Start Your Year Outside: Where to Find a First Day Hike in All 50 States
The presents are presented, the dishes are cleaned up, the family is entertained. And when we wake up, bleary-eyed, on January 1, all that will be left to do is to confront the inevitable holiday hangover (maybe a real hangover too, depending on how you decided to see off the old year). Getting your feet under you at the beginning of a new year is rarely easy. But as with so many other things in life, a hike can make it better.
For the 14th year in a row, state parks around the country will ring in the new year with one of my favorite outdoor traditions, the First Day Hike. With events scheduled to go on in all 50 U.S. states, almost anyone with a morning off and the discipline to get up early can be part of it. Below, we’ve collected where to find a hike near you in a single, easy list. (A word to the wise: Many parks now require reservations for their New Year’s Day events, and some of the more popular ones fill up fast. Save your spot now.)
Where to Find a First Day Hike in 2026
- Alabama(Try: Cheaha State Park)
- Alaska(Try: Delta Junction)
- Arizona(Try: Catalina State Park)
- Arkansas(Try: Pinnacle Mountain State Park)
- California(Try: Mount Tamalpais State Park)
- Colorado(Try: Roxborough State Park)
- Connecticut(Try: Hammonasset Beach State Park)
- Delaware(Try: Cape Henlopen State Park)
- Florida(Try: Suwannee River State Park)
- Georgia(Try: Cloudland Canyon State Park)
- Hawaii (Not yet announced; 2025’s First Day Hike was at Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline, Oʻahu)
- Idaho(Try: Lucky Peak State Park)
- Illinois(Try: Starved Rock State Park)
- Indiana(Try: Turkey Run State Park)
- Iowa(Try: Ledges State Park)
- Kansas(Try: Kanopolis State Park)
- Kentucky(Try: Carter Caves State Resort Park)
- Louisiana(Try: Chicot State Park)
- Maine(Try: Camden Hills State Park)
- Maryland(Try: Patapsco Valley State Park)
- Massachusetts(Try: Blue Hills Reservation)
- Michigan(Try: Island Lake Recreation Area)
- Minnesota(Try: Fort Snelling State Park)
- Mississippi(Try: Tishomingo State Park)
- Missouri(Try: Hawn State Park)
- Montana(Try: First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park)
- Nebraska(Try: Platte River State Park)
- Nevada(Try: Valley of Fire State Park)
- New Hampshire(Try: Monadnock State Park)
- New Jersey(Try: High Point State Park)
- New Mexico(Try: Cerrillos Hills State Park)
- New York(Try: Minnewaska State Park Preserve)
- North Carolina(Try: Chimney Rock State Park)
- North Dakota(Try: Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park)
- Ohio(Try: Shawnee State Park)
- Oklahoma(Try: Robbers Cave State Park)
- Oregon(Try: Silver Falls State Park)
- Pennsylvania(Try: Ohiopyle State Park)
- Rhode Island(Try: Fishermen’s Memorial State Campground)
- South Carolina(Try: Oconee State Park)
- South Dakota(Try: Custer State Park)
- Tennessee(Try: Fall Creek Falls State Park)
- Texas(Try: Palo Duro Canyon State Park)
- Utah(Try: Antelope Island State Park)
- Vermont(Try: Groton State Forest)
- Virginia(Try: Pocahontas State Park)
- Washington(Try: Deception Pass State Park)
- West Virginia(Try: Blackwater Falls State Park)
- Wisconsin(Try: Devil’s Lake State Park)
- Wyoming(Try: Curt Gowdy State Park)
