NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Prineville man sets out to walk entire Oregon Trail
He also carries camping
gear. He usually can find
public land to camp on, but if
he can’t, he’ll just start knock-
ing on doors.
“Most people that know
what you’re doing are happy
to share their yard for a
night,” Martin said. “If you
look, generally there’s a place
where you can stay.”
Martin said one of the
“high points” of his pilgrim-
age is meeting new people,
“trading stories with them,
just talking to them, hope-
fully inspiring a little more
interest in the trail.”
By CLAYTON FRANKE
Baker City Herald
BA K E R C I T Y —
Hundreds of thousands of
people traveled the Oregon
Trail in the 19th century, and
Don “Dundee” Martin is
honoring their journey.
Like his pioneer counter-
parts, Martin travels with a
wagon and an ox.
He eats Oregon Trail foods
— steel cut oats, rice, nuts
and dried meats and fruits.
He wears traditional
pioneer white canvas pants
with suspenders, camps in
thunderstorms and carries
enough water to last him a
week.
But unlike those of his
forebears, Martin’s wagon
is a single-wheeled cart —
aesthetically similar to a
pioneer wagon, covered in
canvas supported by curved
oak beams.
And instead of pulling the
cart, his ox is a stuffed toy that
rides on top of the wagon.
Martin passed through
Baker City on Wednesday,
July 6, as he attempts to walk
the entire historic Oregon
Trail.
He stayed overnight at the
home of friends Carla and
Wayne Inman, and then took
a rest day July 7.
Besides his cart and
his stuffed ox, Martin, of
Prineville, has different moti-
A trail (re)blazer
Clayton Franke/Baker City Herald
Don “Dundee” Martin of Prineville pushes his wagon Wednesday, July 6, 2022. along Poca-
hontas Road near Baker City as he works to complete his quest to walk the Oregon Trail.
Martin said. “There’s a lot of
good things that come out of
it.”’
Martin is on his third pair
of shoes out of the four he
brought. Now 2,075 miles and
81 days into the trip, he said
he hopes the fourth pair will
get him through the final 400
miles to Oregon City.
vations than the 19th century
travelers bent on settling in
a new land. Martin said he’s
walking the trail as a cultural
and historical pilgrimage.
“A pilgrimage is an oppor-
tunity to get away from your
day to day life, do something
physically demanding that
you would not otherwise be
doing, share experiences
with fellow travelers, get a
different sense of perspective
and do some self reflection,”
A modern accessory
Attached to the front of
the cart is a device Oregon
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Trail pioneers could scarcely
have imagined — a GPS unit,
which tracks his mileage and
provides a location tracker
where people can follow
along online.
Martin’s wagon like 19th
century prairie schooners
contains everything he needs
to live for weeks on remote
parts of the trail.
Unfortunately, though,
the wagon, he said, has “zero
capability in mud.”
Martin’s journey started
on April 16 in Independence,
Missouri, a common jump-
ing-off point for westbound
immigrants. Since then he’s
passed through Kansas,
Nebraska, Wyoming and
Idaho.
It’s a long walk, but Martin
said that’s not the reason so
few people complete — or
even attempt — the hike
today. Martin said he knows
of fewer than 10 who have
walked the entire Oregon
Trail since modern roads
were constructed.
Its lack of foot traffic isn’t
because of difficult terrain,
Martin said. He said some
sections with hills are more
difficult than others, but for the
most part, he’s just walking.
“Physically it’s very non
demanding,” Martin said.
The reason the hike isn’t
more popular today, Martin
said, is because people have
forgotten about it.
“After the trail went out of
use, people almost immedi-
ately forgot about it,” Martin
said. “It did not occur to
people that this would be a
really significant event that
ought to be preserved in some
way.”
Preserving the past
“It’s not well preserved
everywhere.” Martin said.
“The few parts that are on
public land, because it’s
never traveled, are all back
to sagebrush. It’s not some-
thing that you’re going to be
able to readily travel on foot.”
Picking a specific histor-
ical route is difficult, Martin
said, because the trail was
a “living, breathing thing.”
Pioneers changed the route
frequently based on weather
conditions or environmental
factors for that year.
That’s why Martin plans
to write an Oregon Trail
guide to help and inspire
future hikers after he finishes
the trail himself.
Wit h Ma r t i n’s GPS
mapping a route to the
coast, he’s a pioneer of the
modern Oregon Trail —
re-blazing a trail with hopes
others will follow.
