Like any good hike, the First Day Hike started with a carpool.

But the need to carpool was a good sign, because this year, the First Day Hike activity hosted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources saw perhaps its biggest turnout yet at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area since the program was started about 10 years ago.

Hiking guide Amber O’Neill, from the DNR, said the crowd of about 40 was encouraging.

And as Iowa enters its most modern year to date, hikers found that disconnecting from technology for about an hour or so did quite the opposite — it put them back in touch with a perspective only nature can provide.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Eddie Elkin, of Lehigh, carries Finnick, 2, on his First Day Hike at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area.

Even in the dead of a winter day, where no green is to be found in a relatively monochromatic landscape, the rugged state of nature is calming to many.

It was a bit muddier than usual, O’Neill said, with more rain, snow melt and water flow than usual.

“Water is flowing, which we don’t normally have to worry about,” she said.

She said the trail has been moved constantly each year as flooding from the river, increasing in frequency, continues to erode the existing trails and landscape.

Some pollution from the river was evident, too.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Keelon O’Neill, 6, enjoyed meandering through the trees along the Mouth Trail in Brushy Creek State Recreation Area on New Year’s Day.

But, like the beavers cutting trees down abundantly in the park, hikers didn’t pay it much mind.

Though the children were dismayed to learn there would not be any eagle sightings, as the birds are nocturnal, they were elated at the prospect of coming across a beaver. Though none showed up for the First Day Hike, they did leave their handiwork everywhere.

For some, the hike was a primer getting started on New Year’s fitness resolutions or continuing old ones.

“It’s a great way to get in shape for bike season,” said Bruce Breeser, who helped organize 2019’s inaugural Prairie Rivers Trail Ride in honor of Fort Dodge man Josh Doyle.

Breeser and his wife discovered the Mouth Trail, a southeast river trail, and its beauty for the first time as they traversed it Wednesday, even though they frequent other areas of the park.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
The First Day Hike on Wednesday saw perhaps its largest crowd yet, with about 40 hikers, since the Iowa Department of Natural Resources started the New Year’s Day activity at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area about 10 years ago, according to the guide.

Lots of people, like Pete Wilcox, came to the First Day Hike for the first time, thanks in part to word from previous hikes.

The former video gamer was tricked into hiking by his love of dogs years ago, and has been hooked ever since.

“It’s calming, to clear your mind out here,” he said.

Pulling him along like horses to a sleigh were Kody, a Norwegian elkhound, and Rossi, a fluffy Samoyed puppy.

Rossi, with a luxe coat of snow-white fur, is perhaps the last type of dog you would imagine excited to run through the mud. But Wilcox doesn’t mind.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
The First Day Hike on the Mouth Trail at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area took hikers on a scenic route around the mouth where Brushy Creek feeds into the Des Moines River.

“You don’t even notice they’re dirty,” he said, after the mud dries and falls off on its own.

He perhaps owes his active lifestyle to the breed, since it was the Samoyed Club that got him earnestly into hiking. Within a month of his first hike with the club, he bought all sorts of hiking equipment.

And Kody certainly didn’t mind the cold either. His breed, only about 20 inches tall, is used in Norway to help hunt moose.

They don’t pull the giant animals down, they just run circles around elk and moose, assisting hunters by barking loudly to alert them to the location. They will typically only bark when the moose is stationary, but can sometimes drive the prey to the hunters lying in wait.

“You’re moving too fast,” O’Neill shouted to the hikers at the front of the group. She wanted them to savor every moment.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Matt Phoenix, of Ankeny, pensively reflects on the scenery of the Des Moines River at Brushy Creek State Recreation Area on New Year’s Day.

But it’s already 2020. Perhaps it’s time that’s moving too fast.