History, Harriman, and a Hike!

Join local history buff Mary Pat Gunderson on a free hike on the Aspen Loop at Proctor Mountain with plenty of stops where she'll share her knowledge of Averell Harriman, who had the idea behind creating the United States' first destination ski resort. Harriman was much more than the Chairman of the Board of the Union Pacific and the founder of Sun Valley. While locally we may think of him almost entirely in terms of his founding of Sun Valley, in most biographies of Harriman, Sun Valley is hardly a mention. 

Mary Pat will lead this hike and dive deep into Harriman's time before and during World War II. There will be many stops along the way where Mary Pat will share some fascinating, fun, and titillating stories of Averell Harriman, his daughter Kathleen Harriman, Pamela Digby Churchill (later to become Pamela Harriman), and the background to their time together which influenced the outcome of World War II. 

This IS a hike, with history sprinkled in. Please wear good hiking shoes and sunscreen, bring a water bottle and a hat. We'll do the "lower" Aspen Loop on Proctor and meet at the Hemingway Memorial on Sun Valley Road at 8:30. The hike is moderate and about 1.5 miles and will take about 2 hours.

Mary Pat Gunderson is a retired District Court judge from Des Moines, Iowa.  She was appointed to the bench in 2011 by Governor Branstad and presided over all types of criminal and civil jury and non-jury trials. Prior to being appointed to the bench she served as a magistrate and assistant county attorney serving in the Major Offense Bureau where she specialized in sexual assault prosecutions and child abuse cases. Upon retiring she and her husband moved to the Wood River Valley in 2020, where Mary Pat is in the process of making a documentary based on some of the powerful stories she heard while serving as a Judge in the 5th judicial district of Iowa. When Mary Pat arrived in Sun Valley she started reading and learning about Averell Harriman with a particular focus on his role in WW II and the fascinating players in Sun Valley, London, Washington DC, and Moscow.

Averell Harriman (left) and Steve Hannagan, summer 1936. Photo: The Community Library, no. 00248.