The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Welcome to the The Washington State Hiking Podcast with your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming. Along with part time co-host and guidebook author Craig Romano, she provides practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners and potential hikers of all skill and ability levels that is practical, accurate, fun and inclusive. We cover hikes near Seattle and Tacoma as well as hikes all across Washington from the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula to the Shrub Steppe of Eastern Washington.
Jennie is a middle aged, plus sized, frequently solo slow hiker and a born and raised Washingtonian and has enjoyed Washington's trails her entire life. Craig is a trail runner and ultra marathoner who also loves the mellow walk close to home. Originally from New Hampshire, he has made his home in Washington for more than 30 years. He the author of more than 20 guidebooks covering trails across Washington State and beyond.
The Washington State Hiking Podcast
Learning about Indigenous Culture and History while hiking in Washington
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Jennie and Craig talk about learning about Native Land while hiking in Washington as well as some of their favorite places to start learning.
Indigenous Walking Tour of the University of Washington campus
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Jennie’s hike planner and Seattle seasonal hiking guide
Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming,
and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.
Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.
Well, hey Craig. Hey, Jennie. Beautiful afternoon. What we doing inside recording? I know, I know. Especially this time of year. 'cause you know, we don't have a ton of sunny days left in Autumn. Yeah. More so than we used to, but yeah, they, they start becoming more, more of a premium at this time of year. Yeah. Well, today, we're really excited listeners to share.
Some resources and ways to learn about indigenous culture and history on trails in Washington. And um, before we get too far into this topic, as you, I think may know or may have assumed neither Craig or I are indigenous people and it's still really important for those of us who are white to.
Raise this as something that's really important for all of us to understand when we are out on our public lands. And so we're gonna be talking about this today and we would love to get, any folks from any of our local indigenous groups here in Washington who wanna come on the podcast and share any more reflections about.
How we can respect and get to know the land when we're on trails, how we can learn more about indigenous cultures and celebrate indigenous people and support them. So, um, if that's you and you're listening. Hit that text message button. Give us your contact info. We would love to meet you. Yeah, I would love to hear, um, and have you definitely some of your perspectives.
Yeah. And, and, um, yeah, and I, you know, Jennie, we're gonna talk about a, a little, the, the, uh, indigenous history in our mountains and trails. I just, I think most of you know my background's in history. Yeah. And what's interesting, you know, I studied at the University of Washington.
And, you know, when I first moved, I, I, I'm from New England and you know, I grew up very close to Concord and Lexington and, you know, bunker Hill and Boston and, you know, history's all around. And I remember coming out here and people say, oh, there's just more history back east. There's not, and I, I would pause for a minute and my.
There's more European, European American history back east. That doesn't mean there's no history out, there's, there's plenty of history out here. Because, you know, just because it's not recorded or European history that there's no history here. Right? It's like settler's got here more recently that doesn't Right.
Change. It's just Right. It's just more recorded, right? So, right. But, there is, and there's a lot, a, a lot of history here . And, and it says once you learn to recognize things,, on our trails and back country, it's fascinating.
And with that said, I have to bring up a shameless plug too, so. Judy Bentley, who's an author and historian in Seattle, Judy and I, uh, co-authored, uh, hiking Washington's History. Mm-hmm. And it was published by the University of Washington Press. And a wonderful book, uh, it is a wonderful book. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. And if you really, I mean, it's, I'm gonna, matter of fact, we're gonna talk, I'm gonna pull out a lot of the hikes from this book. It's more of a. History book with hiking, though it's certainly, you know, it, it certainly, um, can be used to guide you the trail and why I say that because it's a type of book that you don't have to go to these trails to really enjoy reading about it.
Yeah. Has some fascinating history, about who's used some of our trails in public lands and areas. . So, uh, hopefully what we'll talk about today, um, you know, we'll, we'll get you more interested and then yeah, use that book as a great reference.
Yeah. And we are planning later. Fall to do some more history, hiking focused, uh, episodes too, so, right. 'cause there's just fascinating with the immigration history and the, so I mean, the law, the, yeah. The natural research. There's so much. Uh, yeah. And even in the 35 years, 36 years that I've been here in Washington, the state has changed dramatically.
