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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Department of Environmental Conservation invite New Yorkers to celebrate the New Year exploring the outdoors at one of the 80 hikes being held at state parks, historic sites, wildlife areas, trails, and public lands across the Empire State. The guided hikes are being held as part of the annual First Day Hikes <\/a>program taking place throughout the nation Jan. 1, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFirst Day Hikes are a popular annual tradition and the perfect elixir to a hectic holiday season,” said State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey. “Spending time in nature among such scenic wintry settings is a great way to start off the New Year. With hike options from the tip of Long Island to Niagara Falls, the Adirondacks to the Finger Lakes \u2013 and more, there are plenty of destinations across the state to embrace the outdoors and welcome 2019 with loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStart the New Year right by participating in an annual First Day Hike at one of New York\u2019s magnificent outdoor destinations,” said Hikes are being offered at 19 DEC State lands, wildlife areas, forest preserve trails and environmental education centers and 52 state parks and historic sites, with some facilities offering multiple hikes for different age groups, skill levels and destinations within the park. Staff from state Parks and DEC, along with volunteers and partners at many sites, will lead these family-friendly walks and hikes, which range from one to five miles, depending on the location and conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A sample of this year\u2019s programs feature a seal walk, walking history tour, snowshoe waterfall hike, pet-friendly treks, gorge walks, military musicology, fire towers and more. New entries for 2019 include hikes along Lake Ontario, Delta Lake, Lake Champlain, the western edge of the Tug Hill Plateau and recently added trails at Overlook Mountain in Woodstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If weather conditions permit, some First Day Hikes may include snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. Many host sites will be offering refreshments and giveaways. A list of the hikes follows, and details about hike locations, difficulty and length, terrain, pre-registration requirements and additional information are listed at parks.ny.gov<\/a> and dec.ny.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Western New York<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Allegany State Park- Red House, self-guided anytime 10am-2pm; 716.354.9101 x.232<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeVeaux Woods State Park, Niagara Falls; 10am; 716.282.5154 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Evangola State Park, Irving; 9am; 716.549.1050<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesee Valley Greenway, Canawaugus Park, Scottsville; 1pm; 585.493.3614<\/p>\n\n\n\n Genesee Valley Greenway, Bull St., Cuba; 1pm; 585.493.3614<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamlin Beach State Park, Hamlin; 10am and 1:30pm (2 hikes); 585.964.2462<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knox Farm State Park, East Aurora; 10am; 716.549.1050<\/p>\n\n\n\n Letchworth State Park, Castile; 1pm; (4 hikes); 585.493.3600<\/p>\n\n\n\n Niagara Falls State Park, Niagara Falls; 2pm; 716.282.5154<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reinstein Woods, Depew; 11am; 716.683.5959<\/p>\n\n\n\n WAG Trail, Willing; 1pm; 585.415.1521<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finger Lakes & Central New York<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Betty and Wilbur Davis State Park, Schenevus; 10am; 607.638.5421<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bowman Lake State Park\/McDonough State Forest, Oxford; 11am; 607.334.2718<\/p>\n\n\n\n Camillus Forest Unique Area, Camillus; 10am; 315.376.3521<\/p>\n\n\n\n Catharine Valley Trail, Watkins Glen; 10am; 607.535.4511<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chenango Valley State Park, Chenango Forks; 1pm; (2 hikes) 607.648.5251<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clark Reservation State Park, Jamesville; 11am; 315.415.8377<\/p>\n\n\n\n Delta Lake State Park, Rome; 10am; 315.337.4670<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finger Lakes Trail, Corning; 9:30am; dn13@cornell.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fort Ontario State Historic Site, Oswego; 10am; 315.343.4711<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gilbert Lake State Park, Laurens; 10am; 607.432.2114<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green Lakes State Park, Fayetteville; 11am; 315.637.6111<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hemlock-Canadice State Forest, Canadice; 10am; 585.374.8366<\/p>\n\n\n\n Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, Savannah; 10am; 315.365.3588<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rogers Environmental Education Center, Sherburne; 10am; 607.674.4733<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seneca Lake State Park, Geneva; 10am; 315.789.2331<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taughannock Falls State Park, Trumansburg; 1pm; 607.387.7041 ext. 131<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Rivers State Park, Waverly; 10am; 607.732.6287<\/p>\n\n\n\n North