Harriman State Park. Owned by Union Pacific Railroad investors from 1902 to
1977 the park served as the private playground for some seriously rich
families. 11,000 acres in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with over 20 miles
of trails and the Henry's Fork of the Snake River meandering through; makes for
one hell of a getaway in eastern Idaho. The railroad ranch is the epicenter of
Harriman State Park where the wealthy E.H. Harriman stayed to get away from life in
New York. The railroad ranch is worth the visit but if you plan enough in advance
you can actually stay at the railroad ranch and experience Harriman State Park,
like a Harriman. Tell me about how the Harriman family plays into this and why
this is called the railroad ranch. E.H. Harriman was the owner of the Union
Pacific Railroad. He was invited to buy here and said yeah that sounds like a
great idea back in 1908. And so did the railroad come through here? The railroad
never came through here, the last thing they wanted was a train to come right
through their little sanctuary.
What? I just wanted to do that and see if you could bring me some food? Well it's
not ready yet Chad. Moose meat takes about three hours
to roast and I can't do it with just coal. So this is the one room to me that tells
you how wealthy these people were. Elegant, wealthy, yes. This is what Rene described as the
picture of wealth, in that time. And he doesn't even have Netflix. Renae what did
Harriman do with his time besides look out windows and sit in fancy chairs?
This sounds like things that people do in jail.
So besides railroad ranch what else does Harriman State Park have to offer?
We have over 20 miles of hiking, biking, or horseback riding trails. So a lot of
people come just to see the birds, hopefully they'll see a moose. I'm gonna
get the moose scent on me to attract the moose.
Okay so people coming to Hermann State Park should also know that there's lots
of accommodations that they can rent here. Absolutely we have anything from a
yurt and also the historic buildings some of them are available for rent. You can
look up you look that up online or you can step in our visitor center and get
the information on what the prices are. They book up to nine months in advance
and through the summer it's hard to get in here because it's a very unique
experience for people to stay in the historic ranch. So obviously there's a
bunch of stuff to do at Harriman State Park and if you want to come down and
experience it this is the way to go. You can rent one of these old bunk
houses and experience Harriman State Park like a Harriman. So reserving one of
these bunk houses isn't as straightforward and easy as I thought it
would be. Harriman State Park does not have a website so if you want to
reserve one of these bunk houses online you go to IdahoStateParks.ReserveAmerica.com.
You enter your location, Harriman State Park.
You are interested in camping. You can only book nine months out so if
you're trying to book twelve months out you can't. Nine months is the max you can
book out for. Here is Harriman State Park. Book sites.
Now here we go we got the bunkhouse, the cattle Foreman's, the dormitory. I found
the website to be a little bit confusing and I had a ton of questions about
Harriman State Park. So what I found was actually easiest was to call the
Harriman call center. That number is listed here on the screen and I'm adding
it to the descriptions below. They will answer all your questions and they can
help you out. They can put you in the right bunkhouse. Most of these bunk
houses they can hold about eight people. This is a great idea for multiple
families to come to have a family reunion, I don't know maybe rent out all
the bunk houses in the area. Buy up all of Harriman State Park and really do it
like a rich Harriman would. Dear Petunia, it is a long and cold winter. We lost
Georgie this year due to the flu. The railway has been closed for some time
due to snow on the tracks. We have the servants clearing it now. Alright.
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