In the grassy hills beyond Bear Creek Nature Center, people with disabilities in recent years had been riding a small, wheeled transport before being forced to turn around.

The rock walls and promontories of city of Colorado Springs-owned Bear Creek Cañon Park loomed ahead. But the scenery was unavailable to these explorers. This was around where El Paso County’s Bear Creek Regional Park met that city park boundary.

“We had to turn around where that city and county line met, because the trail as it continued was a lot more narrow and more deeply rutted than our vehicles were able to handle,” said Kylee Taylor, Bear Creek Nature Center’s interpretive program specialist.

Taylor has overseen the county’s Trailability program, which puts people in vehicles called Terrain Hoppers and shows them nature otherwise inaccessible to them.

Now they can venture on.

In what land managers are calling a “neighborly” deed, the city recently finished a new stretch of Bear Creek Regional Trail — continuing nearly a mile up from where Terrain Hoppers previously turned back.

From May through October, the Terrain Hoppers have been reserved in advance for outings around Bear Creek Nature Center. Some outings have spanned close to 3 miles.

“With this extension, we’re looking at more like 4½ miles” out and back, Taylor said. “There are definitely people that are gonna be using that.”

The man who built the trail, Dan Allen with the city parks department, figures people on foot and bike will be using it as well.

The 4½ miles travel from Bear Creek Nature Center up to Gold Camp Road, where one might venture on to North Cheyenne Cañon Park, High Drive and Pike National Forest. Or one could veer off for other trails in Bear Creek Cañon Park, such as the mountain bike-centric Stephanie’s Trail. Or one might continue over to Section 16 and Red Rock Canyon Open Space.

The new trail meets “something of a nerve center,” Allen said. “It just provides a more enjoyable trail experience.”

More enjoyable for people who need the help of the county’s Terrain Hoppers or the city’s TrackChairs.

The city this summer debuted the vehicles — matching those seen for years in Staunton State Park near Conifer — in Red Rock Canyon and Blodgett open spaces on a limited basis.

This was the “soft launch” of a program that could mirror the county’s Trailability program, which books seasonal trips from Bear Creek and Fountain Creek nature centers Thursday-Saturday. The county reported the two nature centers totaled about 80 Terrain Hopper trips this year, the program’s third year.

In the city’s first summer with the TrackChairs, six ranger-led trips were booked, lasting up to four hours. One participant was an elderly woman who told ranger Cassie Rogers of her former life as a wildlife photographer and her many years away from nature due to her condition.

“She was constantly stopping and pulling over and taking pictures,” Rogers recalled, “and really pushing the TrackChair’s limits on what she could go over.”

The new section of Bear Creek Regional Trail offers a “very leisurely” ride, Allen said. He built it wide, rising over gentle slopes and making wide, long turns unlike a typical switchback. It is in stark contrast to the steeper, narrow Stephanie’s Trail, for example, which has a new segment off Bear Creek Regional Trail to form a loop.

The proximity of the mountain bike trail begs the question as the city parks department anticipates more trails designed for TrackChairs in future planning: Can demands for different trail experiences be met and compromises made?

“Everyone has the right to explore and enjoy our open spaces,” Allen answered. “Our job in coordinating with advocacy groups is to make sure everybody has that chance to access trails.”

Advocates helped with the new trail and closures of adjacent, eroded paths deemed unsustainable — contributing 800-plus volunteer hours, Allen said.

In his 14 years of trail construction, this project was “most fulfilling,” he said. “Because I feel like there’s such a greater impact on the community, where we’re building these accessible trails.”