Community members can ring in the new year outdoors during a First Day Hike on the Upshur County Trails.
Upshur County Trails volunteer Rachel Weber said the hike will take place Jan. 1, 2025, at 11 a.m. by the pavilions at the Upshur County Recreation Park.
“We did one of these several years ago,” Weber said. “We actually had to postpone it from the first day because we got a lot of rain that year, so hopefully that will not happen this year. This will be our second time doing this, and we’ll just meet at the pavilion and hike a section of trail.”
Weber said the entire hike will likely take one or two hours, but it’s designed so participants can walk only a portion of that if they so choose.
“Our hike will probably last between one and two hours, depending on how far people want to go,” Weber said. “There will be places where people can stop hiking if they don’t have to do the full amount. If they just want to hike a portion of it, there are several places to get off the trail, so they don’t have to do the full amount of time.”
The Upshur County Trails system, which winds around Buckhannon-Upshur High School and the Upshur County Recreation Park, consists of about 12 miles of trails made by volunteers.
“I’m going to try to take a path I think a lot of people haven’t been on yet,” Weber said of the First Day Hike. “I’ve done several other hikes out there, but I’m going to try to incorporate some trails that I haven’t taken people on. I think I’ll probably take people down behind the basketball courts, then on to Witches Trail. Then we’ll just go from there, and I can tell people how to get out as needed.”
Weber said they aren’t currently working on any new trails, but they are improving the existing paths.
“There’s work on a section of trail on the south side, and it is currently functional, but they’re still making improvements to it,” she said.
Weber noted that First Day Hikes are popular across the Mountain State.
“A lot of state parks in West Virginia do a First Day Hike,” Weber said. “I think it helps people get active and move in the winter when it’s cold and not much is going on. ”
More information about the trails and their events can be found on the Upshur County Trail Facebook group.
