Accessibility

Accessibility Accommodations

Timpanogos National Monument is a cherished natural site that attracts visitors from all walks of life, including those with disabilities. In line with the National Park Service's commitment to ensuring accessibility for all visitors, this page is provided to assist you in making decisions for your visit.

U.S citizens or permanent residents with permanent disabilities qualify for the Interagency Access Pass, which provides free or discounted access to over 2,000 Federal recreation sites. Ask at our visitor center or call [phone] for more information.

Service Animals

The Department of Justice published revised final regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for title II (state and local government services) and title III (public accommodations and commercial facilities) on September 15, 2010, in the Federal Register. These requirements or rules, clarify and refine issues that have arisen over the past 20 years and contain new or updated requirements, including the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards).

This page provides guidance on the term "service animal" and the service animal provision in the Department's new regulations.

• Beginning on March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA.
• A service dog is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.

Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medicines, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person's disability. Dogs whose primary function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.

Under the ADA, dogs that are service animals will be permitted in the cave. As per ADA requirements, service animals must be in control and housebroken. When these conditions are not met, the service animal will not be allowed in the cave.

It is important to note that the surface of the cave trail often exceeds well over 120 degrees F in the summer months. While people's shoes protect them from this intense heat, a service dog's feet are right on the surface. In addition to providing water for your animal, we recommend dog booties for service dogs on the trail in the heat of the summer. Also, your animal might also benefit from foot protection on the metal bridges and grates inside the cave.

Owners are encouraged to identify their working service animal with a vest. Identification is not required, but helps prevent unwarranted "dog on trail" complaints from other visitors.

Miniature Horses

In addition to the provisions about service dogs, the Department’s ADA regulations have a separate provision about miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. (Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.)

The regulations set out four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility. The assessment factors are (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.

Please call prior to bringing a miniature horse to discuss the logistics of the Cave Access Trail and cave tours. 

Deaf/Hard of Hearing

For visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing, a variety of publications may be obtained at park headquarters. Wayside exhibits with illustrations and text on natural features are situated throughout the park. An online captioned, and signed tour of the cave is available. 

With two weeks notice, an ASL fluent ranger or interpreter can be provided. Please call the park to set this up. 

Assisted listening devices are available for cave tours. When you reach the top of the trail ask any ranger for one and they will help get you what you need. The system supports both a loop system that connects directly to hearing aids as well as the option to use headphones. Although the park has headphones you can use, we encourage you to bring your own plug in headphones for your comfort. 

Blind/Low Vision Accessibility

Some visitor center exhibits are tactile. Recorded descriptions of exhibits or waysides are not yet available. 

Physical/Mobility Accessibility

Hiking Sticks/Canes

The trail is steep and hiking sticks can help with mobility concerns while hiking. If you need mobility assistance in the cave, hiking sticks or canes can continue to be used.  If you do not require assistance in the cave, you must fully collapse your sticks and place them into a backpack or leave them at the trail junction in the bear box. 

Wheelchairs

The trail to the caves is paved but strenuous, with a 1,100 foot elevation gain over a mile-and-a-half. Due to the steepness of the grade (15-20% in places), no wheeled vehicles are allowed - with the exception of wheelchairs.

The term “wheelchair” is defined by the ADA in the new rules as “a manually-operated or power-driven device designed primarily for use by an individual with a mobility disability for the main purpose of indoor or of both indoor and outdoor locomotion.”  We do not allow wagons, strollers, or anything else with wheels on the trail. 

The prohibition on wheeled vehicles is necessary to reduce the risk of serious bodily harm or death on the trail. Wheelchairs are allowed where other devices are not because they are essential mobility aids for individuals with disabilities, and their use is protected under accessibility laws to ensure equal access.

Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices

Other Power-Driven Mobility Devices are "any mobility device that is used by individuals with mobility disabilities for the purpose of locomotion."  These devices are not wheelchairs and may only be approved on a case by case basis for use on the Cave Access Trail with 1 week notice.  The park will evaluate the OMDMD request based on five assessment factors:

• the type, size, weight, dimensions, and speed of the device;
• the volume of pedestrian traffic (which may vary at different times of the day, week, month, or year);
• the facility’s design and operational characteristics (e.g., whether its business is conducted indoors or outdoors, its square footage, the density and placement of furniture and other stationary devices, and the availability of storage for the OPDMD if needed and requested by the user);
• whether legitimate safety requirements (such as limiting speed to the pace of pedestrian traffic) can be established to permit the safe operation of the OPDMD in the specific facility; and
• whether the use of the OPDMD creates a substantial risk of serious harm to the immediate environment or natural or cultural resources, or poses a conflict with Federal land management laws and regulations.

To request an assessment to bring an OPDMD, email the park at least seven days ahead of your planned visit. 

Credible Assurance

If the park can accommodate one or more types of OPDMDs, the person using the device will be asked to provide credible assurance that the device is used because of a disability. State-issued disability parking placard or a state-issued proof of disability will be accepted as credible assurance. 
 

 

The paved trail is narrow with steep switchbacks.

NPS/A. Shirey

Timpanogos Cave Access Trail - Visitor center to cave entrance

Length

1.5 miles (2.5 km)

Grade

Typical Grade: 7.7%
493 feet is 13.1% to 16%
Steepest grade: 16%
Standard Ramp Grade: 8.3%

Cross Slope

Typical Cross Slope: 2.1%
451.3 ft has a cross slope of 5.1%-7.5%

Tread Width

Typical Tread Width: 64 in (162.5cm)
Maximum: 60 in

Junction to Cave Exit

Length

.2 mi (.4 km)

Grade

Typical Grade: 8.2%
Max Grade: 15.7%

Cross Slope

Typical Cross slope: 2.4%
Max Cross slope: 8.2%

Tread Width

Typical Tread Width: 83"
Minimum: 33"