Join us Jan. 1 for our Annual First Day Hike offered at all 36 Virginia State Parks. This year we have a team challenge and photo contest and the first 100 participants get a special First Day Hike bumper sticker.

We have a great list of First Day Hike opportunities to choose from this year. CLICK HERE for a list by park. The first 100 people at a park each gets a special First Day Hike Bumper Sticker.

This year we have a Team Challenge. What's a team? Any group of two or more people. Find friends, family, co-workers, church and other groups, assign one person to sign the team up, pick a team name, pick the park you plan to visit Jan. 1, and then estimate how many people will be on your team. You enter that information on line here. After you get home from your hike on Jan. 1 (or no later than Jan. 2 at 10 p.m. EST), you log back in and confirm that your team participated and how many completed the challenge. On Jan. 3 we will do a random drawing of the teams who completed the challenge for one of these cool prizes:

Team splits $500 in Virginia State Park gift certificates

Each Team Member gets a Virginia State Parks Annual Pass

Each Team Member gets a ball cap

We will also have our annual First Day Hike photo contest. This year there will be multiple ways to enter. To enter, upload no more than 3 pictures to our Facebook page and include the name of the park OR tweet a picture and include @vastateparks and the name of the park OR upload a picture to Instagram and add #vastateparks and the park name OR if you aren't on social media, simply email me the picture with the name of the park you visited. As with all our photo contests, by entering the contest you give us license to use your photo in our marketing efforts. 

This year, the winners of the photo contest will be selected based on the best portrayal of a First Day Hike. We are looking for great winter hiking photos or photos posed with enthusiastic hikers or at iconic views of our parks. Just an FYI, we prefer pictures of folks hiking where we see faces not backs. Prizes:

Week cabin stay, any time of the year

Two night cabin stay

Three night camping stay

Annual parking pass

First Day Hike ball caps

I hope everyone is excited about the 2015 First Day Hikes. Need more information? Please email me.

First Day Hikes is an initiative of America's State Parks