Harriman State Park

The manager of our park asked us if we would like to spend a few days up at Harriman State Park helping them finish up the remodeling of their lodge. The park is about 150 miles northeast of Massacre Rocks, near West Yellowstone, Montana. Well, we are game for anything new, so off we went. The Harrimans were a very wealthy and influential eastern family. Averill Harriman was governor of New York, served as Secretary of Commerce and ambassador to both Great Britain and the Soviet Union, and was a serious candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1952 and 1956. Both times he lost to Adlai Stevenson, who went on to lose to Dwight Eisenhower. He was also founder and chairman of the New York investment banking firm Brown Brothers Harriman. The Harriman family controlled the Union Pacific Railroad, and were influential in the early development of Idaho. Among other things, they built the Sun Valley ski area as a destination resort for the railroad. They also owned an 11,000 acre ranch in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Mountains and near Yellowstone National Park. In 1977 the family deeded the ranch to the state of Idaho, to be used as a state park.
The park is located in a pristine valley dotted with natural lakes and beautiful views of the Teton Mountains to the east. It is also teeming with birds and other animals, including moose, elk, deer, bear, wolves, and coyotes. The old ranch buildings have been converted to lodging for staff and guests, meeting rooms, and park offices. The barns and corral are still used to house horses for park guests to ride.
Each year the park holds a summer music camp for promising young musicians, primarily violinists and cellists. Several times during the camp the musicians put on informal evening concerts, which are very popular with park guests and people from the nearby small towns. We were lucky enough to be there during the camp and were able to attend two of the concerts, which were a lot of fun.
We enjoyed our time at Harriman. We met some really nice people, spent a couple of days helping get the rooms ready for guests, mainly hanging curtains, bringing in new furniture, making beds, etc., and also had time to explore the park on our bicycles and on foot. We feel lucky for the opportunity to spend some time in a truly beautiful place, but it is time to saddle up and head back to Massacre Rocks.

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