhere in Zion. Permitted routes include the Pa’rus Trail, Riverside Walk, Weeping Rock and Lower Emerald Pools. Marquee hikes such as Angels Landing, Upper Emerald Pools and the Zion Narrows, among others, are off-limits.

For users like Sam Durst, who has cerebral palsy, the chair is more than a piece of equipment.

Durst has worked with Grassley for about eight years to market the mobility chairs, and the two have used the Extreme Motus to explore all of Utah’s Mighty Five national parks other than Canyonlands.

Durst, who touts himself as the company’s “crash test dummy,” said he rides the off-road chair on all sorts of rugged terrain, while Grassley films their various adventures. He calls the device his ticket to the backcountry, including the demanding trail to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, a route his family used to have to hike without him.

“My parents can now take me wherever they want to go hiking,” Durst said.

Already a downhill skier and certified scuba diver, Durst said he now has another way to re-create with his family on adventures they refuse to give up. His mother, Christine Durst, said the all-terrain chair has finally let them tackle the kind of rugged hikes they once had to do without their son.

“It’s just such a wonderful thing to be able to do this together as a family,” she said.

Stouffer said Zion’s lone device has been in near-constant use since the park’s debut of the wheelchair lending program on Aug. 14. She hopes more will be made available at parks throughout the state.

“If it was my choice, every park would have one,” she said.