Country\/Adirondacks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Crown Point State Historic Site, Crown Point; 1pm; 518.597.4666<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prospect Mountain, Lake George; 10am; 518.623.1268<\/p>\n\n\n\n Point Au Roche State Park, Plattsburgh; 11am; 518.563.0369<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poke-O-Moonshine Campground, Keeseville; 10am; 518.897.1276<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert G. Wehle State Park, Henderson; 11am; 315.938.5302<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site, Sackets Harbor; 1:30pm; 315.646.2321<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wellesley Island State Park, Fineview; 1pm; 315.482.2479<\/p>\n\n\n\n Winona State Forest, Lorraine; 10am; 315.376.3521<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greater Capital District<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, Delmar; 9am; 518.475.0291<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grafton Lakes State Park, Grafton; 1pm; 518.279.1155<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mine Kill State Park, North Blenheim; 11am; 518.827.6111<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreau Lake State Park, Gansevoort; 11am; 518.793.0511<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peebles Island State Park, Waterford; 10am; 518.268.2188<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs; 10am; 518.584.2535<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schodack Island State Park, Schodack Landing; 1pm (2 hikes); 518.732.0187<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thacher State Park, Voorheesville; 11am; 518.872.0800<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hudson Valley\/Catskills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Balsam Lake Mountain Wild Forest – Kelly Hollow, Margaretville; 10:30am; 845.586.6273<\/p>\n\n\n\n Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Tower, Margaretville; 9:30am; 845.926.2182<\/p>\n\n\n\n FDR State Park, Yorktown; 10:30am; 914.245.4434<\/p>\n\n\n\n Little Stony Point\/Hudson Highlands State Park, Cold Spring;11am (2 hikes); 845.745.0647<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Jay Homestead State Historic Site, Katonah; 1pm; 914.232.5651<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maurice D. Hinchey Catskill Interpretive Center, Mt. Tremper; 3pm; 845.688.3369<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meads Meadow Trailhead, Woodstock; 9am & 12pm (2 hikes); 845.256.3083<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Peter\u2019s Kill, Kerhonkson; 9:30am & 1pm (2 hikes); 845.255.0752<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Sam\u2019s Point, Cragsmoor; 1pm; 845.647.7989<\/p>\n\n\n\n North South Lake Campground, Haines Falls; 10am; 518.357.2068; haliagrace@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Olana State Historic Site, Hudson; 11am; 518.828.0135 x303<\/p>\n\n\n\n Old Croton Aqueduct, Dobbs Ferry; 12pm; 646.303.1448<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Pleasantville; 9am; 914.631.1470 x107<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sterling Forest State Park, Tuxedo; 11am; 845.351.5907<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taconic State Park – Copake Falls, Copake Falls; 1pm; 518.329.3993<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park; Poughkeepsie; 2pm; 845-834-2867<\/p>\n\n\n\n NYC & Long Island<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethpage State Park, Farmingdale; 10am; 516.249.3560<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve, Lloyd Neck; 11am; 631.423.1770<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clay Pit Ponds, Staten Island; 1pm; 718.605.3970 x201<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connetquot River State Park Preserve, Oakdale; 1:30pm; 631.581.1072<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hallock State Park Preserve, Wading River; 11am; 631.315.5475<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jones Beach State Park, Wantaugh; 10:30am; 516.780.3295<\/p>\n\n\n\n Montauk Point State, Montauk; 10:30am; 631.668.5000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mount Loretto Unique Area; Staten Island; 10am; 718.313.8591<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ridge Conservation Area, Ridge; 1pm; 631.444.0347<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park; 10am; 631.581.1072<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which are visited by 71 million people annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.parks.ny.gov<\/a>, connect with us on Facebook<\/a>, or follow on Instagram<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celebrate the New Year Outdoors with First Day Hikes at state parks, historic sites, wildlife areas and public lands on New Year\u2019s Day Eighth annual event encourages families and friends to spend Jan. 1 holiday enjoying nature The State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Department of Environmental Conservation invite New Yorkers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23810,23816,23814,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-ff","category-state","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos<\/strong>. “DEC is proud to partner with State Parks to help New Yorkers of all ages and abilities enjoy this growing tradition, which brings friends and families together in our State\u2019s great outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n