Who gets up early on New Year’s Day and heads not to the nearest brunch but to a brisk, hilly, six-mile hike?

Someone like Shana Herndon, 30, of West Baltimore, two years removed from chemotherapy and happy to walk, run or otherwise embrace life.

“It’s just the perfect way to start the new year,” Herndon, a budget analyst at the Johns Hopkins University, said after finishing Druid Hill Park’s First Day Hike on Sunday morning.

The park is among many across the country that offer Jan. 1 hikes as a way to spark year-round outdoor activities. Under sunny skies, while others were still sleeping, nursing hangovers or getting ready to watch football on TV, about 35 hikers and a couple of dogs wound their way through the park.

They were led by Tom Orth of Friends of Druid Hill Park, who shared some insider knowledge — the one-time “colored” pool of the park’s segregated past; the giant rocks that were excavated from the 26th Street collapse of 2014, available for other parks and institutions to use; a “major make-out” spot enjoyed by some couples; the Moorish Tower that offers a sweeping view of the city.

Suzanne Bailey marveled at seeing parts of the park she’d missed on previous visits. Bailey, an attorney, and friend Maureen Fern, a social worker, joined the hike for both mind and body benefits.

Also hiking was Janet Felsten, who has been friends with Fern since their teenage children were babies. Felsten is founder of Baltimore Green Map, which promotes the area’s parks and other natural and cultural gems.

“Parks are resources that can help people feel connected to one another, and not be afraid of different parts of the city,” Felsten said.

And indeed, the racially and geographically diverse group fell into easy conversations as they walked together. At least a couple tapped each other’s contact information into phones, offering company for future hikes. The Friends of Druid Hill alone offers many — including popular 10 p.m.-to-midnight walks, which some hikers will follow with a trip to the bars, Orth said. Felsten is particularly fond of park-to-park walks, such as one between Druid Hill and Cylburn Arboretum.

The $10 fee for the hike went to support programming at the park’s other healthful initiative — its summertime farmers’ market.

The hike seemed to inspire plans for further activity down the road. Aprenea McCutchen of Ashburton, a bank employee, asked Yvette Thomas about her “Black Girls Run” top, saying she’d love to get back into running.

Thomas, who lives in Northwest Baltimore, was happy to oblige. The one-time high school and college track and cross-country runner had taken a long break from running herself but now, at age 53, runs half-marathons.

In fact, Thomas took a break from a New Year’s Eve party to go online at 12:01 a.m. to get a discounted fee for a race in Detroit this year.

Even though she partied well into the morning, she made sure to get to Druid Hill for the 9 a.m. hike.

“My legs are like, ‘Girl, what’s wrong with you?’ ” Thomas, a secretary at Leith Walk Elementary/Middle School, said with a laugh.

Last New Year’s Eve, Jennifer Cabral and her husband, James Wood, hosted a party. This year, the Overlea couple made sure to get to bed early so they could hike the park.

“After 40, you start to feel like you have to take better care of yourself,” said Cabral, 42, an MRI technician.

Her 37-year-old husband might not have hit that milestone yet, but he does have his own challenges, or at least temptations. He works at the Nestle’s plant in Laurel, making Haagen Dazs ice cream bars.

jmarbella@baltsun.com