Want to start the New Year off with a tradition that the whole family will love? Take a First Day Hike! On January 1, families around the country will bundle up and welcome the new year with quality time spent with family, friends, and Mother Nature.
Across the state, families can join self-guided and guided hikes throughout Delaware’s 17 State Parks. Each park and hike varies in distance, degree of difficulty, terrain, and scenery. All hikes are free.
While supplies last, they will be giving out First Day Hike stickers and magnets! Regardless of where you go, DE State Parks recommends dressing for the weather. Also, please bring a water bottle, wear appropriate footwear, and don’t forget sun protection.
🥾New Castle County First Day Guided Hikes
10 - 10:30 AM
- Brandywine Zoo: Join one of their educators for a free half-hour tour through the zoo to learn all about the animals, how they care for them, and what you can do to make conservation a New Year’s Resolution you can keep.
10 - 11 AM
- Brandywine Creek State Park: Meets at the Nature Center
- Fort DuPont State Park: Experience both the beautiful natural environment and the historic structures that make this park unique. Be sure to wear comfortable water-proof shoes and to dress warmly! This hike will meet at the fishing point parking lot, at the river end of Old Battery Lane.
- Alapocas Run State Park: Join the Park Naturalists for a guided hike on the Northern Delaware Greenway Trail through Alapocas Woods.
- Auburn Valley State Park: Park staff will lead a 5-mile hike that goes through the newly completed Auburn Loop Trail, past the Auburn Heights Mansion and up into the Marshall Bridge Preserve of the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance for a brisk 4 mile loop.
11 AM - 12 PM
- Rockwood Museum: Sidewalk Chalk & Complimentary Warm Beverages/Snacks-bring your own mug and fill it with tea, coffee, cocoa or cider at 11 AM, followed by a 2 mile hike.
- Fox Point: Join the naturalists for a First Day Hike at Fox Point State Park and explore the riverview trail. Meet at the main parking lot.
1 - 2 PM
- Brandywine Creek State Park: Meets at the Nature Center
1 - 3 PM
- White Clay Creek: You’ll have 2 choices for hikes, a 1 mile or 3 miles.
2 - 3 PM
- Bellevue State Park: Hike through the Arboretum and the Bellevue Woods Nature Preserve. Meet at the Arts Center Patio.
Wilmington, DE First Day Self-Guided Hikes
- Auburn Valley State Park, 3000 Creek Road, Yorklyn, DE 19736
- Brandywine Creek State Park, 41 Adams Dam Road, Wilmington, DE 19732
- Bellevue State Park, 800 Carr Road, Wilmington DE 19809
- White Clay Creek, 880 New London Road, Newark, DE 19711
The 2025 Delaware State Park Passport Program
Participants can explore and discover the wide variety of state parks in Delaware by accomplishing any 25 of the 30 total challenges below. You can qualify for a free 2026 Annual Park Pass as well as other awesome park prizes by completing these challenges.
Photo Challenges
Take a photo at the stops below and submit them here.
New Castle County
- Alapocas Run State Park: NinjaFit Course
- Auburn Valley State Park: In front of the Farm Lane Bridge
- Bellevue State Park: A Travelers’ Home wayside
- Brandywine Creek State Park: Tulip Tree Woods Entrance
- Brandywine Zoo: Pollinator Exhibit S
- Fort Delaware State Park: Inside of the barracks
- Fort DuPont: In front of the Theatre
- Fox Point State Park: In front of wayside with bridge in background
- Lums Pond State Park: Boat Docks
- Port Penn Interpretive Center: Cleaver House
- White Clay Creek State Park: Nine-Foot Road Tactile Wayside
- Wilmington State Parks: Rockford Tower
Kent County
- First State Heritage Park: In front of the garden
- Killens Pond State Park: In front of the Nature Center
Sussex County
- Cape Henlopen State Park: Biden Center Butterfly Garden
- Delaware Seashore State Park: In front of the Ever Evolving Landscape Wayside
- Fenwick Island State Park: In front of the roped off beach grass by the dunes.
- Fort Miles Historical Area: 3’’ Guns
- Holts Landing State Park: Under the Boardwalk Tactile wayside
- Trap Pond State Park: Bethesda Church Wayside
Total Parks Experience Challenges
- 1. Go on a guided hike
- 2. Visit a historical museum
- 3. Volunteer at a park
- 4. Visit a nature center
- 5. Attend a park concert or arts program
- 6. Attend a lantern tour or evening program
- 7. Go rock climbing at Alapocas Run State Park
- 8. Attend a fishing or water program
- 9. Participate in a special seasonal activity
- 10. Visit a Delaware state-dedicated Nature Preserve