Resolutions are easy to conceive. Making them stick is the hard part, according to Jared Brinkerhoff, assistant superintendent at Buffalo Bill State Park. His family decided to issue a challenge for the new year — 100 pushups a day.

“We’ll see how long it lasts,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Intentions are much easier to compile than accomplishments. As we look forward to the fresh slate of a new year, hearts are in the right place. Physical improvements are often at the top of the list.

Clark resident Millie Copper started 2022 with the best of intentions, making it her goal to take a hike at least once a week in an effort to get in shape. She put pen to paper and inked the resolution, enrolling at 52hikechallenge.com with the best of intentions.

The website encourages those willing to make the resolution to stick with it.

Like most motivational endeavors, they offer tips and exercises to keep subscribers engaged. It’s likely many who made the pledge would ultimately fail, but Copper didn’t.

That’s not to say there weren’t some struggles. The rules of the challenge asked for a minimum of one 1-mile hike per week. It seemed easy enough to Copper, in theory.

“I struggled with just doing a mile at first. I didn’t realize I was so out of shape,” she said.

It got easier as she stuck with it. Then, inspired by Millie’s enthusiasm, her husband Joe and son Christopher decided to join in the fun. Joe had seen a photograph of himself prior to committing to the hikes. He was shocked by the large man he saw in the picture living in his skin.

“Just climbing the stairs of our house was getting hard for me,” the 54-year-old said. “I felt like I had heart disease.”

Soon they were marching all over the area, often joining monthly organized hikes sponsored by Sunlight Sports and other groups. Next the family added a diet in the mix.

By summer they were all looking forward to their time on the area’s great trail systems. Each Sunday they would gather and research a hike, always looking for a new adventure. What was work when they started became fun. Joe, who is 54, started losing weight quickly.

Their final hike of the year was on New Year’s Eve Day. They put on snowshoes and headed toward Yellowstone from Pahaska Tepee. Not only was the rare realization of a resolution in sight, the family had found renewed athletic confidence and svelte physiques in the process.

“Joe has lost 90 pounds since March. And I think the hikes were a big reason for it,” she said. “It just really changed a lot for us physically.”

With the 2022 “goal” achieved, the family decided to join Brinkerhoff on the state park’s annual First Day Hike after seeing it advertised online. The activity is a national event held at state parks across the country.

America’s State Park programs are committed to promoting outdoor recreation in hopes to help address obesity, especially in children. It contends that exercise and outdoor activities rejuvenate the mind and body, promoting overall mental and physical health and wellness.

“Many believe that time spent in nature enhances creativity and lifts our moods,” the program reports on its official site.

The Buffalo Bill State Park hike has been meeting at the Hayden Arch Bridge and walking to the dam for years. Despite the often uninviting weather on the first day of the year, more and more fans of the sport arrived bundled up to accept the challenge as word spread.

“This is a great way to start the year off right by going outdoors whether it’s cold or not and get your resolutions in place,” said Buffalo Bill State Park Supervisor Dan Marty while manning the front desk and offering hot chocolate and treats to participants.

But this year Marty and Brinkerhoff changed the plan, opting instead to guide participants down a path to a segment of the old Yellowstone Road that crosses the park near the banks of the reservoir. The path is overgrown, but its outline is still visible along the hills surrounding the reservoir — which was built years later. It was first carved into the landscape by horse-drawn carriages, Brinkerhoff said.

Park officials are proposing an official trail be built to highlight the historic trail through the state park which eventually leads up the North Fork of the Shoshone River to the nation’s first national park. With any luck, the trail could be approved and finished in the next few years after going through National Environmental Policy Act protocols, he said.

The park is currently in the midst of developing a new master plan. The Buffalo Bill Reservoir and State Park Resource Management Plan is intended to be a 20-year plan for the park, providing the foundation for decision-making to accommodate recreation and visitor amenities in balance with the preservation of recreation, setting, and natural and cultural resources.

Led by state park officials alongside hired consultants Ayres Associates, they are currently requesting stakeholders attend several scoping meetings planned for later this year. Ayres was selected to facilitate the planning process and has been involved in a number of different Wyoming State Parks and Historical Sites Department projects, including the Sinks Canyon Master Plan recently, and bridge inspections along backcountry trails.

There will be required public comment periods for any changes made, but the hope is area residents and frequent users of the facility will not feel shy about voicing their opinions early and often. The first part of the process is simply identifying the community’s vision for the park and coming up with “the view” for the future.

The park was first designated in 1957. The new master plan will be the park’s first since the 70s.

While the park’s future goals are still undetermined, for the Copper family the Jan. 1 hike through the state park was a well-earned victory lap for a goal achieved. But this is not the end of the road, just the beginning with loftier goals. The family is now participating in trail running and hopes to accomplish their first off-road marathon in the near future.