National Hop-a-Park Day is a holiday that encourages everyone to get out of their house and to explore the parks around them. It’s observed on the first Saturday in July and it’s the perfect day to take a solo adventure, or to take friends and family members with you on a group adventure at a local park.

Although every city has some green space that is labeled as a park, not enough people take advantage of them. For most cities, there are dozens of parks that are just waiting to be explored. So everyone should grab a bottle of water, wear appropriate clothing for the weather, and explore a park that they haven’t explored before. They might just be surprised what they find.

Fun Facts About Parks

Let’s go over some of the interesting facts about parks that we discovered while we were exploring this holiday. We think that urban park explorers all over the world are going to find the following facts pretty interesting, so let’s take a quick look at them before continuing on with how National Hop-a-Park Day is observed.

• Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, Missouri opened to the public in 1872 and covers 289 acres.
• Tower Grove Park is the largest and best-preserved Victorian Gardenesque style city park in the U.S.
• Yellowstone National Park was founded in 1872.
• Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the lower 48 States of the U.S.
• Death Valley National Park covers 13.2 million acres.
• Alaska and California each have 8 national parks.
• In the National Park System of the U.S., there are over 879 visitor centers.
• The world’s smallest park is Mill Ends Park on a safety island in Portland, Oregon.
• Mill Ends Park is only 24-inches in diameter.

Observing National Hop-A-Park Day

This day can be observed by exploring one or several parks that exist around you. You can do this alone, or with a group of friends and family members. After you head out to your local park, just be sure to use the hashtag #NationalHopAParkDay to let everyone know how your journey went.