Coast Salish Tribal Canoes at Alki Beach

First Paddle to Muckleshoot Canoe Journey Since 2019

The largest event hosted by Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, the Paddle to Muckleshoot Canoe Journey, is a celebration of Pacific Northwest Coast Salish tribes and their traditional mode of transportation, started as the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 by the late Emmett Oliver of the Quinault Nation to commemorate the Washington State Centennial. The Canoe Journey involves thousands of Native Americans from sixty tribal families, with about 130 canoes traveling from as far north as Bella Bella, British Columbia, and as far south as the lower Columbia River. This is the first Canoe Journey since 2019 (paused during the Covid pandemic) and the first the Muckleshoot people have hosted since 2006. The Canoe Journey will conclude after the Alki Beach landing with a weeklong celebration of culture and heritage at the Muckleshoot Powwow Grounds in Auburn.

Each tribal canoe needs to be hauled out of Puget Sound onto Alki Beach by hand.

Boats of every imaginable kind gathered off Alki Beach to greet the arriving tribal canoes.

Even the Seattle Fire Department’s Fireboat 2 saluted the tribal canoes as they arrived at Alki Beach.

Remarkable to witness about 130 tribal canoes landing at Alki Beach.

Tribal canoes participating in the Paddle to Muckleshoot Canoe Journey lined up on Alki Beach.

Humongous crowd taking advantage of a spectacular summer Sunday to greet about 130 tribal canoes landing at Alki Beach for the first Paddle to Muckleshoot Canoe Journey since 2019.