Yep. Uh, again, so, um. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One other thing that I wanted to mention here at the, the beginning of this episode is that, native people and native land here in Washington and many other places, but of course we focus on Washington on this podcast is an important part of our current landscape and culture as well.
You know, we're not talk, like we are talking about people who were here in the past, but we are also talking about people who are here in the present and Right. They, they haven't disappeared. I mean Right. And there are so many opportunities to learn about modern, native land and native culture in Washington as well.
So we'll be talking about both of those during this episode. I think.. Another thing just to say overall, and we are gonna talk about some specific locations here in a minute, but I have found it's so valuable to take the time to learn more about. Native culture, native people on lands for all types of hikes.
And in the last, I would say about six years ago was when I started really focusing on that. And it's been really interesting to see in what places it's really,, pretty easy to find that information. And sometimes it's not easy and it's been so interesting to see like. Where are places where this is more front and center versus places where it's not as front and center.
But yeah, I would just really encourage you for any hike to do that. It's really been. Helpful for me in like having a deeper kind of understanding of where I am. One of, one of the first places you wanna start is just in the place names. Yeah. It's fascinating. You can learn so much just by picking out a map and looking at the names.
Yeah. And, and a lot of the names here in this part of the country are, are Chinook. Chinook was a jargon Yeah. That was used between English, French. French Trappers, traders, and Coast Salish tribes. Mm-hmm. So you'll see a lot of Chinook names and what that means. And then there are specifically, native indigenous names to places too.
Yeah. So you can learn some of what the mean. I mean, again, even look at the counties in Washington named after, yeah. After tribes. So what, what do those tribes tr? What do those names translate? And that tells you a lot about the people. Yeah. Or, or the area. So I think that's a, a good way to start just kind of getting a Yeah.
A, you know, a beginning of what's out here. And an additional resource for that listeners is, um, both the Sno Callie Tribe and the Duwamish tribe have, um, additional information about police names specific to. Um, what we now think of as like North Bend and the East side, and also the Seattle area. So those are great places too to go and see.
Some additional names beyond those ones that you're talking about. Right. And that's also, that's a great point you made. I know there's, there's been this, uh, movement, uh, trying to pick up more here. It's, it's definitely, uh, been more advanced in, in, in British Columbia, uh, about, um, changing some of the names of settler names, uh, to indigenous names.
But where this gets really interesting too, like anything else, um, you look at a mountain. Like Mount Rainier or Mount Hood in Oregon. Mm-hmm. And you always hear, you know, OMA for Washington for, for, um, for, for Mount Rainier y East. There's a little controversy on that one, but, uh, but what's interesting is that these mountains were in a view scape of many tribes and yeah.
Many tribes had different names. Yes. So what name would you use? And that can create, so again, so even people, oh, it should just be the native name. Okay. Which one? Right. So this, so again, there's some really interesting aspects to, to a lot of this, uh, likewise with rivers. I mean, you think how big the Columbia River is and how, how many.
Tribal indigenous First Nations lands, it went through. So which name are you gonna go with on this one? Yeah. So these are all things that to think, to think about too. Uh, the other thing you're saying about where to find information, and this has been really exciting in the last few years, my, because I've seen amazing changes, with, uh, the tribal sovereignty over the last few decades.
The, the money coming in through the casinos and other, other venues and where some of that money is going. And a lot of these, these, uh, tribes or first nations are. Building cultural centers mm-hmm. And museums that are open, uh, and you can learn a lot. And, and, and again, they're telling, , their story.
Yeah. And what's even fascinating too, again,, you know, I, I was in the Idaho Historic Museum and Boise, um, couple years ago. And again, you think Idaho, whatever you may think about, you know, it might be a little more politically conservative, but I'll tell you, their museum, their state museum was outta this world because you start it with.
Original, original Idaho people, the, the main tribes there, and they went through all these tribes, their very own creation story. Very different. And I thought, well, this is really cool. Mm-hmm. So again, you're gonna see that, you know, um, tribes are gonna tell, or First Nations are gonna tell their own stories and you'll see some overlap.
But again, this is a great way to start hearing their side of the story because Yeah, lots of times these stories have been told Yeah. Through, through us and not them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was also thinking too, uh, about the All My Relations podcast, which is. One that I would really recommend to everybody.
