UPDATE: Canoes at Alki Beach during Paddle to Nisqually 2016

(UPDATED 7:33 PM with Thursday’s departure time)

1:08 PM: That’s the scene at Alki Beach as we write this a few minutes past 1 pm, with canoes continuing to arrive at the Muckleshoot Tribe-hosted stop along the route of the Paddle to Nisqually. As previewed here Monday, up to 100 canoe families are expected from tribes all over the region – they left the Suquamish Tribe-hosted stop on the west side of the Sound this morning, and will be here overnight until heading out tomorrow. Dozens are here already, some already hoisted up and carried onto the sand, some in queue on the waterline.

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1:25 PM: The line of canoes continues to stretch further westward. Hundreds of people are on the beach, some from canoes that have already been brought ashore, some from support crews, plus spectators. This is the first time the canoes have come to Alki during the annual journey since 2012.

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4:51 PM: More photos added.

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We’re heading back to the beach for a late-in-the-day view as well as the latest on tomorrow’s departure plan.

7:33 PM: With the visitors all celebrating with the Muckleshoots tonight, we checked with security watching over the canoes at Alki, regarding tomorrow’s departure time. He said 8 am. They head to Point Defiance in Tacoma tomorrow, the map shows.

12 Replies to "UPDATE: Canoes at Alki Beach during Paddle to Nisqually 2016"

  • LyndaB July 27, 2016 (1:58 pm)

    We just drove by there.  It was so amazing to see all the activity!  Hope they’ll come by again next year.  

  • onion July 27, 2016 (3:31 pm)

    If anyone happens to know the person who used a drone to film the festivities, please have them share a link to their video here. I’ll bet it’s very cool.

  • clark5080 July 27, 2016 (5:18 pm)

    Yes please what time for departure and also what their route would be? Really want to get some pictures of them in action. Hopefully they will hug the shore on their trip to Nisqually.

    Jim

  • HappyOnAlki July 27, 2016 (7:50 pm)

    I asked — they decide departure time at a skippers meeting tonight — it depends on tide and wind. 

    • WSB July 27, 2016 (7:55 pm)

      Oh. The security guy told us 8 am. That was the scheduled departure time from Suquamish this morning, too, though I don’t know what time they actually started leaving. Figuring we will go to the beach early in case the departures start pre-8 … and we’ll post an update with whatever we find. (Plus Twitter; even if you don’t use it, you can see our tweets in the right sidebar providing you are using desktop, laptop, or tablet landscape view.) – Tracy

  • Cheri July 28, 2016 (12:19 am)

    The paddlers will leave Muckleshoot via bus at 7:00 AM during rush hour. It would be fair to say that they wI’ll not be ready to leave until 8:30 at the earliest. Paddling to Des Moines area. We had a fantastic night of song and dance here in Muckleshoot. 

    • WSB July 28, 2016 (12:30 am)

      Thank you for the update, Cheri!

  • Roger July 28, 2016 (6:06 am)

    Sooooo Coool! Thank you folks for sharing your super cool event with us here in West Seattle…hopefully you will stop here again next time!

  • David Patterson July 31, 2016 (8:56 am)

    Here’s a little video I made of this fascinating event. I wish I could have stayed longer to see more boats…

    https://vimeo.com/176753054

    • WSB July 31, 2016 (9:59 am)

      Thank you for the link!

  • L. Blackinton August 4, 2016 (11:02 pm)

    Very nice pictures.  Our first stop in 2007 was at Nisqually.  Very good.  Swift river from snow melt.

    When referring to Muckleshoot, it’s actually “Muckleshoot Tribes” as Muckleshoot is the name of the reservation, but no Muckleshoot Tribe existed.  Made up now of various tribes.  They will even tell you, and their business cards show “tribes”.  Very important to know this.

    L. Blackinton (Samish)

    • WSB August 4, 2016 (11:11 pm)

      Hi; thank you. I always appreciate knowing the proper references but in this case, their website and logo very clearly say Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, with multiple references to “tribe” singular … so that’s what we used. http://www.muckleshoot.nsn.us/

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