SEQUIM — Canoes were welcomed at Jamestown Beach on Wednesday after pullers on the 2012 Canoe Journey to Squaxin Island launched them from Port Angeles about six hours earlier.
The Jamestown S’Klallam will join the flotilla today on the trip to Port Townsend at Fort Worden State Park. Pullers expect to arrive between noon and 2 p.m.
The first canoe to come ashore at Jamestown, at about 2 p.m., belonged to an unaffiliated canoe family with members from the Lower Elwha Klallam and Makah tribes.
“The trip had really good conditions,” said Chris Parker, a puller on the canoe, which is called The Changer.
“It was gray but warm, with flat waters. It was pretty nice,” Parker said.
Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, greeted the 23 canoes as they glided up to the beach where the Jamestown village once stood.
The Changer was followed by seven Canadian canoes, which traveled across the Strait of Juan de Fuca earlier this week.
“You have had a long pull from Vancouver Island. We are very honored you have come here to rest,” Allen told them.
Quinault, Quileute, Queets and Hoh pullers arrived in a flotilla of 12 canoes to an enthusiastic greeting from about 400 people gathered on the beach.
The Paddle Journey is a revival of old Pacific Northwest traditions.
“It’s a rejuvenation of a cultural and traditional practice engaged in by many generations,” Allen said earlier.
“It rejuvenates us, from youth to elders, spiritually. It deepens our cultural roots,” he said.
About 15 members of the Sequim High School football team were on hand to help the tired pullers haul their canoes out of the water and onto the beach.
Pullers of tribes from throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada stayed for two days in Port Angeles, hosted by the Lower Elwha.
Many left Port Angeles at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. Wednesday to catch the best incoming tide at Jamestown Beach.
Pullers will stop overnight before continuing on to Port Townsend today.
The Jamestown S’Klallam will join the flotilla of canoes today as the pullers make the trip to Port Townsend at Fort Worden State Park.
Pullers expect to reach Fort Worden between noon and 2 p.m. today.
The tribe has two canoes: the veteran canoe Laxaynen, which has traveled on the Paddle Journey for 12 years, and the newer E-ow’itsa, which joined the annual journey a few years ago, Allen said.
For those driving there, Fort Worden requires each vehicle on park property to display a Discover Pass.
One-day passes cost $10, and an annual pass is $30 plus fees at area recreational license vendors where state fishing and hunting licenses are sold, or at www.discoverpass.wa.gov.
Port Townsend does not have a resident tribe, so the three tribes of the Klallam nation — the Lower Elwha, Jamestown and Port Gamble — will combine to host the pullers.
This year’s Canoe Journey will end with a formal landing in Olympia on July 29, followed by a weeklong potlatch at Squaxin Island from July 30 to Aug. 5.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