It's an excellent podcast and Matika, if you happen to hear this, please get in touch with me. I would love to have you on our podcast. It is hosted by two, uh, women and it's recorded in Seattle, so it's a local podcast, although they cover many issues related to. Native people all over the country, all over the world actually.
But it's a wonderful podcast and it covers all kinds of different topics. So, but nice, really great. Listen, if you're looking for more podcasts. Okay. So Craig, tell us about some of your favorite hikes that really. Bring a lot of indigenous culture or history to the table that are good for people wanting to learn.
This is some of it. I mean, this is actually quite obvious. I mean, go where it's the strongest is today. Unfortunately you, when a lot of the settle settlement was going on and everything, a lot of , tribal people were taken from their land in place otherwise. But there are certain areas where the land is still traditionally.
Um, the, the native people are still on traditional lands in one of those places is the Macaw, the Macaw Nation at the far northwest corner of Washington. Um, very, very remote. That probably helped them a lot as far as retaining that. Mm-hmm. Um, and they, and because it's so remote, um, a lot of, um, the, the tribe hasn't had a lot of the influence, like, like the tales for instance, which has a very suburban environment and such like that.
Yeah. So, um, you come, you out there on the reservation. You have to get a pass. I'm a call pass to get there and they'll give you access to the trails in that area. And it's an amazing place to, um, to really see the interactions still in the land. Yeah. Places like Cape Flattery and seeing Tattoo Island off, which was a very sacred place and it had, you know, fishing camps and everything over there or heading over and doing the Ozette Triangle, which is spectacular by going by the wedding rocks.
300 petroglyphs or something there. Yeah. Uh, and then also the where a, a macaw, an h Macaw, um, uh, village was, was uncovered in the seventies, I believe, uh, from a a, a, um, 'cause there was actually, I was reading about this up until. I think a hundred years ago, um, there was still people living in this, in this area, village.
And then, um, they, the government in essence forced, forced them out there. The children had to go to these, these schools. Yeah. Which, awful. And, um, um, you know, Canada has actually has a, has a national holiday of reconciliation on, on that. Yeah. And, and such. But this is a place you can learn about this, but, uh, a lot.
Where this Macaw village, the, those, that village where it was buried in a, in, in a mudslide, an archeologist had dug out all these preserved artifacts are now in the Macaw Museum. Yeah. In ne Bay. So you can do the hike Great Museum. Actually. See it's a fantastic museum. Yep. And you go over there and see that.
So it really, I, I think. And you could see the land. It hasn't changed much too. Again, going back Yeah, because you got to the Yakima reservation, of course a lot of his agriculture now and everything, but you get, uh, get out that macaw and sure there's been logging and such there too. But for the most part, a lot of that land, um, hasn't changed that much.
Yeah, I think it's a great place to start. Yeah, I agree. That's a great, a great place, and I don't know if you were planning on talking about this, Craig, but, um, that made me think about the Olympic Peninsula in general and a a less remote way, less remote, more, uh, townie situation. The slalom tribe. Has, um, the Jamestown skull mm-hmm.
People have a map that it's like a walking tour of Port Townsend. Oh, very cool. And it's really cool. Oh, yes, I'm, I'm familiar with it, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you walk around and there's different length. Yeah. You can do quite a long walk or a short walk, and there's. QR codes. Yeah. I forget the name of it's going.
Yeah, yeah. So you can read about different places. And so I just wanted to mention that while that's very cool. While we, while we're on the Olympic pen, that's, oh, and I just have to cry. I, I, I said 300 petroglyphs. I met 300 year old petroglyphs, but there's 30, 30 petroglyphs. I mean, that's 30. And there's still a lot of them.
You can only see during low tide. Yeah. And of course I know you guys are all enlightened and everything, but we don't touch them or deface or Mark. I mean, they've survived. We appreciate them and move on. Yeah. And what's interesting, again about these 300 year old, uh, petroglyphs, again, this kind of debunks what I was saying earlier, people say there's no history out here.
