First Day Hikes: Find A VA State Park To Visit On Jan. 1, 2022

VIRGINIA — Start your New Year off right and fill your lungs with fresh air on a hike at one of Virginia's dozens of state parks on Jan. 1, 2022.

Virginia has 41 state parks from which to choose to participate in First Day Hikes, an initiative of America's State Parks.

Taking a hike is the perfect family-friendly activity, and participating in a First Day Hike is a good way for people with a goal to get fit or stay fit in the new year.

In 2020, 85,000 people rang in the New Year, collectively hiking more than 176,366 miles throughout the country on the guided hikes. Numerous others hiked state park trails throughout the day, according to America's State Parks.

Virginia has many hikes and opportunities to select, or residents can visit a park of their choosing and create their own special First Day Hike.

With cases of COVID-19 surging in Virginia again, residents should check the website of the park for any alerts and have an alternate plan in case the park is at capacity when they arrive.

As part of the First Day Hike, the public can sign up for the Trail Quest program and be rewarded for just visiting a park. After visiting a Virginia State Park, the public can log into the State Park Adventures page. Select the name of the park you visited, pick "Trail Quest" and record the date of the visit.

Also, you can join the Geocaching Game and record having found the park's cache at the same time. The app keeps track of your progress, and you will receive email confirmation.

Geocaching is a type of global treasure hunt of people looking for caches, or hidden stashes of objects. Seekers use GPS devices to find hidden caches. Caches are the hidden treasure. After registering online, geocachers look for the longitude and latitude of caches.

The public has the opportunity to earn five unique and attractive pins. You will earn one pin for visiting your first park and other pins after visiting 5, 10, 20 and all parks.

Here are Virginia state parks to visit as part of the First Day Hike initiative:

• Bear Creek Lake
• Belle Isle
• Breaks Interstate
• Caledon
• Chippokes Plantation
• Claytor Lake
• Clinch River
• Douthat
• Fairy Stone
• False Cape
• First Landing
• Grayson Highlands
• High Bridge Trail
• Holliday Lake
• Hungry Mother
• James River
• Kiptopeke
• Lake Anna
• Leesylvania
• Mason Neck
• Machicomoco
• Natural Bridge
• Natural Tunnel
• New River Trail
• Occoneechee
• Pocahontas
• Powhatan
• Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historic
• Seven Bends
• Shenandoah River
• Shot Tower
• Sky Meadows
• Smith Mountain Lake
• Southwest Virginia Museum Historical
• Staunton River
• Staunton River Battlefield
• Twin Lakes
• Westmoreland
• Widewater
• Wilderness Road
• York River

Park Trail Maps

Download park maps to help you navigate the trails.

Be Safe

Because of COVID-19 limitations, there are more self-guided opportunities. Bring a mask as they are required in all indoor facilities, including restrooms, and when social distancing is not possible (like access points and parking lots). Please read the program listings carefully so you will know what is required.

Parking

While nearly all parks will be free, there are two exceptions. Natural Bridge State Parks has a per-person admission fee for access to the bridge that still applies. The $5 parking fee for trail access outside of the Natural Bridge is waived. Per person admission at Southwest Virginia Museum also applies.