Time travelers

TOLO LAKE - More than 100 horses trotted south from Tolo Lake early Monday, carrying their riders on the first leg of a 100-mile journey tracing the historic route Chief Joseph took escaping the U.S. Cavalry in 1877.

The trail ride, organized by the Appaloosa Horse Club in Moscow, is in its 54th year. Each year, registered Appaloosas and their riders follow one of 13 segments of the Nez Perce Trail led by Chief Joseph and others. This year's ride goes from Tolo Lake, 7 miles west of Grangeville, south to the White Bird battlefield, where the first battle of the Nez Perce War took place. Then it will move west across the Salmon River to Joseph Plains, finally returning Friday via Rice Creek and Graves Creek to Tolo Lake.

Andy Shaw of Adams, Ore., the trail boss for this year's ride, said riders likely will cover 15 to 25 miles a day.

"We have Nez Perce that come and descendants of General Howard that come," Shaw said. "It's a commemorative ride over that section of trail that (the cavalry) chased Chief Joseph in 1877. ... This is the fifth time we've been here. They were here in '66, '79, '92, 2005 and this year."

Shaw said people taking part in the trail ride hail from all over the country, as well as from Germany, England, Australia and New Zealand.

Besides the 105 riders, there are an equal number of escorts who move trucks, horse trailers and campers from one destination to the next.

The cost to participate in the ride is $600 per person, and the horse club provides a kitchen staff that prepares all the meals and provides water and hay for the horses.

The event began Sunday night at Tolo Lake with a blessing from Nez Perce elders and a formal pipe ceremony to mark the significance of the trail ride. Shaw said another ceremony is expected to take place Wednesday.

The Nez Perce War was fought between June and October 1877 after several bands of the Nez Perce refused to give up their ancestral lands in central Oregon and Washington and move to a reservation in Idaho.

The Nez Perce were pursued by the U.S. Army, led by Brigadier Gens. Oliver Otis Howard and Nelson A. Miles. They fought a series of battles and skirmishes on a retreat of 1,170 miles that ended at the base of the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana, 40 miles from the Canadian border. After a five-day conflict, the survivors represented by Chief Joseph surrendered to the army. The Nez Perce, including women and children, were taken prisoner and sent by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

The Appaloosa Horse Club initiated the first Chief Joseph Trail Ride in 1965 to commemorate the historic journey of the Nez Perce. The ride is exclusively for registered Appaloosas and is the longest running and most popular trail ride hosted by the club.

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Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.