The 300 year show native people in contact with European traders. Yeah. I mean, again, and so the, the history, you know, that. You're talking about was here too. Yeah. And you know, a lot of the, the matter of fact, the whole thing, when Lewis and Clark did, the whole overland came over here. Ended up with the class and everything, they encountered native people who spoke English.
Mm-hmm. Because they had already been in contact. Yeah. Right. So again, yeah, dispelling a lot of these, these, of course they had AKA, who was amazing, could speak all these languages and everything. Yeah. But, uh, again, there's another great place too. So again, on the coast, Cape Disappointment. Mm-hmm. That area, there's a lot.
And then right across the river for a class up, so you can learn. About Lewis and Clark and their interactions with Native people, and then of course AKA or Akia. So, uh, some people pronounce, um, her role. Yeah. In, in, in the Northwest. Yeah. Uh, in, in Washington. So amazing, uh, that you can just follow that whole, all the camps, you know, over through eastern Washington, along the snake in the Columbia, through the gorge.
Lots of places along the gorge where you can. You can learn a lot about this too. Yeah. And even interesting things too. It's, um, you know, the Multnomah, um, the, the Willamette River Multnomah, um, they, Lewis and Clark didn't even see that at first. Didn't even know about it. But, you know, that Native Scouts had talked about these places and, and, and these, his missed opportunity, they, they couldn't have done what they did.
They did without. They're Native Scout in the relationship. Yeah. With a lot of the native people. Yeah. So what else, what are some other good places in Washington? So, um, so another place in, in the south, the Indian Heaven wilderness. And why and why does it have the name India? So this is a fascinating area in the South Cascades.
Um, it's a wilderness area. The, the PCT goes through it. Mm-hmm. Historic. It always, it was a place of gathering. Mm-hmm. For, um, for berries. Also in the area. This would be a place where. Eastern Eastern tribes and western tribes would come together. Yeah. For trade and, and also for games. There's a place called the Indian Racetrack, and basically they, they, raced horses.
That's awesome. So there's also like with this areas near the Indian Heaven wilderness, that. Still are off limits to non-tribal, um, to members for, for their berry gathering.
Mm-hmm. And such like that. So an area that there was still some commitment. I know, you know how many, treaties that we signed and we broke. Yeah. You know, almost all of them and, and now trying to. Trying to reconcile for a lot of that.
So of course the rivers and, and acts as the river. They were highways, particularly the Columbia River and, and such. So the, the Yakima College Trail, which is in the, William O. Douglas Wilderness. Mm-hmm.
Incidentally, to a little side here in history, William O. Douglas, grew up in a tiny town in eastern Washington. He became the longest serving Supreme Court justice. He was appointed by FDR and he served all the way till Nixon, Richard Nixon. Wow. , Why I mentioning him besides, it's interesting because he was one of our strongest, supporters of, of, of civil rights.
In environmental rights. And, he was actually pretty instrumental in protecting the Olympic coast to an area that's very sacred. So again, you know, tying in with the history. Yep. Fascinating area. So in this area, very similar to Indian Heaven wilderness, it's a high plateau, a lot of lakes.
Historic trading routes. Yeah. That went across. And you'll still find some markings in the trees that, you know, notches and things that, that people followed
There are places where people have, , where native people have treaty rights and you know, of course many of them haven't been honored.
Many of them have been broken, but people are still here and still in these places, which is just an incredible story of resilience and hopefully we'll. Build on that and do better at that instead of doing worse on that. Absolutely.
The history is just dismal going through. But, but in the last couple decades, there's been some amazing progress. And I know this is kind of on the fringe of the northwest, but one of the most fascinating stories now, and I just got back from this area, the Klamath. Mm. So this is Southern Oregon, Northern California.
They took out the four dams that used to be one of the biggest salmon runs. Period. I mean, so many people, the Yurok, you know, who lived the mouth, the river, I mean, almost destroyed your culture. Yeah. The salmon are coming back now. The river's coming back to life and everything and, and just, just amazing story.
I know we had the Elwell right here. Yeah. Too. So. You know, I mean, there's been much damage done. That doesn't mean we, we can't try to reconcile.
And, and certainly even we think about the the, the, the CCC and the WPA and all that with the building of the Cooley Dam and all the dams. But it came at such a cost of destroying cultures. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Cult and cultural genocide. Can we, can we reconcile, can we fix some of that? Mm-hmm. And, and that's where we're at right now. Yeah. You know, that makes me think about. Um, the Billy Frank Jr. Naali Wildlife Refuge.
