This morning I went to the annual Tamkaliks Celebration taking place in nearby Wallowa. This is a Powwow for the Nez Perce tribe especially the descendents of Chief Joseph who originated here. A statue of him is in Joseph the next town to here. Everyone is welcome to watch the ceremonies and there are stalls and food booths around the site. The tribe fled the area during the 1877 war when much of their homeland was taken from them and after defeat ended up in Kansas, then moved to Oklahoma and finally to Colville in Washington state. The morning started with a horse parade around the arena in traditional manner followed by drumming and a friendship circle dance, a traditional song, speeches from women who were descended from Chief Joseph and a naming ceremony when an elderly lady wished to have a tribal name bestowed upon her. Part of the ceremony was to give gifts of shawls and blankets to other members of the tribe. She also asked for gifts to be given to non-Indian members of the audience so we all went over to meet her and pick two items from the gifts laid out. There was a variety of things to choose from and I chose 2 headscarves as I have to be able to pack them. The whole morning was very moving as they are trying hard to preserve their heritage and proud of it. This afternoon I went to Lake Wallowa where there were lots of people kayaking and swimming. I moved on to the gondola which takes you up 1128m to the summit of Mount Howard (2516m) where I walked the trails which went round the mountain with lovely viewpoints. There were lots of wild flowers out including miniature blue lupins in profusion among the trees reminding me of the bluebell woods at home.