July 15

The trip has already ended. The following are notes and pictures I took during the trip. Enjoy.


Prologue:

The plan was to meet at Heritage University at 8am on Monday, July 15th. Twenty-six of us would embark on a journey that would take us to meet the people of the "big river", the Columbia. We were to start in Toppenish with a talk about the Yakama tribe and their relationship to the big river. However, like many well laid-out plans, the realities of life asked us to make modifications. This would be an inescapability of our trip but I like to think we did it well. Thank you Jessica, Leonard, Graciela, Chrissy and Monet for dousing the fires, planting the seeds and tending the harvest. Without any of you, this trip would not have been such a great success.

Day 1: The Yakama

Between having to pick up much needed gear an hour after vehicle loading time, a mix-up in locations for our Yakama talk, getting the blogs set up and a young man getting his braces, we still managed to leave at a respectable hour.





296 hours with this bunch !?!?



Stever Ridgon and Paul Ward gave a talk at Heritage University about the Yakama tribe and their relationship to the big river. They were not the planned speakers for the day, so they deserve a great deal of thanks for coming to talk to us on such short notice (only an hour or so!). Thank you both! They discussed salmon, the history of the people, restoration and our part in that restoration.  While this would be a common theme amongst all the tribes we visited, each would have subtle differences in their relationship to the land, its restoration and our part in stewarding the land.
 

Our first stop was at Celilo Falls. Aside from its cultural significance as a trading place and superlative fishing ground, it must have been an unparalleled-sight to see the falls before the dams.

 

Columbia at Celilo

Our next stop would be Horse Thief Lake State Park for lunch and a hike to view petroglyphs.

 

How old are these?



Could be as old as several thousands of years.



Our dauntless leader coordinating our trip but missing an amazing view!

  

After the short hike to see the petroglyphs we made our way to the Warm Springs to visit the Warm Springs Agency. There we stayed in the longhouse and witnessed a truly remarkable sunset.

 

The longhouse at Warm Springs

 



Unbelievable







More Warm Springs sunset