The Lockwood Foundation Hopes To Make Rugged Trails Accessible To More

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4)- Some volunteers with a love of the outdoors want to make sure that the rugged trails are accessible to everyone, regardless of ability. That's where the nonprofit The Lockwood Foundation comes in.

Jeff Lockwood is getting ready for his big trip Saturday.

"We're doing some wild stuff. We're doing what is considered impossible to most of the world," said Jeff, the founder of The Lockwood Foundation.

The nonprofit's goal is to take people who use a wheelchair out on Colorado's rugged trails. Somewhere that is usually off limits for them.

"This is it. This is the end of the road for most of these folks," Jeff said as he pointed to the parking lot of a trailhead.

The group is using an adaptive wheelchair called the TrailRider. It has one wheel and is pulled and pushed by a team of 20 to 30 people. It is incredibly agile. In fact, Saturday and Sunday they are taking it to the summit of Quandary Peak.

"We're doing this because no one else will," said Jeff.

He spent Friday setting up a base camp for their team. The team will hike halfway Saturday, stay the night and then summit on Sunday. All of this a tremendous amount of work for one person but Jeff said it's worth it because his team is giving them the gift of freedom.

"It's kind of like flying. We have our dream to fly like Superman, but it's a dream, it's a fantasy, some might say. This is the equivalency of that for these folks. They've been told their whole life they can't enjoy the trails and we say we're basically going to take you flying today."

The Lockwood Foundation really needs people to help them fulfill their mission. They need strong hikers and medical professionals who are willing to take people on these trips.

LINK: The Lockwood Foundation