What better way to start the New Year than getting outdoors for some exercise and fresh air in some of the most beautiful spots on earth?

On January 1, the Mendocino Area Parks Association is participating in a nationwide effort to celebrate state parks throughout the United States by encouraging you to take a New Year’s Day hike at one of our four beautiful local parks: MacKerricher, Russian Gulch, Westport-Union Landing, and Mendocino Headlands.

Degree of difficulty ranges from easy, to moderate, to moderate-hard, so there’s bound to be a hike that works for you and your family. Starting times for these docent led hikes ranges from 10 am to 1 pm. Depending on the hike you choose, you’ll walk along a boardwalk to breathtaking coastal overlooks, visit to a beautiful waterfall, stroll along a beach that was once part of a booming logging port, or trace the coastal headlands in search of gray whale sightings (binoculars provided).

Or try out the flat, 1.1-mile Caspar Uplands Trail which will some day link Caspar State Beach with Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park.

For details on the State Parks hikes, visit: http://www.mendoparks.org/, or call 707-961-0471.