First Day Hike at Island Lake

Join us as we ring in the New Year with a hike at our favorit park, Island Lake State Recreation Area. First Day Hikes are a great way to get your year started the right way, after all, life is better outside!

To protect the trail we love, and not widen it nor turn it into a muddy mess, we will NOT be hiking on the Hickory Ridge Trail after all. I have decided to hike out to and around Trout Lake. This will be a 2.2 mile hike. We still get to enjoy a great hike on New Year's Day!

If you'd like a longer hike, after you finish this, you could hike the paved trail out to Riverbend and back, or head the other direction and hike into Kensington and around Kent Lake.

For the first time since we built the trail 8 years ago, it is getting minor patches of mud and I do not want it turning into a long term mess. When presented with mud, most people walk around the mud, killing vegetation and widening the trail. With a normal attendance of 400 people for this hike, I don't want to lead a hike that causes that result.

Meet at the Kent Lake beach parking lot (first lot on the left as you head straight back into the park). Please arrive 15 minutes early, as the hike will start on time. We will hike five miles, with an easy exit at 2.5 miles. We hope to see you there!

The hike will begin on-time from the trailhead in the Kent Lake beach lot. Drive straight into the park and it is the first lot on the left. Overflow parking in the 2nd lot. Arrive early, this hike tends to be a big one!