Mt. Hood to Warm Springs

After reaching Government Camp on July 31st, and taking THREE days to fix up Rex, our new support vehicle and home for the next four months, we finally took off again for day five of running.

On day five, we began to head down the east side of Mt. Hood toward our next stop of Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Tucked into the forest was a RV camp where we stretched, loaded up on food, and soaked our tired legs in the ice-cold stream. I attempted to get a bit of extra sleep as I’ve been fighting a cold for the past week, and we all slept surprisingly comfortably for our first night in the RV.

On day 6, we continued on from highway 216 down highway 26. Ten miles shy of the reservation at the Mill Creek Gorge, we stopped for the day in the heat of the afternoon.  Tired but happy we drove the ten miles into town.

In Warm Springs we first stopped by DMJ auto parts shop to have Rex looked at after a few backfires. Here we met Delford Johnson, a 68 year-young, rodeo calf-roping, successful business entrepreneur, Paiute tribal member, who shared great advice and conversation with us on everything from engine work to local community issues. It was clear from our conversation that the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Spring reservation members strongly value their unique heritage, the community of 4,000+, and conserving the water and land around them. “Our reservation is our sanctuary, we all come back” – that line stood out to me.

Next we stopped by the Warm Springs Tribal Council Office, where our support vehicle driver and my father, Richard, had dropped off our information while we were running that morning and spoke to Louie Pitt, a tribal Administrator, and Randy Scott, Land Services Administrator for the council. We spoke in depth about water and fish issues, education, and community issues at large. Tomorrow, as we run into and out of Warm Springs, we hope to return once again to focus in on education.