Access Adventure Galleries

ACCESS ADVENTURE : John Muir’s great-grandson is blazing a trail into the wilderness, opening a path to be traveled by people with disabilities. Fairfield horseman, Michael Muir, has lived with multiple sclerosis since he was 15 years old. Refusing to be daunted by the relentless course of his disease, Muir believes in challenging the limits of disability. In 2001, he led an international team of people with disabilities driving wheelchair accessible horsedrawn carriages on a 3,000 mile, ten-month Journey Across America, from Mission San Diego to Washington DC. The extraordinary experiences of HorseJourney have led to the founding of ACCESS ADVENTURE. Join us for Anywhere Wild! multi-day accessible camping trips to remote, scenic locations throughout California. Everyone is welcome to join the horses and staff of Access Adventure. See the website Special Events Calendar for 2009 for additional information.

ACCESS ADVENTURE

John Muir’s great-grandson is blazing a trail into the wilderness, o ...

Updated: Dec 31, 2009 5:00pm PST

Rush Ranch Our Home Base : Rising out of the northeast edge of the Suisun Marsh, Rush Ranch stretches across 2,070 acres of marsh and rolling grassland. Purchased in 1988 by Solano Land Trust, Rush Ranch provides recreational and educational opportunities to thousands of visitors each year. The Ranch, with its historical buildings and self-guided trails, is located approximately two miles south of Highway 12 on Grizzly Island Road. Before European settlement, Patwin Native Americans summered on the property for thousands of years. The Suisunes, a sub tribe of the Patwins, likely hunted tule elk, grizzly bears and waterfowl, fished in the Suisun slough, and gathered plants for food and medicine. It is estimated that there were about 2,300 Patwins living in the area of Solano County in 1800, but the population soon plummeted to zero due to disease, forced moves to Spanish Missions and battles with Europeans. By 1823, there were no observed Native Americans left in the area, only abandoned and destroyed village sites. For most of the 20th century, the ranch was operated by the Rush family, and unlike other landowners adjacent to the Suisun Marsh, they did not dike or otherwise significantly alter the tidal action on their property. With most tidal marshes in the United States managed or filled, their decision to leave the marsh to natural tidal ebbs and flows has proven to be an important contribution to tidal marsh science as a premier tidal habitat and in protecting plant and animal species of the marsh. www.solanolandtrust.org

Rush Ranch Our Home Base

Rising out of the northeast edge of the Suisun Marsh, Rush Ranch stret ...

Updated: Sep 21, 2009 10:23pm PST

Reba & Ruby Working for Access Adventure : I have traveled the world and feasted on many things. Today's experience rivaled them all. I met two females, magnificent by any standards. True treasures. Ruby, a gem beyond measure, works willingly. She focuses on the task, plows ahead and takes all distractions in stride. She is reliably steady and solid, a rock. Reba values aesthetics and notices all. Each nuance is evaluated with care. She often turns to Ruby, as a foundation, before she pronounces judgment on the new encounter. Both ladies are classically clothed in black with a touch of white near their forehead, although Reba, like Michael Jackson, is a thriller with one white glove. True class has no boundaries. Ruby and Reba are two Percheron horses who pulled the carriage that took me through God's beauty, a feast for my soul. By Charla Emerson, August 25, 2007

Reba & Ruby Working for Access Adventure

I have traveled the world and feasted on many things. Today's experie ...

Updated: Dec 27, 2008 10:17pm PST

Ruby & Reba Take Us Anywhere Wild! : When John Muir first arrived in California by ship, he was bewildered and overwhelmed by the raucous energy of San Francisco in 1869. He asked a passerby the quickest way out of the city. Well, where do you want to go? the stranger inquired. "Anywhere Wild!" was the response. Muir's great-grandson, Michael, is blazing a new trail into the wilderness, opening a path to be traveled by people with disabilities. Anywhere Wild! offers remote, scenic, multi-day wilderness experiences for people living with mobility challenges. Bands of intrepid travelers have traveled to Ft. Hunter Liggett/Mission San Antonio de Padua, the spectacular Lost Coast in Humboldt County, the historic Humbug Valley in Plumas County and the Fandango Pass area of the Old Oregon Trail in Modoc County and treks near Yosemite under the auspices of the Sierra Club.

Ruby & Reba Take Us Anywhere Wild!

When John Muir first arrived in California by ship, he was bewildered ...

Updated: Dec 27, 2008 11:55pm PST

Moonlighting for Access Adventure : ACCESS ADVENTURE was set in motion in July 2005 at the Muir Heritage Land Trust’s Dutra Ranch. At that time we didn’t yet maintain a stable of driving horses to serve the program, but depended on volunteers with suitably experienced horses to work when needed. Jill Hokanson Carr and her Tennessee Walking Horse gelding, Steely Dan, Ann Breznock and her Percheron team, and Susan Hassett and her Morgan stallion, Triton O'Sage, were on hand with carriages and continue to support ACCESS ADVENTURE. We have a variety of driving horses to draw on. They come in different sizes and colors, but share a gentle, reliable nature and a good work ethic. These stalwart workhorses are the backbone of the program. The three years that followed the introduction of our unique program have brought us more horses and professional drivers that are available to support our two mares, Reba and Ruby. Our volunteer horses demonstrate all the qualities we seek in horses that work with people with disabilities. They are remarkably patient and stand quietly while we load and lockdown wheelchairs on the carriage. Responding quickly to any driving command, we never have to ask them twice to get to the task at hand.

Moonlighting for Access Adventure

ACCESS ADVENTURE was set in motion in July 2005 at the Muir Heritage L ...

Updated: Jan 03, 2009 7:45pm PST

New Stallion Barn : Just in time for the winter rains, we happily announce that the reconstruction of the ranch stallion barn is almost completed. Steve Harvey as construction engineer, Jon Duncan as his assistant, and crews of volunteers from community service groups are responsible for its transformation. The old barn at Wilcox Ranch, slated for demolition, provided lumber, much of it used as siding. The "new" barn took on the characteristics of an "old" barn. We’ll miss our western movie set, but look forward to the completion of the barn. It will provide a home for the horses, and a tack /carriage room. The Syar Foundation has provided the funding for our new equestrian facilities: the corrals, arenas and barn. Without their support we would still be living in facilities that were unsafe for both animals and people.

New Stallion Barn

Just in time for the winter rains, we happily announce that the recons ...

Updated: Nov 19, 2009 10:47pm PST