COLORADO SPRINGS — On a July summer morning, as lingering wildfire smoke slowly cleared out from the Colorado Springs area, Aaron Baker and his family drove to the summit of Pikes Peak.
As he unloaded his wheelchair, he remarked how the altitude was no joke. His three-year-old daughter Cayla climbed onto his lap and Baker began exploring the top of America’s Mountain. His wife, Katelyn, walked alongside.
“It’s pretty special for people with disabilities to have this access,” Baker said with a smile, as he stared into the boundless Rocky Mountain vistas. “And to be able to have this kind of experience, when so much of the world is inaccessible. A place like this. 14,115 feet.”
Aaron Baker was a professional motocross athlete when he suffered a career-spinal cord injury in 1999. He was paralyzed from the chin down. He was given a “one in a million” chance of ever feeding himself again.
In the years since he’s defied those odds and rebuilt his life. Now a recovering quadriplegic, Baker is touring the world in an RV with his wife Katelyn, and three-year-old daughter Cayla.
Through his Adversity Into Adventure tour, Baker said he hopes to inspire others to realize they can still travel and go adventuring even if they’re disabled. In Baker’s mind, he’s not disabled. He’s “Diverse-Abled.”
The Baker family world tour started in southern California in June and plans to hit six of the seven continents through 2026. Colorado was one of their earlier stops and Pikes Peak was a checklist item they didn't want to miss.
As he explored the Summit Visitor Center and surrounding area, Baker explained how the wide open space and smooth ground made it easy for his wheelchair to get around.
“Kudos, Colorado, for creating this type of accessible space. This is really extraordinary,” he said. “I'm awestruck by the attention to detail here. The ease of mobility. I'm very happy and comfortable.”
Opened in June 2021, the new Pikes Peak summit experience was designed with accessibility in mind. It might be the region’s top visitor attraction, but other sites around Colorado Springs have the same mindset.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Museum (USOPM), for example, was designed with input from Paralympic athletes to ensure anyone could experience the exhibits meaningfully.
“When guests enter the museum, they will not find a step,” said Tommy Schield, chief marketing and communications officer at USOPM. “It's ramped all the way throughout the museum. And each guest has the ability to customize their experience at the very beginning.”
When the city’s tourism office, Visit Colorado Springs (Visit COS), began receiving more detailed data on tourists coming to the area, they noted a large percentage of visitors with a disability.
“So that really kind of sparked a space where we could do a lot more and kind of improve what we're offering to visitors,” said Sheridan Powell, communications specialist with Visit COS. “And so we have really tried to bulk up our information and our resources that are available to travelers and to their friends and families.”
According to the most recent Longwoods International Travel USA Visitor Profile study, 31% of travel parties to the Pikes Peak region had a member who required accessibility services. That was 14% higher than the US norm.
Powell said travelers previously would book ADA-accessible hotel rooms only to discover they weren’t as advertised.
That’s what led the city’s tourism arm to Wheel the World, an international travel company that focuses on linking disabled travelers with the best businesses for their needs.
Colorado Springs is now “Destination Verified” on the Wheel the World website, meaning their team traveled to Colorado this summer and analyzed hundreds of data points at dozens of businesses to ensure they were accommodating for those tourists with accessibility needs.
Camilo Navarro, the co-founder and COO of Wheel the World, said a personal travel experience to Patagonia on the southern tip of South America sprung the idea into his mind. Navarro is from Chile and Patagonia is one of the most visited places in his country.
His travel companion was a wheelchair user and they realized they had no information for how to explore the region. Wheel the World now partners with 200 destinations in more than 50 countries, highlighting the businesses that are ADA friendly and accessible.
“What is happening today is when people with disabilities travel, they don't know what to expect. They arrive to places and they don't have the altitude of the bed that they needed, or they didn't have the specific type of bathroom that they need,” said Navarro. “As a consequence, eight out of 10 people with disabilities or accessibility needs and seniors when they travel, they have bad experiences.”
Wheel the World plans to officially unveil its full partnership with Colorado Springs in the coming days and weeks with the launch of a full-scale marketing video showcasing everything the area has to offer.
“If someone with accessibility needs wants to visit Colorado Springs, if they can do it through our platform, they're going to see that they have available hotels, tours and activities, and restaurants,” said Navarro. “With that information, they can make an informed decision, where we are going to guarantee that they're going to have an accessible experience as they travel to those destinations.”
Tune into News 5 at 5 PM on Thursday for my full report.
Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTVon X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
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