7/23 Paddle to Pullyap Event

Today was a leg of the Paddle to Pullyap event held by the Native American Tribes in this area. Beware that this is a very long post as I took a lot of photos of the canoes and their arrival. Here are the routes of the various groups.  I am in Fort Worden State Park, which is in Port Townsend, in the middle of the map.

As the canoes arrive, each pulls close to the shore facing forward and asks permission to come ashore and visit with their friends and relatives as they are tired and hungry. Then they back out and turn around so that the stern of the canoe faces the shore.  When they back into the shore, the paddlers get out and a team of volunteers carry the canoes onto the shore.  

You can see one boat in the background getting ready to be carried onto the shore and another one closer, asking permission to land.

Getting ready to be carried onto shore. 

And another canoe asking permission. 

Here they go!  By now the paddlers have gotten out and some are helping the carriers. 

These are really big and heavy canoes!  Many are very old and about half are dugouts, meaning they were made from a single, very large tree.  Notice that many have small sails, which they used before they came around the point into sheltered waters.  It is very windy here. 

 More arriving canoes.

Click here to see a video I took showing the process. (Check out the guy directing traffic.) It may seem calm here, but they have just come around a point, and it was NOT calm out in the main part of Puget Sound.  A small Coast Guard boat followed them from the reservation at Jamestown and nearly all paddlers wore life jackets. 

The next photos show details of some of the canoes.  This one was a dugout.  One of the older men put several buckets of water in it and covered it with a tarp so the wood would not dry out. 

As I took photos more canoes arrived--26 in all.  This is a great swimming beach, by the way, with crystal clear water. 

As the canoes arrived, the paddlers were looking for restrooms, water, and snacks.  The tents were set up with water and snacks for them, as they had been paddling for 3-4 hours straight.  Luckily, today was low 70s, so not too hot or cold.  (Water, however, was very cold.) 

The rest of the photos were taken later in the day after most of the paddlers had left. 

I think these are chisel marks. 

This one looked really old.  

This canoe was small and made of canvas and some kind of varnish or other waterproof coating. 

I tried to take photos of the artwork on the canoes. 

Last view.  I was really glad to be here during this event and be able to see it all.