And I know we're gonna talk about wildlife refuges next week, but that, that's another place that I think, um, so listeners, if you're not familiar with Billy Frank, Jr. He was an activist. And he, especially in the 1970s, I mean, he was very, he was a powerful activist for his people for his entire life.
But in the 1970s, he was really involved in the Phish wars, and that was a time when many people in the Northwest were advocating to get their treaty rights. For fishing and, um, this was the whole period with aim, the American Indian movement. Yep. The wounded knee occupation. Yep. In the early seventies, if you're, if you're, you know, I'm old enough to remember a lot of this stuff.
Uh, the occupation of Alcatraz. Yeah. A lot of that. So it was finally coming into the for and Marlon Brando refusing to accept the, you know, his, his Oscar for, for Native Rights. I mean, yeah. It was a pretty exciting, intense time for Native American rights. Yeah. Yeah, it was. And you know, this was a really big deal in.
Um, for the Squa and the Puyallup and people along those rivers. Not only there, but this is where some of the fish wars happened and the fish inns and some really exciting things. A lot of civil dis being a lot of arrests. I mean, he was arrested a lot, you know? Yeah. He was an incredibly brave man. And so the, so it's the.
Um, estuary of the Nisqually River, which has since been restored. 'cause it was all, yes. It was a dairy farm at the time when he was there too. Yes. Yeah. Yes, a very large dairy farm. Um, if you've never been to the, to the Billy Frank Jr. Um, national Wildlife Refuge. I mean, you just have to go. It's fantastic.
And I feel like. Winter is one of the best times to go there. Um, so it's protected for migrating birds. Um, it is beautiful and it's like Craig was saying, it's this restored area and you know, you never undo these things. But there has been a lot of work done there to restore this, um, estuary and the delta.
Delta. The delta, yeah. The word I was looking for of the Squa River. And, um, so it's a, and it's named for Billy Frank, Jr. Yeah. They, cha officially changed the, of the, um, yeah. Of the wildlife refuge. And as far as hiking goes. So I think important thing to know is that you can't bring dogs there even on leash.
So keep that in mind. But there is a board, you know, there's like two miles of boardwalk that is, it's beautiful. It goes out there completely flat. Um, you see tons of birds. If it's clear when you get out towards the end of it, you can see back towards, um, the mountains. I mean, it's just a really beautiful, kind of magical place to me.
So that, and it's. Yeah, so I'll throw that one out there too. Yeah, it's one, when you look at all the rivers that feed into inter Puget sound, it is definitely probably the wildest of the southern rivers, you know? Yeah. As, as far as not having a city at its mouth and. Uh, there are some dams on the squally farther up, so that's something that should be addressed at some point, but definitely.
But, um, but, but the, but the delta has definitely been restored. 'cause I remember again, I hiked it back in 1990. It used to be a six mile hike on dikes around a dairy farm. Uh, and I mean, completely different. Completely. Now it's, it's all tidal in and, you know, and you're on this boardwalk of a, it's a really a cool place.
Yeah. And the other thing that I find really kind of interesting about it, especially if you've been to Mount Rainier National Park, is that this river is coming down from, it's glacial fed, you know? Yeah. From the glacier on the top of the mountains, so. Pretty cool stuff. Okay. What else have you got for us?
So another cool place, again, another tragic story in their history, the Neper people. Um, so a lot of people may equate the neper to Idaho and Oregon. That's certainly northwest, but they, their, their, their traditional territory went into Southeast Washington as well. Very, very large territory. But in the Blue Mountains in the win aha to Canon wilderness, so this is right on the Oregon Washington line. There's a trail called the Mountain Misery Trail. It's actually, it's called Mount Misery.
'cause it was, it was miserable for driving. I think we've talked about driving the misery before driving the, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it really is a misnomer. It's a very nice trail. Um, they, uh, they drove the stock up there, but that was the main route of Chief, chief Joseph, the NPR people. There's summer route where they would come into the mountains and same thing, there was a racetrack where they raced horses.
