The first day of 2024 brings multitudes out to the parks!

January 2, 2024  |  Topics: Places, Stories

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By Eddee Daniel

“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” ~ Aldo Leopold

There is no real dawn on New Year’s Day, just a gradual lessening of the pall of night. No snow yet, either, to brighten things up. But in the spirit of New Year resolutions (not that I actually articulate one), I decide to go to one of the many state parks that are holding First Day hikes. The forecast promised clearing in the afternoon to the south. I head hopefully to Bong State Recreation Area in Kenosha County where the hike is to begin at 1:00 pm. I expect to join a small but hardy band of like-minded nature-lovers. But I am in for a shock!

The overcast remains deep, the sky gloomy, as I approach the park. Nevertheless, the first sign that the number of hikers might be greater than I’d imagined is the long line of cars at the entrance gate. Having purchased my annual State Parks sticker in advance, I breeze past the line to find the parking lot already quite full. A steady stream of people is converging on Shelter 1 where the hike is to begin. They mill about, chatting amiably. Their very presence, I think it’s fair to say, testifies to the appeal of the park—of nature—despite the dreariness of the day. My rough head count turns out to be almost exactly one hundred.

As 1:00 approaches, our guide, WIDNR natural resources educator Emily Cole, steps onto a picnic table to address the still growing crowd. She welcomes everyone and gives a quick introduction to Richard Bong State Recreation Area—a 4,515-acre former military air base nestled among cornfields in northwestern Kenosha County. Then she invokes Aldo Leopold. The reputed “father” of wildlife ecology in the US. She raises a copy of A Sand County Almanac with it’s familiar (to me) illustration of garrulous geese on the cover and urges us all to pick up a copy of our own. This is a good time to start, she tells us, as the book begins in January and progresses throughout the course of a year.

Sadly, Leopold begins his account with a “January thaw” that presupposes an earlier freeze we haven’t seen here at all this season. “January observation can be almost as simple and peaceful as snow, and almost as continuous as cold,” he wrote. “There is time not only to see who has done what, but to speculate why.” As Cole releases us to begin our hike, I begin my own observations of the only “wildlife” I expect to see today: human hikers. The crowd bulges and bursts forward, not waiting for her to take the lead. Clearly, many of the eager hikers have no need for a guide.

The multitude squeezes into the confines of the mowed trail, like urban commuters heading into a subway station. Except here we voluntarily stay within the prescribed limits and have the natural wonders of Bong visible all around us as we walk. The trail leads us up and down several small hills, between fields of tall, tufted ginger-colored prairie grasses, like a slow-motion roller coaster.

A particularly prominent rise overlooking a small pond has been crowned with a bench. Many, especially families, exit the procession in order to document their presence with cell phones. I overhear someone suggest that we all come back when there is snow because this is a great toboggan run. Another reminder of the unnatural, unwintry conditions we are experiencing for a first day of January.

A substantial portion of our human pack is accompanied by canine companions. These are almost invariably decked out for the occasion in fashionable sweaters and quilted coats. Surprisingly well behaved, I must add. I witness no skirmishes between them the entire length of the hike. They are mostly interested in sniffing amongst the grasses and shrubbery alongside the trail.

The trail dips deeply and rises again, more steeply. We enter a woodland full of tall trees I can’t identify without foliage. But the oaks stand out, still clinging to their withered brown leaves, a phenomenon called marcescence. As we turn a corner and head downhill the broad expanse of Wolf Lake comes into view.

Occasionally, we meet other hikers coming towards us from the opposite direction; swimming against the current, as I hear someone say in passing. Most of them nod and smile. Some, either lost in thought or deliberately avoiding contact, seem oblivious to the mass of humanity going by. Perhaps they came to the park seeking the solitude of nature and are disturbed by the disruption. It’s not every day that you meet a hundred hikers as you wander through the park!

Our procession has thinned out considerably. This is due to several factors, not least of which is the pace of walking, which differs considerably amongst such a large contingent. Some have paused for photo opportunities or taken detours off the main trail. Others have simply left the group to wander farther through the park. At 1.8 miles, we have taken one of the shorter trails in Bong, which altogether offers over 25 miles of hiking trails.

I arrive back at Shelter 1 a little before 2:00 pm, just under an hour’s walk. We are greeted by a campfire and the opportunity to partake of hot chocolate, cider and all the ingredients to make s’mores (for those who need a sugar boost after all that exertion!)

I complete the hike heartened on this first day of 2024. The clouds never did clear away. So much for weather forecasting. But although the day never brightened, the gloom definitely lifted. I might have felt invigorated, as I usually do, by taking a solitary stroll in any local park. But I feel an added boost of adrenaline at being a part of this community engagement. I can’t speak for a hundred other people as to why we all showed up here today, but I think Aldo Leopold, even after all these years, in his introduction to A Sand County Almanac, still has the right idea:

“Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television, and the chance to find a pasque-flower is a right as inalienable as free speech.”

For more information about Bong State Recreation Area go to our Find-a-Park page.

Related story:

New Year’s Day at Lapham Peak (2020)

Eddee Daniel is a board member of Preserve Our Parks.

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