Colombia River Gorge

I-84 from Hood River to Portland

Before westward expansion, the Columbia River was a centerpoint for wealth, trade, and migration. Although colonization has driven much of the original people and their traditions out, many of those underlying patterns of travel remain, up and down the Columbia River, and there is still evidence of the native culture that lives on.

On this tour, I will take you through the waterways of the Columbia River, in places that were the most significant and meaningful to me growing up. I will compare these places and my experiences to how these places looked when the First Peoples fully inhabited them.

Ultimately, this tour allows for reflection on the places that I have been and who have been there before me -- looking at our patterns of living and noticing what has changed and what has stayed the same. What I have discovered is that I think we have more in common than the First Peoples than I originally thought, and that even though our world has drastically changed, I still think it is possible to take up similar patterns of living and sustainability as the indigenous people did and still do.