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National Trails Day – First Saturday in June

The first Saturday in June is a day to get out on a trail for National Trails Day, an initiative of the American Hiking Society that has been going strong for over thirty years.  National Trails Day is a day to enjoy, advocate for, and give back to the trails that connect us to nature, to each other, and to the places where we live, work, play, and go to school.  Events have included hikes or bike and horseback rides, dedications of new trails, and volunteer cleanup or maintenance projects. Find a National Trails Day event near you here: https://americanhiking.org/national-trails-day/find-an-event/.

For 2025, NJDEP also has a great list of events here: https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/nationaltrailsday/

With events scheduled throughout the state each year, National Trails Day brings New Jerseyans together for a variety of trail-related activities, including family friendly events, hikes, a kayak tour, and trail improvement projects. For 2025, some National Trails Day activities that you can participate in included:

  • Get a good workout with a 6-mile hike along the rugged Appalachian Trail or an 8-mile trail run at High Point State Park; 
  • Discover wildlife at Tillman’s Ravine after dark with an evening hike at Stokes State Forest; 
  • Take a crash course in hiking on the trails at Round Valley Recreation Area or Wharton State Forest; 
  • Enjoy a hike with friends at Cheesequake State Park, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, Tall Pines State Preserve, Whitesbog Historic Village, Rutgers EcoPreserve or Barnegat Branch Trail; 
  • Go on a family friendly scavenger hunt at Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in Trenton; 
  • Celebrate the outdoors at a number of Essex County parks and reservations;  
  • Paddle around Sedge Island at Island Beach State Park;  
  • Learn about the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps at Parvin State Park, about the famous “Black Doctor of the Pines” at Dr James Still Historic Site, or about Civil War heroine Arabella Barlow at Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage Historic Site 
  • Give back to your favorite trails by volunteering at Double Trouble State Park, Washington Crossing State Park, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Eagle Rock Reservation or Black Run Preserve. 

…and many more!

Are you planning a National Trails Day event that you would like to share?  Register your event at https://americanhiking.org/national-trails-day/host-information/ and download their promotional toolkit to help get the word out!

Looking to create your own adventure for National Trails Day (or any day)?  Check out our Statewide Trails in New Jersey dataset to find a trail near you!

NJDEP was named a National Trails Day Champion by American Hiking Society for three years in a row! NJDEP was also the only State agency individually recognized as a National Trails Day Champion in the 2019 report, which stated that “American Hiking recognizes the commitment of all the organizations involved in building National Trails Day into an outstanding day of fun and service. Each year, we honor a few organizations and brands that go above and beyond in planning and promoting events. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection helped coordinated nearly 50 events throughout New Jersey to celebrate NTD. Events ranged from trail maintenance projects, to guide hikes, and community festivals.”