Canoe Journey Journal

Map by the Muckleshoot Tribe. See a full map here.

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Canoe Family departed Port Gamble Bay for Port Townsend early Wednesday morning. By the time this posts, we should be pulling out of Hood Canal. This is how the route will break down over the next six days.

July 14: Port Gamble to Port Townsend – The first day will take us out of Hood Canal, across Admirality Inlet and up to Fort Worden.

July 15: Port Townsend to Jamestown – On the second day we’ll pull past Protection Island and Sequim Bay for a rendezvous with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

July 16: Jamestown to Elwha – We’ll round Dungeness Spit and push west past Port Angeles to the Lower Elwha S’Klallam reservation. Several routes converge in Elwha, so it should be a large gathering of canaoes. We’ll rest there on July 17.

July 18: Elwha to Pillar Point – From Elwha the canoes continue along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Pillar Point. It’s a convenient midway spot between Elwha and Neah Bay, but no one seems too sure what camping opportunities will be available there. We’ll soon find out.

July 19: Pillar Point to Neah Bay – The final leg of the journey will take us from Pillar Point to the Makah reservation at Neah Bay on Monday. The canoes will assemble at the beach for the landing protocol, the ceremony that allows pullers to come ashore. A week of ceremony and celebration will follow.