Fern Lake Shapes "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"

News and Adventure from Glacier National Park

In the early 1900s Dr. William J. Workman began construction on a fishing lodge along the shores of Fern Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. This would eventually evolve into the Fern Lake Lodge, which would include a dining room, as well as a dormitory and log cabins that could accommodate up to 55 people. Although the lodge ceased most operations in the late 1930s, it continued serving light snacks through the 1950s. During the summer of 1958 the lodge was managed by budding folksinger Judy Collins, and her husband at that time, Peter Taylor. In 1976 the National Park Service razed the property and returned the area to its natural state.

Although Collins attained a fair amount of fame on our own with hits such as “Both Sides, Now”, it was arguably the Crosby, Stills & Nash smash hit, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, which would immortalized her. At the time the song was written Collins was dating Stephen Stills. In a 2016 Facebook post Collins recalled her time at the lodge:

“I ran Fern Lake Lodge in 1958 for a summer and I and my family will never forget the mountains and our time there–RIP Denver John (her brother) and Clark-and my ex, Peter Taylor, who ran the water down from the springs into the pipes and into the lodge and kept the first [fires] burning and the wood chopped–our memories float over the spring run-offs and the sunsets and sunrises as hikers take to the mountains to see the Columbines and Paintbrush, the leaping trout and the nutcrackers and Rocky Mountain bluebirds. I will go up that 9 and 1/2 mile hike again, over the 11,000 foot pinacle above Odessa Lake and above Bear Lake, and down into the Fern Lake terrain. The Lodge where we worked–I baking bread and pies on a wood stove-and slept, down on the river bank are all gone, but the memories live on.”

Thousands of hikers still visit Fern Lake every year, but none will ever find any evidence that the lodge ever existed. Here’s a photo of Judy Collins performing at Fern Lake Lodge:

Jeff
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