On a cool June afternoon, we gathered with a curious group of Jefferson County nonprofit leaders for a guided walk along a segment of the čičməhán Trail, also known as the Chetzemoka Trail. The walk was co-hosted by JCF and the Native Connections Action Group and led by trail co-founders Celeste Dybeck, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Elder and Chetzemoka Trail Project Leader, and Lys Burden, Project Co-Leader and Trail Planner. The walk offered an opportunity to develop or deepen a place-based consciousness and historical context for nonprofit community leaders in Jefferson County.
Our walk began and ended at Chetzemoka Park and followed a 3.5-mile portion of the larger 12-mile trail along the Point Hudson coastline, across downtown and up the hill to the Post Office. We followed the salmon egg icons embedded at intersections around town and at each stop on the trail, we listened to Lys and Celeste, asked questions, looked at the landscape, and learned local Native history in the very places where that history transpired.
The čičməhán Trail was developed to educate the public about the relationship between the S’Klallam people, who have lived since time immemorial on the peninsula they call qatáy, and the European settlers who arrived in Port Townsend in the mid-19th century. Through interpretive signs and guided storytelling, the trail offers important historical context about the Native presence here, past and current. This intersection of histories contains complex and often difficult truths about settler colonial attitudes and actions, and the trail gives community members an opportunity to witness historical harms and consider how we can reckon with and repair our relationships to Native communities.
For JCF, this walk was part of a commitment to supporting nonprofit leadership that is rooted in place, relationship, and historical and cultural context. We made space for considering how our efforts are informed by the layered stories of the land, the people, and the systems that have impacted the communities we work within.
There is something uniquely powerful about learning while walking. The conversations that happen on a trail carry a different quality, shaped by the spaces we move through together. As we walked, listened, and reflected, the group had the opportunity not only to learn from Celeste and Lys, but also to connect with one another in a spirit of humility, curiosity, and shared responsibility for more deeply knowing where we live.
JCF extends immense gratitude to Celeste Dybeck, Lys Burden, and the many people who contributed years of research, permitting, collaboration, design, fundraising, and care to bring the ?i?m?hán Trail into being. It is a tremendous and important resource for this community and you haven’t traveled the trail, you can start your walk across from the Northwest Maritime Center where there is a QR code and trail guides available. You can learn more here: Explore Port Townsend’s Indigenous Cultures | Enjoy Port Townsend and find the map here:Chetzemoka_Final.5_20_19s.pdf
háʔnəŋ st— we thank you — to Celeste, Lys, the trail team, the Native Connections Action Group, the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe and to all who joined us for this meaningful walk. We look forward to offering more opportunities to make human and historical connections and to deepen our understanding of this place where we are fortunate to live, work, and serve our communities.
