The walk to Great Rock Bight from the nearest parking area takes 15 or 20 minutes. This year, that extra mile or so could have been considered the true beginning of the annual Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank cross-Island hike. Best to have factored it into your plans, if you intended to meet up with the group of hikers before they set off on their 21-mile trek through the early-summer wilds of the Vineyard.

If you happened to miss them at 8 a.m. Saturday morning, however, then you missed out on the unique adventure that characterized part one of this year’s hike.

The crowd, led at first by land bank trail planner Bill Veno, speckled a gray and tawny Chilmark beach with swatches of color in the overcast early morning hours. The beach would bring the first surprise, as the tide came in to meet the slumping clay cliffs, forcing hikers to find a manageable detour.

“It was a challenge,” said Pam Goff, a Chilmark representative on the land bank commission. “I think there were some people who were sorry they were there,” laughed fellow hiker Louise Clough.

When the group began to trickle into the Polly Hill Arboretum, the area designated for a 30-minute lunch break, hours later, they were a good half-hour behind schedule. In the course of the morning trek, some had lost sight of the group, and had been forced to improvise a route to their midway destination. Many struggled against the slants and slopes of the hilly Chilmark terrain. Others strained to ford the Roaring Brook, swollen with rainwater after a week of showers.

“I don’t think anybody expected it,” said hiker Dorothy Packer. “Usually you can walk across the stones and there is just a little water. Today [the water] was covering up the stones . . . [but] it was kind of fun. It added a little adventure to the walk.”

Ms. Packer is a cross-Island hike veteran, with 16 years worth of memories to compare. It is now an event she looks forward to each year, an exciting opportunity to grow further acquainted with the Island she has called home for almost 50 years.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said. “You think of the Vineyard as being small,” she added, noting her amazement at finding new places to explore each year.

The land bank was established in 1986 to try to control the effects of a building boom on the Island’s once-unbridled pastures, fields and woodlands. The conservation effort has since preserved about 2,985 acres of land using money from a two per cent surcharge placed on the sale of Vineyard properties.

“[The land bank was] created by the community,” said Mr. Veno. “They got special legislation passed to form a governmental unit that has representation from the town, and then each of the towns has advisory committees made up of members from various boards so there is representation from the local level as well . . . [Surcharge] money goes into purchasing and maintaining [the lands] for protection of the Vineyard’s character. We just try to protect pieces of the Island’s history.”

Land bank properties are reserved for a variety of different uses, including hunting, agriculture and wildlife habitats. The land bank also establishes hiking trails for Vineyarders and visitors to enjoy year-round.

According to Mr. Veno, the cross-Island hike helps to familiarize participants with the conservation properties. “Every year we do a different route,” he said. The course is changed year to year, as new land is acquired and new trails are charted. This year, the hike began on the beach in Chilmark, and walked through fields and woodlands before taking a mid-morning break at Tea Lane Farm. A leisurely lunch at the arboretum in West Tisbury followed, allowing time to reconnect with any hikers who had veered off course. “People kind of go where they want. Inevitably, we usually lose some people,” said Mr. Veno.

The second portion of the hike took the group through the depths of the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, and concluded at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown. The number of miles covered has varied over the years, with this year’s distance of 21 miles falling somewhere in the middle.

Don Shanor, like Dorothy Packer, has walked every year but one. “I really look forward to it,” he said, though he wished the distance of this year’s hike was a bit shorter. “I think it’s too much. They got them down to about 16 [miles, in previous years], and that’s about right,” he said. This year, he decided to forgo the first leg of the hike and instead join the group halfway through at the arboretum.

Ms. Packer seems to agree. “The first one I went on, which would have been the second year . . . was an unbelievable trek,” she said. She remembers it being close to 30 miles long. “Last year it was only 15. I say ‘only’ fifteen because that’s short compared to others.”

Though Mr. Veno planned the hike route this year, he was surprised by some of the obstacles the group encountered.

“It was very challenging. Erosion was greater than I had remembered it,” he said. Still, the hike has become an event that attracts people from far and wide as an opportunity to see the Island from a new angle.

Max Skjoldebrand, a seasonal Island resident from Dubai, toted his camera along on the hike to capture the vivid Vineyard beauty. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and her husband Alex Welles said they travel often from their home in Seattle to enjoy Island life. “Every time we come to the Vineyard we do these walks, but we didn’t even know about this one . . . until last year. We read about it afterwards,” she said. She considers it good practice for another walk she and her husband have planned for next month in Scotland.

The cross-Island walk is not an event to raise funds for the land bank. Hikers participate for simple enjoyment, to see familiar faces and to make new acquaintances. Most importantly, they hope to take advantage of the diligent conservation effort the land bank has established on the Island.

“There is so much variety,” said Ms. Packer of the land bank terrain. “I think that’s the appeal of [the hike]. It was so lush. It was just beautifully green and lush . . . I think the land bank is doing such a tremendous job,” she added.