{"id":25910,"date":"2025-12-23T10:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?post_type=tribe_events&#038;p=25910"},"modified":"2025-12-23T10:42:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:42:02","slug":"first-day-hike-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/calendar\/25910-first-day-hike-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"First Day Hike in Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-tribe_events pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>The Illinois Department of Natural Resources invites residents to step into 2026 with a <strong>First Day Hike<\/strong> at an Illinois state park on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>IDNR is hosting self-guided hikes at 17 state parks across Illinois on Jan. 1.\u00a0 These free, family-friendly hikes are available to the public.<\/p>\n<p>Among the participating parks are these in Central\/Southern Illinois:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Fox Ridge State Park, Coles County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Eagle Creek and Wolf Creek state parks, Shelby County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Lincoln Trail State Park, Clark County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Lincoln\u2019s New Salem State Historic Site, Menard County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Pere Marquette State Park, Jersey County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Sangchris Lake State Park, Sangamon County<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Giant City State Park, Jackson County<\/p>\n<p>Participating state parks will have stickers and special photo opportunities for hikers.\u00a0 Visitors are encouraged to sign in and share photos and videos on social media with the hashtag #ILFirstDayHikes.<\/p>\n<p>The First Day Hike program is an initiative in partnership with America\u2019s State Parks Foundation.\u00a0 The organization began the event in 1992 in Massachusetts.\u00a0 The campaign encourages participants nationwide to hike, bike and engage in activities in state parks on the first day of the new year.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the program is highlighting America\u2019s 250th anniversary in 2026 and the outdoor places that have shaped the country\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIDNR invites Illinoisans everywhere to take time on Jan. 1 to explore our beautiful state parks and consider what conservation and public lands may look like in the future,\u201d said IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie. \u201cThere\u2019s no better way to clear your mind after the holidays and look ahead to a new year than to explore the outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Illinois does not charge admission to state parks, historic sites and other locations.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, visit https:\/\/dnr.illinois.gov\/parks.html.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Illinois Department of Natural Resources invites residents to step into 2026 with a First Day Hike at an Illinois state park on New Year\u2019s Day. IDNR is hosting self-guided [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[40],"class_list":["post-25910","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","hentry","tribe_events_cat-community-calendar","cat_community-calendar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Day Hike in Illinois - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/calendar\/25910-first-day-hike-in-illinois\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Day Hike in Illinois - 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