Elakah Sea Kayak Trips - Accessibility and Universal Programming

Our trips are universally designed so everyone can enjoy sea kayaking regardless of your physical, cognitive or emotional ability. Here are our answers to a few common questions about the accessibility of Elakah's Sea Kayak Trips in the San Juan Islands and Bellingham.

How difficult are Elakah trips?  
We have a variety of trips that range drastically in the difficulty level, terrain encountered, and distance paddled.  Here is an attempt at a spectrum of difficulty:
Mothership Adventures -------> B&B Trips -------> 3-day Educational Trips ------> 5-7 day Trips
- Staterooms with toilets and showers                      - Semi-primitive camping
- 2-5 hours paddling / day                                      - Pit toilets (may have some steps), no showers
- Accessible to most folks                                       - 4-8 hours of paddling/day

- Beaches are flat and smooth                                 - Beaches are more irregular, rocky, steep.

How and where do I go to the bathroom?  

Ahh, the eternal question.  This is the single biggest reason that people do not want to go on camping sea kayak trips ... whether they admit it or not. All of our campsites will have a pit or composting toilet.  Most of those toilets have stairs to get up to them.  If you need help up the stairs, your group members and the guides will all have to work together to get you up to the toilets.  There are no showers or running water at these facilities.  During our day excursions, there will be lunch stops or "pee breaks" on beaches that have no built facilities.  In this case, your guides will assist you in determining the most ecologically sensitive place to "go," that has the best opportunity for privacy.  Usually this is below the high tide line (so the tide can wash away our presence on that beach), and behind a set of convenient rocks or trees.  If you have serious problems with being able to relieve yourself in these conditions, please do not worry.  It is relatively easy to tailor our day trips so that our stops can consistently be at beaches that do have built facilities.  Just let us know what your needs are, and we can unobtrusively tailor the trip to meet those needs.  No problem!

What if I need some help?  

It is the nature of wilderness travel that EVERYBODY needs help.  The group can only function safely and effectively if the members of the group play a role in making the group successful.  So come to an Elakah trip prepared to share your skills with others and willing to gracefully accept the help of others in the group.  If you have a disability that would require more specialized assistance than could be provided by the guides and group members, Elakah will provide a scholarship for that caregiver to come on the trip at a reduced rate. 

Have specific requirements? Not to worry. We're experts in adapting equipment and agendas to suit individual and group needs.

View our entire 2006 schedule
You can also view our schedule by date.