Taking a walk in a park doesn’t have to be dull & boring, as seen in the photo of beautiful Balboa Park in San Diego. Pick a park that inspires you, then pick your New Year’s walk.

As most of us slug through the holidays, drinking another fattening glass of eggnog and sampling another special candy, cookie or cake that a neighbor made, we tell ourselves that this is it! Time to get off the junk food and start getting healthy. You can wait till New Year’s Day to begin your regimen of healthy living but why not plan that day right now by picking out one of California’s State Parks & Beaches Healthy Walks & Hikes? Part of a national program called America’s State Parks First Day Hikes (americasstateparks.org), California is participating and hosting walks in over 25 locations in the California parks system. You can pick one of these, or choose your own special hiking spot and distance. There are thousands of city parks to walk in, too. Either way, it’s one of the New Year’s happenings that looks beyond holiday partying to get you through the slump of over-indulgence with positive actions for your future.

Here are California State Parks participating in First Day Hikes:

• Angel Island State Park
• Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
• Big Basin Redwoods State Park
• Crystal Cove State Park, Los Trancos Historic District
• Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
• Fort Ross State Historic Park
• Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
• Lake Oroville State Recreation Area
• MacKerricher State Park
• McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
• Mendocino Headlands State Park
• Mendocino Headlands State Park: Big River Unit
• Palomar Mountain State Park
• Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve at Pescadero State Beach
• Picacho State Recreation Area
• Red Rock Canyon State Park
• Saddleback Butte State Park
• Salton Sea State Recreation Area
• San Onofre State Beach
• Sutter Buttes State Park
• Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
• Westport-Union Landing State Beach