They, they camped, there's a campground there called Indian, uh, corral, which is. Right on their tra you know, the historic site. So this is a great place to, to really see the Nez Pierce country. And the same thing, um, I was talking about with the, the Macaw. It's an area that has not been urbanized, even suburbanized.
So a lot of the land itself, you can envision what it was like. Yeah. You know, during the late 18 hundreds and such. Yeah. So, um, and it's, I guess it's tragic, tragic story, how we forced them. I mean, all of these are tragic stories. How, how, you know, people, I was just in the Lava Beds National Monument in the Northern California Klamath Basin, seeing the Modoc people, how they were just forced out of the land.
Yeah. Um, and not, and, and, and again, I mean, they. The, the US government went to war against these people, hung the leaders, I mean, assassinated them. And then they took the rest of them, sent them to Oklahoma. I mean, they never went back to their land. Tragic, tragic stories and these, but we have to keep telling these stories, learn from them hopefully, and, and yeah, and, and, and come to some kind of reconciliation.
What else do we have, Craig? There's so many. This is all was native land. It's kind of a struggle talking about this topic, right?
Because it's super important, but also it really shouldn't be. Separated from just talking about this in general. I've always felt that's American history.
I we're a multicultural, you know, society. Always have been. Always have been. We haven't always tell the story that way, but we always have been. Yeah. And I really hope listeners that you will consider this just a starting point or just inspiration for finding. Out even more for yourself as well.
Have you, I'm guessing you probably have, 'cause it's not too far from where you live, have you been to the Kukutali Reserve? Oh yeah. Oh God. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm glad you mentioned wonderful place. That too because, um, so that's Kick ITT Island and, and fascinating history again on this, uh, mean after it fell out of the hands of the, the s swish people, you know, traditionally it, um, it, it was.
Considered as a for a nuclear power plant site. Um, that's so classic. Yeah, it did happen. That was in the seventies when we were building nukes left and right.
Um, uh, but um, then it was the site of a very famous, the dog whisperer who murdered his wife or something. I had this, so I had this story history, but now it's back in the hands of the tribe. Yeah. And it's the first. In Washington. Yeah. Where a state park, it's being co-managed. Yeah. By state parks and the tribe.
And And that's a new model. Yeah. Here. It's really cool. British Columbia's been doing it for a while. Yeah. And they're doing more of it. And you know, up until the last election we've been talking about it, I think I mentioned this before, I was at the OK Moji National Monument in Georgia, which is sacred to the Muskogee people.
Mm-hmm. There's a lot of talk and a lot of push. Do for that to become our next national park. It's national Monument, and if that happens, it's to be co-managed. With the, uh, that would be the wonderful Muskogee. People wonder be amazing. I hope that there's a little setback now, but I hope that's gonna happen.
Yeah. Like I said, Canada is, has been doing this. Yeah. The British go. So we're just, the fact that we're starting to talk about it and we, and we're doing it. Yeah. I see more of that happening here. Um, you know, this whole tribal, tribal parks, this cooperation. Yeah. So, um, I think that's a positive, a positive direction we're going here.
Yeah. And it's such a wonderful place to visit too. It's also a place. For no dogs. So that's important. Know, right? It's very important that you do respect that. Yeah. Um, but it's cool because it has, it has forest, it has beach. There's MITs there, there's old growth on there, there's prairie, there's, you know, very small coastal prairie.
And we just learn, you know, I learned, I've been there several times. It's such a great place. It's a great, it's a great place. But I have learned so much there about, um, kind of how. How rich these coastal ecosystems Yeah. In along the Salish Sea really are. And um, yeah. It's just wonderful. And it's, you know, again, you said it's co-managed today Yeah.
With the swish people. Yep. And so, you know, there are times when different areas are closed Right. For, um, subsistence and for hun for gathering, for fishing. And it's pretty cool to like. Be like, Hey, you know, you're welcome to visit this area except on these dates or, right. And I think you can't go over here into this area where, and that's so important that we respect that too.
A lot of these, these areas are being opened to the public, uh, with rules and, and, and, and, and, and really some of these places are sacred. They're, you know, they're hollowed ground. And that needs to be that we need to respect that. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I can lose these rights. And again, it's just about showing respect too.
