Gold Beach To Get All-Terrain Track Chair, First on South Oregon Coast

Published 09/18/23 at 9:27 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Gold Beach, Oregon) - More specialized wheelchairs for those with mobility issues are coming to the Oregon coast, with Gold Beach now joining Seaside, Manzanita, Netarts and Pacific City with the all-terrain track chairs. Once again, the nonprofit David's Chair has stepped in to help yet another beach town to go fully accessible.

These are special vehicles that can wander on not just sand but into pools of water and over rocky shores as well. This opens up much more mobility than even the usual sand wheelchairs that some towns have to lend out.

David's Chair has been extensively involved in getting these electric track chairs to Oregon, especially on the coast. This has included individuals from Brookings as well as other beach towns and inland areas. These particular chairs are from a company called Action Trackchair.

Steve Furst, CEO and founder of David's Chair, said this has been in the works for awhile.

The new all-terrain will be at the Gold Beach Visitor Center when all is completed.

Gold Beach, Manuela Durson, photo courtesy Manuela Durson Fine Arts

“This is a great location because it has direct beach access,” Furst told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “We are working out the details on what the time limits will be. We expect it to be available in 2-hour increments. To request the use of this chair, people will be able to go to our website under 'request a chair' and select 'fixed location chair,' and scroll to Gold Beach and they can look over our calendar and select a date and time that is available.”

The ball started rolling a couple of months ago, Furst said, when David's Chair put out notice it had one more chair to provide in Oregon, hoping for a coastal location.

“Ruth Dixon from the Gold Beach Visitors center reached out to us and we started a dialogue with her and her administration,” he said. “We have been looking for a location on the south coast for a couple years and now we have it. We appreciate the work that Ruth has put into helping facilitate this life-changing opportunity for people with mobility challenges.”

Furst said that when someone with mobility challenges is able to get on one of these chairs and again explore the beaches of the Oregon coast, it allows friends and family to participate in the pure joy and happiness that results.

The group is waiting for a ramp to be built at the Gold Beach Visitor Center.

“We expect to have the online reservation system up and operational by the end of this week and should have the track chair in Gold Beach within 2 - 3 weeks,” he said.

Newport and Florence have also been working to acquire the chairs. Gold Beach Visitors Center: (541) 247-7526

Oregon Coast Hotels for this event - South Coast Hotels - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

MORE PHOTOS BELOW

Gold Beach, courtesy Gold Beach Real Estate

More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging.....

More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining.....

Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles

Back to Oregon Coast

Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection
All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted