This month marks the 146th anniversary (in 2022) of the Nez Perce tribe's last month of freedom as a people.
In 1877, they were given an April 1st deadline to resettle on the reservation. But Joseph had already decided that they would not move to the reservation. Instead, they would try to escape to the Canadian border- the "Medicine Line"- to freedom. The Lakota Chief Sitting Bull and his people were already there. It it hard to imagine what the Nez Perce people must have felt preparing to leave their ancestral homeland of more than 10,000 years...
Joseph and his band began preparations to leave their ancestral lands of more than 10,000 years. The 750 tribe members and about 3,000 horses would have to traverse a brutal 1,500-mile exodus through the earth's most rugged terrain to reach freedom in Canada. Below is the route the Nez Perce took, fighting the pursuing U.S. Army the entire way.
Chief Joseph and his people rode from beautiful Lake Wallowa in eastern Oregon, through the plunging Imnaha Valley and Hell’s Canyon (the deepest gorge in North America), over the Continental Divide FOUR TIMES, through dangerous rushing rivers, through Yellowstone Park (the sacred land the Nez Perce called “unfinished by God”), down rocky trails and up steep ascents, and finally, to the Plains and rolling swells of Montana. The trail stops at the Bear Paw Battlefield, just 30 miles from the Canadian border, where they fought their final battle.
Today, every summer, every year, hundreds of riders--descendants of Chief Joseph and other Nez Perce and people of all colors from around the world--saddle up their spotted Appaloosa horses to retrace the arduous trail Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce tribe took 146 years ago to escape to freedom while the U.S. Army pursued them. Each year, toward the end of July, a group of dedicated riders ride a hundred-mile segment of the 1,500 miles trek Joseph and his people took through the roughest terrain on the face of the earth.
It’s a tradition that was started in 1965 by a handful of members of the still-young Appaloosa Horse Club. They were admirers of Chief Joseph and dedicated to the horses the Nez Perce had developed, trying to reincarnate the dazzling breed that had been cast to the winds of oblivion when Chief Joseph and his tribe finally surrendered in 1877. The Nez Perce would lose their land and the beloved horses they had carefully developed for generations. About 60 years after Joseph’s surrender, the Appaloosa Horse Club was formed. Thanks to that small group of Appaloosa lovers and Nez Perce tribal members, who joined in reclaiming their proud legacy, the Chief Joseph Trail Ride is a shining tradition that not only celebrates a great man and his great people, but a great horse breed that is now admired and loved around the world. (SEE POST LINK BELOW ABOUT THE APPALOOSA BREED!)
The complete route is divided up into thirteen 100-mile segments, one segment per year ridden in order, following as closely as is logistically possible to Joseph’s original route. (In 1877, the land was still wilderness and unsettled for the most part. Today, nearly all the land is privately owned, so permissions and logistics are challenging to navigate.) The ride takes thirteen years to complete all 13 segments of the cycle. Each day, the riders cover between 20-25 miles of the trail, so horses and riders must be in top condition. All horses must be registered Appaloosas. But it’s not all hard riding and sore butts. At the end of the day, there are many events, music, great food and drink, campfires, and stories. And lifelong friendships are made.
The chronological segments include:
2017 - Joseph to Doug Bar, OR (Wallowa Lake, Imnaha Canyon, Doug Bar)
2018 - Grangeville/Tolo Lake Loop, ID
2019 - Stites to Mussellshell, ID (Camas Prairie, Clearwater Battlefield)
2020 - Mussellshell, ID to Wendover Camp (Lolo Trail, Clearwater National Forest to Packer Meadows) (This segment had to be cancelled because of the COVID.)
2021 - Lolo Hot Springs to Stevensville, MT (Ft. Fizzle, Bitterroot Valley) (This segment had to be cancelled because of dangerous forest fires on the trail.)
2022 - Darby, MT to Big Hole Battlefield
2023 - Jackson, MT to Leadore, ID (Horse Prairie, Bannock Pass, Birch Creek)
2024 - Spencer, ID to West Yellowstone (Camas Creek Battlefield, West Yellowstone)
2025 - West Yellowstone and Yellowstone Park
2026 - Cooke City, MT to Clark Fork River (Yellowstone Park, Absaroka Mtns, Dead Indian Hill, Sunlight Basin & "Suicide Slide")
2027 - Clark, WY to Laurel, MT (Yellowstone Valley, Canyon Creek Battlefield)
2028 - Ryegate to Roy, MT (Musselshell, Big Snowy and Judith Mountains)
2029 - James Kipp Park, Missouri River, Bear Paw Battlefield
The Nez Perce exodus 146 years ago numbered about 750 tribal members, including 200 warriors, and about 3,000 horses. General Oliver Otis Howard was pursuing the them. Howard was a leading general in the Civil War at many key battles, including Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg and had lost his right arm in battle. He was now charged with defeating Chief Joseph. He was determined to stop Joseph at the Clearwater and led 500 troops against Joseph’s 200 warriors and set up Gatling guns and howitzers on the bluffs of the Clearwater River to rain down destruction on the Indians.
But Nez Perce warriors attacked the soldiers on the bluffs from the back and the ammunition mule train and nearly captured it. They surrounded the troops on the bluffs and held them at bay until the entire Nez Perce tribe could cross the Clearwater River and begin their ascent into the Bitterroot Mountains to the Lolo Trail. Through feigning and flanking, the warriors held the U.S. troops for several days. The Nez Perce were known to have extremely keen sharpshooters and the Army suffered far greater casualties: 15 dead and 25 wounded, compared to four Nez Perce dead and six wounded. The battle was front-page news across the nation and the press dubbed Joseph the "Red Napoleon" because he and the other Nez Perce leaders had repeated outfought and outsmarted the Army. Americans watched in awe as the Nez Perce desperately outfought the U.S. Army and its best generals as they surged toward the Canadian border and freedom.
In recent years, the Chief Joseph Ride had to be cancelled a couple of years due to COVID and horrific forest fires that are ravaging the West, especially in Idaho. The annual ride honors that heroic and tragic exodus. Chief Joseph Trail riders spend many miles rocking in their saddles and listening to the hoofbeats of their spotted horses across the Oregon, Idaho and Montana wilderness and some of the most beautiful land on the face of the earth. They will cross the Clearwater River below the bluffs where Gatling guns and howitzers once thundered and the valley cracked with deadly gunfire. And they will try to imagine what it must have been like for Joseph and his people on that same trail 146 years ago.
You can learn more about the Chief Joseph Ride at these Facebook link:
The official FB site for the Chief Joseph Trail Riders
Veteran trail rider, Karen Bumgarner's about riding the "Chief Jo"
PHOTOS: (1) The Chief Joseph Trail Ride retraces the route Chief Joseph took in 1877, as he and other Nez Perce chiefs tried to save their people from imprisonment on the reservation by making a desperate attempt to escape to Canada. Over four months, the Nez Perce covered 1,500 miles in four states through some of the roughest and most spectacular terrain on earth, engaging the pursuing U.S. Army from all directions in a dozen battles. (2) Early in their trek, they had to navigate the treacherous Imnaha Valley and Hell’s Canyon, the deepest gorge in North America. (3) Chief Joseph’s band lived for many thousands of years on beautiful Wallowa Lake, now in eastern Oregon. The trail begins here, at their ancestral home. (4) The trail ends about 1,500 rugged miles later, on the Bear Paw Battlefield in northern Montana, just about 30 miles from the Canadian border. Shown in photo is Kristen Reiter, the chief organizer of the Chief Joseph Ride today, passing below the flag at half-staff at the Bear Paw Battlefield in 2016, her hat removed in honor of those who had fallen. Chief Joseph’s brother, the great warrior, Ollokot, died at the Bear Paw. The Nez Perce tribe provided a ceremonial blessing at the battlefield, with drumming and traditional song. Then Nez Perce youth participated in the Empty Saddle presentation to honor their dead. All participated in a Healing Ceremony at the end, when a Nez Perce elder offered a prayer of peace. Photo by April Herrin. (5) Horses and riders fording a river on the Chief Joseph Trail. Photo by Kristen Reiter. (6) The cover of the first Chief Joseph Trail rider brochure in 1965. (7) Hundreds of Chief Joseph riders spread out on a plain in central Montana. (8) Veteran Chief Joseph trail rider and very successful competitive national endurance rider, Karen Bumgarner, on her gorgeous Appaloosa, Rio. This photograph made the recent March/April 2019 cover of Appaloosa Journal! Appaloosas are renowned for their endurance and stamina. (9) A map of the 1,500-mile Chief Joseph Trail from Wallowa .
"Chief Joseph's Great Exodus to Save His People" was originally published on October 1, 2019 Facebook & NotesfromtheFrontier.com
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