Alpenfest gets official alphorn
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Mostly sunny and
very hot
Sunny and not
as hot
101° 70°
93° 62°
Plenty of sunshine
Sunny; breezy in
the afternoon
Hot with plenty
of sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
93° 65°
94° 64°
97° 64°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
104° 72°
96° 63°
95° 62°
99° 67°
100° 67°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. Mon.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
73/57
91/64
99/65
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
98/70
Lewiston
83/56
103/72
Astoria
70/56
Pullman
Yakima 99/69
84/53
99/72
Portland
Hermiston
90/59
The Dalles 104/72
Salem
Corvallis
88/55
Monday
Normals
Records
La Grande
98/66
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
91/57
97/60
100/62
Ontario
102/70
Caldwell
Burns
94°
54°
92°
58°
107° (2002) 42° (2008)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
91/56
0.00"
0.03"
0.04"
7.48"
2.46"
5.06"
WINDS (in mph)
101/69
100/59
0.00"
0.31"
0.16"
11.13"
4.32"
8.11"
through 3 p.m. Mon.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 95/62
93/58
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
101/70
102/67
93°
55°
89°
58°
107° (1897) 40° (1911)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
85/53
Aberdeen
92/67
97/69
Tacoma
Monday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
82/57
Today
Medford
100/65
Wed.
NE 4-8
N 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 8-16
W 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
97/55
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:18 a.m.
8:44 p.m.
8:29 p.m.
3:32 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
July 13
July 20
July 28
Aug 5
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 115° in Needles, Calif. Low 27° in Afton, Wyo.
WALLOWA LAKE — It’s
not new, but Oregon’s Alpen-
fest has a new, 50-year-old
alphorn as the official instru-
ment of the festival, held each
fall in Oregon’s “Little Swit-
zerland.”
The half-century-old horn
was on display July 5, when
University of Idaho student
Grace Hanning donned a
traditional Swiss dirndl
dress to show how the horn is
played.
She was at Wallowa State
Park at the marina where
the state Parks and Recre-
ation Department plans to
construct an events center.
Plans are for the center to be
the new permanent home of
Alpenfest, said Alpenmeister
Chuck Anderson.
He said the horn may be
old, but it’s like new because
it was hardly ever played.
The horn was donated to
Alpenfest by Cathy Leitch,
whose father, Gordon Leitch,
bought it from an alphorn
maker in Lucerne, Switzer-
land. It arrived in the United
States in 1975 when it was
shipped to Portland, Ander-
son said.
The 12-foot-long horn
consists of a long tube that
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Grace Hanning of Centerville, Washington, demonstrates
while clad in a traditional Swiss dirndl dress how the new
official alphorn of Oregon’s Alpenfest is played July 5, 2022.
goes down to a bell-shaped
end is made largely of spruce
with a birch rattan wrapping,
Anderson said.
According to the Swiss
Observer, which bills itself as
the official organ of the Swiss
colony in Great Britain, the
alphorn is closely identified
with Swiss culture. However,
it’s not exclusively Swiss, as
Alpine areas of Germany
and Austria have long had
the horns, as have Norway,
Hungary, Romania and even
some countries of Asia.
The earliest records of
the alphorns used in what
is now Switzerland date
IN BRIEF
Human remains found east of
Walla Walla, no details yet
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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WALLA WALLA — Human remains have
been discovered east of Walla Walla, accord-
ing to officials with the Walla Walla County
Sheriff’s Office.
The remains were found Wednesday,
July 6, and the sheriff’s office informed the
public the afternoon of July 7.
No additional information was released,
including the person’s gender, approximate
age, cause of death or where exactly their
remains were located.
“We understand this information is
limited,” wrote Chief Deputy Richard Schram
in an email. “However, for the consideration of
those involved and the integrity of the investi-
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from the 16th century.
Alpenfest was held at
the old Edelweiss Inn for
43 years, but the building’s
owners deemed it to be too
dangerous for future public
events after the 2018 festival.
This year’s festival, scheduled
for Sept. 29-Oct. 2, will be at
the Harley Tucker Memorial
Rodeo Grounds in Joseph.
Anderson, who has long
headed the Alpenfest, was
eager to bring the festival
back after being canceled
for two years because of the
pandemic.
“We’re going to hold it this
year no matter what,” he said.
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enforcement officials.
It is not immediately clear if the remains
are connected with an active case, such as the
possible homicide investigation in Waitsburg
announced by the sheriff’s office, with scant
details, on June 22.
Waitsburg is northeast of Walla Walla.
“We honestly don’t know at this time,”
Undersheriff Joe Klundt told the Union-Bul-
letin. “We haven’t been able to identify the
victim as of yet.”
Deputies were notified around 4:11 p.m. on
July 6 that a resident had located the remains,
according to the release. Sheriff’s detectives,
deputies and members of the Walla Walla
Regional Task Force responded to the scene
and located the body.
The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab
assisted the local agencies, and an autopsy was
conducted July 7 in Spokane. No details have
been released.
— Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
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