page_title: First Day Hikes
section_title: Hikes
hierarchical_section_title: First Day Hikes / Hikes
caption_attribution_description: Colorado River Park First Day Hike in Grand Junction, CO
context_page_description: First Day Hikes is a program of free, guided hikes offered by the fifty state park systems of the United States each year on New Year's Day. The program began locally in Massachusetts in 1992 and then went nationwide in 2012 under the aegis of the America's State Parks alliance.
  The hikes are intended to promote an alternate way of celebrating the new year by going outside, getting some exercise, and experience local nature and history. In 2017, more than 62,000 people participated in First Day Hikes, covering over 110,000 miles on some 1,300 hikes around the nation.
context_section_description: The number of different hikes offered within each state varies, with for example in 2018 New Jersey listing 30, Oklahoma having 19, and California offering over 80 of them.
  Hikes vary widely in duration and difficulty, with many being 1–3 miles (1.6–4.8 km) in length, easy-to-moderate in difficulty, and starting between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and taking one to two hours to complete.  However some are very short and easy and are family-friendly for all ages,  while others are strenuous with significant elevation gains.  Still others, such as at Spruce Run Recreation Area in New Jersey or at Red Rock Canyon State Park in California, are all-day affairs.  
  Walks often stop to hear the guides describe local flora, fauna, or historical sites of interest, such as at Monmouth Battlefield State Park in New Jersey. In some locations, park officials offer hot drinks and treats after the hikes.  The number of participants on any given hike can range from a dozen to a hundred or more; some hikes even draw two or three hundred people, and in any case numbers often vary depending upon the weather.
  In some cases, such as at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park in Nevada, guides may take participants into areas of a park normally off-limits to the general public.
  A few hikes feature modes other than walking, such as horseback riding, mountain biking, or all-terrain vehicles.  Night hikes have even been held when there is an especially bright moon.
  Cold weather is usually expected on January 1 across much of the nation and participants are advised to dress in layers appropriately. In cases of severe winter weather some of the hikes in a state may be cancelled, while others go on.
  People do turn out even in very cold weather, with for instance over 1,000 participants across Indiana in 2018 despite an average high temperature in the state  that day of 1 °F (−17 °C).
caption: A First Day Hike in James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park in Colorado in 2015
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