Take a First Day Hike at an Arizona State Park on January 1st

Hike at an Arizona State Park on January 1st! Get outside, exercise, enjoy nature and welcome the New Year with friends and family during America’s State Parks First Day Hikes.

All 50 state park systems participate in this annual program and 14 Arizona State Parks will participate in this 3rd Annual First Day Hike Program! Details about hike locations, difficulty and length, terrain and tips regarding proper clothing are listed here.

In addition to the First Day Hikes there are a host of activities and events in January, a month that sees snowbirds flocking to the mild Arizona desert climate. Boat tours and bird walks are popular at Patagonia Lake SP, as is the First Saturdays Concert Series at Catalina SP (photo above left).

Learn how to make art from nature at Boyce Thompson Arboretum SP  an introduction to hiking in the Sonoran Desert at Lost Dutchman SP,  or watch an Old West reenactment at the Annual Gathering of the Gunfighters (photo left) at Yuma Territorial Prison SHP and many more. You can see the list of events on the Arizona State Parks website.

Cattail Cove State Park to offer long-term RV stays this season

Arizona's Cattail Cove State Park will block out 15 campsites from January 1 through April 30, 2014 for long-term stays in RVs. Alamo Lake State Park offers a similar program. The park is south of Lake Havasu City along the Colorado River.

Guests who wish to take advantage of long-term camping (longer than two weeks) must pay in full for the first two weeks of their stay, along with a $5 reservation fee.

All long-term reservations will be handled by a call center at (520) 586-2283. The call center will find a site that runs concurrently for the length of stay the guest requests and will collect the first two weeks plus the reservation fee and will block out duration of stay in two-week increments. The minimum length of stay for a long-term site will be 28 four weeks. Maximum length of stay will be 12 weeks.

Upon a guest's arrival, their first two weeks will have been paid in advance through the reservation process. After the first two weeks have ended, the guest will provide future payment in two-week increments on the last day of each two-week segment. Payments will be made by the customer at the contact station during regular business hours. If a guest decides to depart earlier than the date they originally agreed upon, the standard reservation cancellation policy will apply. All other policies and rules governing Camping will remain in effect. This is a pilot program subject to change.