Yep. And, and, and same thing with some of the burial grounds and some of these other areas. That, um, you would, I would hope, you know, people wouldn't even think about doing that in, you know, a regular cemetery or something. Why would you do that? Yeah, exactly. So we, we gotta be aware of this again and again.
I've always been fascinated too with a lot of the, um, the mixing of cultures and as things go along too, uh, you go up to smu. Yeah. There's a great trail there.
And then across the way in Boundary Bay over in Richmond. You could see areas where indigenous communities were working in the, in the cannery industries. Yeah. And all kinds of, so again, you know, as part of integrated into our modern society, to which again, they're there. Yeah. You know? Right. And yet in many cases, you're gonna see they weren't treated fairly.
Right. You know, um, the segregation, a lot of the, not just with the native people, but also with immigrant groups and everything. Again, this, this long history you have again. Yeah. And, and trying to make ourselves a better nation.
, A couple other places that I wanted to mention are like, in the city of Seattle.
Sure. Like urban hikes. Um, I will put this in the show notes, but I don't know when this happened. It was before the pandemic, I'm pretty sure, but maybe not too long before some students at the University of Washington created an. Indigenous walking tour of campus and it's wonderful. And so, um, this again is getting, could get a little too far away from our topic, but, um, the area around the University of Washington campus where the Ship Canal, um, was built that as an, you know, Craig, you were talking about like Cape Flattery being a place.
That hasn't, where the landscape hasn't changed significantly, but like, boy, is that like the polar opposite. They're along what we now call Portage Bay, um, and the Ship Canal. So that's really fascinating. And then along those same lines, down near the Duwamish Longhouse, just gonna, I was just gonna mention that.
Yep. Okay. Yeah, the du well, why don't you talk about that? 'cause I was talking about UDub. So you talk about the du Yeah. So in my Urban Trail, Seattle book, um. In all, uh, is is the Duwamish Trail. Yeah. And the Duwamish, if you're not familiar with it, it it, it's not a pretty place right now. It's one of the most industrial areas in, in Seattle.
Uh, but culturally, historically, it's incredibly important because, um, the Duwamish people in there, including. Chief Seattle chief. Yeah. Who was half Duwamish. Yeah. Uh, so again, if you wanna see where he as a young boy grew up, he was actually, um, it's ties to the Suquamish people, so if you go over Yeah. To the reservation over just north of Bainbridge Island, you can learn more there too.
But yes, the Duwamish Long House called, there's a lot of historic places along the river Yeah. That you, you can do. And, and of course it's been very altered again and everything. But it doesn't diminish the significance of these places. Yeah. To, um, so yeah, a lot of that. So even right in the, in, in the city again, I mean this, there were long houses here and everything.
Yeah. I mean this, you know, it didn't pop up on empty land, you know? Yeah. And I just think, man, along the Duwamish trail there that you're talking about, along the du Duwamish River, you know, we are talking about an a river that has been made completely straight. It's an industrial area. It's a Superfund site.
Yeah, that's right. That's right. And also there is this vibrant, thriving longhouse. Yeah. Right next to it. There are plate really beautiful areas of that trail. There are places where the Duwamish tribe has worked really hard to try to restore certain areas, which just seems like the ultimate uphill battle.
I mean, there are. Boeing properties and port properties. A lot of ship, ship rail. Yeah. It's just, yeah. And I just find that experience of, of walking along there so fascinating. I mean, it, it's just like if you start, if you really start trying to imagine what that, and again, not in the distant past what this looked like.
A hundred years ago, or even 70 years ago, some of the most productive salt flats. It's just so, it is just such a interesting reflection to be like, wow, this is what humanity can do at our worst. Right, and, and yet. There is still, there is still some hope for us. Right. Again, and that leads back to places like the Klamath River and, and, and the Elwa.
We have, I mean, we have this incredible power to destroy things, but we can also Yeah. Recreate things. The Duwamish tribe is still not federally recognized. . So even though they've signed multiple treaties with the United States, so Yep, it's really. It's ridiculous, but yeah.
Let us know where some of your places, tell us what you're finding, what you've learned, what great places have been for you to learn. Yeah, we'd love to hear from you.
Alright, see you next time.
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