First Day Hike planned at Wildcat Den State Park

By DAVID HOTLE – Muscatine Journal, Iowa (TNS)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will hold a series of hikes in state parks on Jan. 1, 2025, to celebrate the first day of the new year.

Wildcat Den State Park will be participating again this year.

hike

Karri Rutenbeck, the natural resources technician at Wildcat Den State Park, reads a statement taken from the opening of the park before the first day hike in 2024, in which Iowa state parks invite people to begin the new year with a healthy activity.

The annual Nationwide New Year’s Day hike is meant to encourage people to get outside and enjoy the country’s parks. In Iowa, there has always been a friendly rivalry between the parks to see which can draw the most people.

After holding a self-guided hike at the beginning of 2021 because of the COVID-19 health crisis, the tour of Wildcat Den State Park returned in 2022.

During the 2020 hike, hundreds of people attended.

The 2025 hike is self-guided, with the starting location at the Upper Picnic Area Shelter. The hike is moderately difficult and is 1.3 miles along the Devil’s Punch Bowl. The hike follows the Punch Bowl Trail to the Lower Picnic Area Trail past Steamboat Rock before looping back uphill to the shelter.

Hikers are asked to dress for forecasted weather conditions. Dogs are welcome but must be kept on a leash. In the case of poor weather, call 563-263-4337 for an update.

Wildcat Den State Park is located 10 miles northeast of Muscatine. It features interesting terrain, fascinating sites, 75-foot cliffs, structures that have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and beautiful views.

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