today, i journey with the Confluence Project to the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean at Cape Disappointment which was the end of the trail for Lewis and Clark and the beginning of the Confluence Trail stretching 438 miles along the big river, the Columbia… arriving at this sacred site, home to the Chinook for thousand of years, we walked an oyster shell trail inscribed with the words of a Chinook praise song invoking all the elements to show us the way a trail ending at the cedar circle, the tree of knowledge…

we follow a parallel trail leading to the ocean marking the Lewis and Clark expedition and feel the joy they felt when first seeing the Pacific and like the Chinook…

we call upon the great waters asking them to

teach us, and show us the way

~

may we all be connected to all our relations with every step we step and every breath we breathe