Colorado Youth Outdoors unveils one-of-a-kind dock at Swift Ponds, making inclusive outdoor recreation a reality
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A decades-long dream to provide people in wheelchairs the chance to fish with their feet in the water is now a reality, thanks to a new, fully accessible fishing dock unveiled at Colorado Youth Outdoors’ Swift Ponds.
On June 7, during Outdoor Buddies Family Day, participants using wheelchairs cast lines into Bluegill Pond for the first time from a dock designed to sit just below the water’s surface — a vision conceived in 1988 by the late Louis Swift. Located at 4927 East County Road 36 in Fort Collins, the site is believed to feature the nation’s first dock allowing wheelchair users to wade in the water while physically fishing.
Louis Swift, who passed away in 2003, originally developed the idea on his family’s land south of Fort Collins. His early design used a submerged metal I-beam frame to support a deck below the waterline. Though the concept stalled over the years, Swift Ponds was later donated to Colorado Youth Outdoors (CYO) in 2008, aligning with Swift’s wish to preserve the land for youth education…