Hundreds of pre-dawn hikers climbed Makapuu Lighthouse Trail on Friday to take part in the annual First Day Hike, an event organized by state park systems in all 50 states.

In addition to enjoying the sunrise and gauging their New Year’s Day fitness abilities on the ascent, some hikers offered mixed reactions to the trail’s newly unveiled upgrades.

About 40 minutes before the 7:09 sunrise, Ashlee Fely, 31, of Kahuku paused at the halfway point to avoid the crowd leading to the top. “It was loaded,” she said.

She watched the sunrise near one of the new lookouts and said she liked the improvements, especially the repaved path, which is now flatter and wider and lined by concrete shoulders most of the way.

“There were edges that were starting to crumble,” Fely said. “It was really bad before. It wasn’t concrete. It was just gravel.”

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has been renovating the park over the past year, and much of the work was completed in time for its fifth annual First Day Hike. The day included taiko drumming and a Native Hawaiian blessing at Makapuu trail.

The $2.7 million improvement project, funded by state and federal funds and the Hawaii Tourism Agency, included repaving the mile-long path, adding new lookouts, reconstructing retaining walls, repairing drainage ditches and installing culverts under the winding path.

The two lookouts at the summit were built in 1991. The highest was expanded about 8 feet, and crews built a new rock wall at the cliff’s edge. Railings have yet to be installed.

While many New Year’s hikers were pleased with the upgrades, some suggested additional safety measures, such as installing rails along steep stretches to help hikers avoid falls.

Ransey Aneo, 48, of Makiki said he saw a woman fall into a drainage ditch adjacent to the path.

“It was past her knee,” Aneo said, noting that the hiker had to be helped out of the ditch. “It’s still dangerous,” he said.

Parts of the path wind alongside sheer dropoffs of several feet that give way to a rocky hillside and drainage ditches.

Even so, Aneo, who climbed the path Friday after having reconstructive knee surgery three months ago, said it’s now easier to hike compared with the pothole-laden path before the improvements.

Julie Delaney, 54, of Davenport, Iowa, who hiked the trail about three years ago, appreciated the white concrete shoulders that guided her up the trail in the early morning darkness.

Due to the improvements, Delaney said, “It was an easier hike.”

Iris Jessup of Las Vegas hiked the trail for the second New Year’s in a row, said, “I’m just encouraging myself on the first day of the new year that my exercise routine is important, and it needs to continue all year.”

Jessup said the trail is now more family friendly, easier for children, and adults pushing strollers, to navigate.