The Harriman Trails Initiative (2022-2027)
Harriman State Park of Idaho officially opened to the public in 1982 for year-round outdoor recreation. Since that time, the Park has become especially popular with non-motorized recreationists from across Eastern Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone area. Designed primarily for hikers and cross-country skiers, the Park’s trail system also is open to horseback riders and mountain bikers, and in the winter, to snowshoe and fat tire bike enthusiasts. In the summer and fall, anglers use the Park’s trails to access various stretches of the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.
The diversity of non-motorized trail users means a wide variety of people are using the Harriman trail system, but this has led to user conflicts and more rapidly degraded trails. Bridges are showing this wear and tear, as are the trail surfaces that are downcutting with increasing bicycle and horse use.
The Friends of Harriman State Park (FHSP) is pleased to partner with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation in launching a five-year fundraising initiative to benefit the non-motorized trail system beginning in 2023. Phase One includes addressing the surface deterioration of the John Muir ADA Compliant Interpretive Trail, completed with FHSP assistance back in 2015. We have been working with the Park to re-engineer the trail and find a more resilient surface for handicap compliance. Trail grading has begun, and grant applications are in the works so resurfacing should commence in 2023.
Another priority is replacing the trail bridge over Thurman Creek downstream of Silver Lake. This bridge is used year-round by hikers, bicyclists, horses, skiers and snowshoe enthusiasts, and it needs to be wider for safer crossings. Here are Phase 1 trail projects and their monetary commitments as of summer 2022:
John Muir ADA Interpretive Trail -$75,000 raised to reroute, reengineer, and resurface.
River Trail Bridge over Lower Thurman Creek -$15,000 raised thus far to replace.
Updated pole signs with trail system maps -$10,000 committed by FHSP.
The Harriman Trails Initiative was launched at a public Open House July 17, 2022 as part of the Park’s “Rededication Week” celebration.
