Trail Busters Unified Youth Hiking Club
Building strength, community, and confidence, one trail at a time.
About Trail Busters
Why the name Trail Busters? One of our hikers, Jacob, is a big Ghost Busters fan, and as we hiked along one day, thinking of club names, he suggested “Trail Busters” - and it stuck!
This is a unified youth fitness club, which means that our hikers are both Special Olympics New York athletes and partners (those without an intellectual disability), ages 6 - 16. This is a non-competitive club, created for the love of being outdoors and the knowledge that hiking - and walking - outside builds core strength, stability, confidence, and a love of nature.
The club is led by a team of parents and professionals who are excited to volunteer as coaches. We have all gone through trainings provided by Special Olympics New York, and also bring our own experience, professional training, and love of the outdoors.
We meet every Sunday at 1 p.m. (schedule subject to change depending on participation). The hike usually lasts about 1 hour and is suitable for beginning hikers. We rotate through a variety of locations within a 30-minute driving radius of Glens Falls.
About Us
Trail Busters organizers, Sarah and Adam, with their sons, Oliver (left) and Ben.
My husband, Adam, and I are Glens Falls residents and parents of two boys - Ben, 13, and Oliver, 8. Oliver has Down syndrome, an intellectual disability that also affects strength and balance. We got involved with Special Olympics New York, first as a Polar Plunger in Lake George, then as volunteers.
Hiking has been an activity our family has always enjoyed together - especially on easier, family-friendly trails that have streams, bridges, and other fun things along the way. Though Oliver sometimes needs some snack incentives to keep going (but really, who doesn’t?), his balance and core strength have really benefited from hiking on uneven ground. He’s also proud of being able to scramble over, up and around obstacles, always in pursuit of his big brother.
Being outside became even more important during the pandemic, as we looked for things to do that were safe. Like so many others, we turned to nature for comfort and entertainment, but we still needed to socialize!
The idea of starting a youth hiking club came as a natural next step - and we’re looking forward to growing into a bigger community of hikers!
About Special Olympics New York
The mission of Special Olympics New York is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.
Our hiking area of Warren, Washington and Saratoga Counties is within the Capital Region of Special Olympics New York.
