December 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 18

Community Center
First Day Hikes: A Natural
Way to Start the New Year
By Lincoln R. Larson, Ph.D., Sarah R. Wilcer and Jeffrey C. Hallo, Ph.D.

hen most people think of New Year's Day, things like family, friends,
food and festivities come to mind. However, thanks to a rapidly expanding initiative, designed to get more people active and outdoors,
a new activity has been added to that traditional mix. This year, on
January 1, record numbers of " First Day Hikers " are expected to flock to parks around
the country. New research suggests that park managers who capitalize on this phenomenon could build connections with visitors and generate positive recreation and
stewardship outcomes that last well beyond New Year's Day.
What are First Day Hikes?
Initiated in Massachusetts in 1992, the
First Day Hikes concept emerged as a
way to get more people in parks and enjoying nature during a season (winter)
not typically associated with outdoor
recreation. The hikes quickly grew in
scope and popularity. In 2012, when the
National Association of State Park Directors (NASPD) began administering
the program, all 50 state park systems
held at least one First Day Hike for the
first time, and participation in the pro-

gram has continued to grow. By 2017,
the First Day Hike program offered more
than 1,300 guided hikes that attracted
more than 62,000 hikers (see Figure 1),
making it one of the most popular recreation events in the country.
Although typically hosted within state
parks, First Day Hikes are made possible by the work of many individuals at
the local, state and national levels. The
hikes are typically free, with many sites
only requiring a park entrance fee (if
applicable). Partnerships with local en-

First Day Hike Trends
1500

1200

50
40

900

600

Hikers

Hikes

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Year
16

Parks & Recreation

| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

300

2017

# of Hikes

# of Hikers (thousands)

tities (e.g., friends groups, hiking clubs),
national organizations (e.g., American
Hiking Society) and governmental agencies (e.g., National Park Service, U.S.
Forest Service) help to support the event
and programming in certain areas.
Who are the First Day Hikers?
Despite the popularity of First Day Hikes,
little is known about the hikers themselves.
To learn more about them, our team studied participants across three of the most
popular First Day Hike states: Georgia,
Massachusetts and South Carolina. On January 1, 2016, we asked 1,934 adults attending the state park hikes to complete a brief
questionnaire. We then followed up with
a smaller group of those hikers via a web
survey about six months later. Most participants (60 percent) were first-time First Day
Hikers, and many (36 percent) were visiting
a park they had never visited previously. For
4 percent of participants, this represented
their first hiking experience of any kind.
Almost half of the participants (49 percent)
were hiking with their family and many
were hiking with friends (16 percent). Children accounted for about one-third of the
makeup of the hiking groups.
What are the benefits of the
First Day Hike experience?
According to hikers, the most important
benefits associated with the experience
were exploring the natural world, spending time with family, exercising and improving physical health, and relaxing and
reducing stress - all benefits commonly
associated with other forms of park-based
recreation. First Day Hike participation

December 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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