The first day of 2025, I hiked at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. It was through the effort of the late native Crucian naturalist Otto Tranberg and others that Sandy Point became a wildlife refuge, known also as the most southwestern point of the United States.
Since 2012, the first day of the New Year hikes have been held in all 50 states, which are marketed as the America’s State Parks First Day Hikes. It was the state of Massachusetts more than three decades ago that started the initiative of getting Americans hiking on the first day of the New Year.
This nationwide initiative, led by America’s State Parks, is to encourage people to get outdoors. On New Year’s Day of this year, thousands of free guided hikes were organized in all 50 states. What better way on the first day of the New Year to know your national parks by participating and getting your heart pumping and enjoying the natural beauty of our States and Federal Parks System.
Believe me, getting outdoors, enjoying nature, spending time with family and friends and maybe starting work on that New Year’s resolution to get in shape, for example, or whatever you decided to accomplish in 2025 as a set goal, is good for the soul. We often forget that life is short, and some of us believe that we have all the time in the world to enjoy nature, family, and friends. Well, I am here to tell you that we don’t. Life is short. There is a local saying, “You are here today and gone tomorrow.”
That is not true anymore. We are here today and gone today. It is the fact of life the way the world is today. Believe me, there is no guarantee that we will live to see tomorrow, much less today. On all four major U.S. Virgin Islands, there are hiking trails that Virgin Islanders don’t take advantage of. So many of us are ignorant to the natural beauty of the Virgin Islands by foot. The stunning scenery of these islands’ natural, historical, and cultural resources are breathtaking. Hiking or walking benefits our health physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally by exploring the islands on foot.
What better way to control stress than by walking on one of our many trails in the Virgin Islands? It was July 7, 1998, that I started the St. Croix Hiking Association along with others resident of the island. That same year, I had just returned from Trinidad and Tobago where I attended a conference on medicinal plants of the Caribbean region. In that same year, Rudy G. O’Reilly Jr., Toni Thomas who called in from St. Thomas, and I (all employees of the University of the Virgin Islands School of Agriculture) were on Brother Mario Moorhead’s radio talk show.
We were there to talk about a book titled “Traditional Medicinal Plants of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John,” published by the School of Agriculture of the University of the Virgin Islands. Brother Mario Moorhead, who is a great Virgin Islander cultural historian, interviewed us about the medicinal plant book. Believe me, the topic of the book was sweet and juicy, a kalaloo as we discussed the history of medicinal plants in the Virgin Islands.
While on Brother Moorhead’s radio talk show, I mentioned that Rudy and I have taken hundreds of schoolchildren out hiking throughout St. Croix to explore the natural and cultural resources of the islands. It was at that time Brother Moorhead suggested to me why not lead a hike for the community. It was an early Sunday morning before the sunrise. I conducted a hike for the community to Maroon Country, and what an experience they had.
To this day, when some people meet me they still talk about the wonderful experiences they had in Maroon Country. It was at that time the St. Croix Hiking Association was established. The rest is history. Since then, we not only hike in the Virgin Islands, but throughout the Caribbean region every year. Oh, what a life-changing experience for members that travel with us every year!
However, Virgin Islanders don’t take advantage of our hiking trails. We go beach and think that is all to know about our history and environment. Despite my efforts having taken thousands of Virgin Islanders for years on foot in the wilderness of these islands’ natural environments, many locals don’t adventure out to explore the islands’ cultural and natural resources for themselves.
The Virgin Islands National Park Service on St. John has some 20-plus hiking trails. There are few on the island of St. Thomas, like the Magens Bay Trail, and St. Croix has more than 40 hiking trails. Within the last few years, there are about six or eight new trails open at Estate Windsor Forest on the northeast central area of St. Croix. These trails have signage describing the botanical history and culture, along with benches to rest and lookout spots, etc. They are beautiful trails with upland tropical dry forests, deep valleys, wildlife to see, and historic sites.
There are even native and non-native fruit trees growing wild along the trail route of Estate Windsor Forest. The Windsor Forest is probably the only mountain bike trail in the Virgin Islands. I can tell you, of all the trails on the island of St. Croix, I hardly see any locals exploring the beauty of these islands on foot. From hiking in the Virgin Islands for donkey years, particularly on the island of St. Croix, it is what we call locally White Continentals that settled in the islands, visitors, or other individuals from elsewhere that make the Virgin Islands their home that mostly explore the islands’ beauty on foot.
It is for this reason and more I think we should join our nation at the first day of every New Year’s Day as “Hike Day.” With the newly established territorial park system in the Virgin Islands, with trained rangers and signage placed with historical information throughout the park, hopefully the participation of residents exploring and learning the natural history of these islands on foot will increase.
— Olasee Davis is a bush professor who lectures and writes about the culture, history, ecology and environment of the Virgin Islands when he is not leading hiking tours of the wild places and spaces of St. Croix and beyond.
