The First Day Hike at Pocahontas State Park for 2014 was a tremendously popular event this year. We had no way of predicting that we would double the attendance from last year and the support of the Friends of Pocahontas helped transform this hike into a great Pocahontas Park community event.
Park volunteer, Jeff Samuels , along with park staff and other volunteers left the nature center around 10:00 AM with approximately 250 hikers. Park staff fired up the grill and started preparing hot dogs, and hot cider for the hikers. All the refreshments were provided by the Friends of Pocahontas. We had to purchase additional supplies that day, again supplied by the Friends group, to meet the demands of the large crowd. Jeff Samuels had advised us that one of the local newspapers had stated that the hike started at 1:00 instead of 10:00 and he was correct. By the time the first hikers were returning from the hike, a crowd of 60 people had gathered for the 1:00 hike. They joined with the returning hikers for refreshments and Jeff, staff and volunteers set out for a second hike. Our sincere appreciation to Jeff Samuels for designing a custom hike that showed some of the great attributes of Pocahontas. Jeff’s route for his hike was safe and age appropriate. We are again extremely grateful for the support from the Pocahontas Friends for their support. It was the Friends group that initiated the idea of cooking hot dogs for the hikers. Serving quality refreshments to a crowd of people who did not expect it really changed the “hike and go home event” to a chance to mingle with fellow hikers, neighbors, volunteers and staff. We have learned a lot and we will certainly use that knowledge as we plan for 2015 First Day hikes. We are looking forward to working with the Friends group this year.
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