The first canoes from the Olympic Peninsula will leave Queets today, joined by more tribal craft as they follow the coast, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the shores of Puget Sound on the Paddle to Lummi.
This is the 13th Tribal Canoe Journey, which began as a statehood Centennial celebration in 1989.
It was repeated in 1993 and 1997, after which it became an annual event, rotating destinations among marine tribes.
The Paddle to Elwha drew about 30,000 people to Port Angeles in 2005.
The next canoe journey destination on the North Olympic Peninsula will be in 2010 at the Makah Reservation at Neah Bay.
This year, some of the hand-built cedar canoes already have been on the water for more than a week from as far away as Eucott Bay on Vancouver Island.
