PORT ANGELES — The 16th century: It’s a great place to visit in a cedar canoe.
More than a dozen such craft put in at Hollywood Beach on Wednesday, and in many important aspects, they’d traveled across 500 years.
Their pullers, or paddlers, mostly were young members of tribes the length of Puget Sound who arrived at Port Angeles by offshore routes their ancestors plied long before European contact.
Each crew requested permission to come ashore and was welcomed by members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, both greetings spoken in dialects of the Salish language that also echoed across centuries.
About 30 canoes had been expected at Port Angeles, but a contingent decided to divert from Port Townsend on Tuesday to the Tulalip reservation near Marysville.
Thirteen canoes arrived by sea, after staying at the Sequim High School Tuesday night, welcomed by the Jamestown S’Klallam.
Another two canoes arrived in Port Angeles by trailer.
The pullers of the canoes will stay through Thursday, hosted by the Elwha.
On Friday, they will begin the long pull to Victoria.
By Monday, 80 to 100 canoes and crews are expected to gather on Vancouver Island at Cowichan, the destination for the 2008 Tribal Canoe Journey.
