About 25 canoeists from Northwest and British Columbia tribes participating in the 2003 Paddle Journey are expected to arrive with the tide today at the mouth of the Elwha River.
Canoes are expected to leave Clallam Bay at 6 a.m. for a nine-hour to 12-hour paddle to the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation.
They’re en route to Puget Sound, where the 2003 edition of the annual Paddle Journey will end Monday.
Canoes will ask permission from Lower Elwha tribal officials to come ashore, a traditional procedure dating back centuries.
The public is invited to greet the canoeists, who some tribal members call “canoe pullers,” and celebrate the arrival with a potlatch ceremony at the Lower Elwha’s tribal center, 2851 Lower Elwha Road.
Tribal council member and canoe skipper Phil Charles said canoes will start coming in at 3 p.m. and continue throughout the evening.
“A lot depends on the weather and how fast they paddle,” he said.
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The rest of the story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News.