Harland Yriarte
Camp Founder
Harland Yriarte founded Steens Mountain Running Camp in 1975, and for more than fifty years he has been its heart and its voice. On the camp radio he goes by Basqueo-1.
Rooted in the high desert
Steens Mountain was family ground long before it was a running camp. Harland is the grandson of high desert ranchers and the great-grandson of a Basque shepherd who summered his sheep on the mountain. He grew up on the family ranch near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with Steens on the horizon.
A coach with an idea
Harland earned his B.S. in Education from Southern Oregon University in 1972 and his M.S. in Education from the University of Oregon in 1982. His first coaching job was at Brookings Harbor High School on the Oregon coast, and in 1975 he told his twelve runners that making the team meant spending part of the summer with him on Steens Mountain. Those trips grew into a camp open to every high school team. Read the whole story →
He went on to become head track and field and cross country coach at Lane Community College, then served as the school's athletic director from 1991 to 2002.
Known for his words
Ask any former camper about Harland and they'll tell you about the speeches: on the morning of the Big Day, around the campfire, and at the closing ceremony, tying the rugged mountain to running and to life. Every New Year he sends campers and staff a card from the mountain, reminding them to take its strength back down to flatland America.
In his words
It’s not so much what you do in life that counts, it’s who you are when you’re doing it.
Don’t let your weaknesses define you. Be defined by your strengths, your big things. Then work on the little things.
The first step in becoming who you can be is to make yourself small in your own eyes.
Let obstacles make you better, not bitter.
Family on the mountain
Harland is assisted by his wife Kay, several of their adult children, and an experienced and caring staff. In 2025 their son Jenner, who met his wife Heather at camp, took over as chief camp coordinator, and Jenner's kids make three generations of Yriartes on the mountain.