PVA hosts first Grand Teton Outdoor Experience
Joel Rodriguez pushed himself to get outside and try something different.
An Army veteran and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Florida Gulf Coast Chapter member, he hadn’t done any activity like mountain biking or all-terrain handcycling since before his spinal cord injury more than 10 years ago.
That all changed Tuesday afternoon at PVA’s first Grand Teton Outdoor Experience, which started at Teton Adaptive outdoor recreation area in the mountains of Jackson Hole in Wyoming.
Rodriguez used a Bowhead adaptive bike, which involves more articulation. The rider shifts his or her body to move the bike over rough terrain.
“Trails were awesome. I will say that it’s a little more tiring than you would expect. I mean, I did good considering I fell only once and at the end. But the trails were incredible. So much fun,” says Rodriguez, who served from 2009 to 2016 as an air traffic controller and sustained a C5 complete SCI in a car accident in Fort Rucker, Ala., in July 2014.
Rodriguez is one of nine veterans and PVA members attending the Grand Teton adventure this week through Thursday. On Tuesday, they participated in all-terrain handcycling, starting out with some parking lot lessons and then taking on the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort trails and also riding a gondola up the Teton Mountain Range to check out the views.
Members were split into two groups Tuesday, with one taking the gondola ride and viewing the top of the mountain, while the other group handcycled. Then, they had lunch and switched after.
“Exhilarating, it was exhilarating,” says Rodriguez, who plays wheelchair rugby and has also played for the U.S. at the Invictus Games. He wanted to attend this event and try something different. “And so much fun. I was happy, happy to be there and just just an incredible opportunity.”
On Wednesday, participants travel to Palisades Reservoir on the Snake River in eastern Idaho, where they’ll participate in adaptive yoga, along with doing some adaptive sailing, adaptive kayaking and competing in lawn games. And on Thursday, they’ll travel to Grand Teton National Park and go on a hike at Phelps Lake and handcycle or bike from Taggart Lake to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. Their caregivers also get to take part in activities, too, like horseback riding and a boat ride.
The experience was open to just a handful of members and is a first for PVA, which teamed up with Teton Adaptive for the outdoor adventure. But PVA will be offering two more similar events in other parts of the United States — with one coming in August in Breckenridge, Colo., and another in Maine in February.
Teton Adaptive Executive Director Adriene Henderson says they wanted to give participants a taste of what Wyoming is like and allow people to venture into some different adaptive outdoor activities for their first time.
“I hope it provides them two things — one, an incredible week where they get to spend time with other people who are venturing into this, spend time with their loved ones that are here and spend time with their team and just realize what’s possible, and then two, I hope that we’re able to find some things for them that can translate into their everyday lives,” Henderson says.
