Unwalking John C. Frémont: Klamath Backpacking

What Western U.S. city doesn’t have a street named after “The Pathfinder,” John C. Frémont? This trip revisits portions of the route of Frémont’s calamitous Second Expedition (1843-4), a foray into empire-building conducted under the guise of exploration. Frémont’s journey provides an entry point to learning about an exceptional and very contested place: the Upper Klamath Basin.

We will begin our trip in the ancestral land of the Modocini, Mak’Lak and Yahooskin tribes (comprising The Klamath Tribes). Our contextual materials will include an introduction to Klamath’s ecological “knot” as well as focus on Indigenous Survivance and sovereignty, from the Modoc War to the contemporary fight for Indigenous water and fishing rights. We will introduce content about the current political landscape of a place that sees very different communities working together to solve conflicts over vital natural resources.

Both local and visitors’ voices will contribute to our understanding of the forces that have shaped the Basin: dams, grazing, and land theft, as well as problem solving through patient and resourceful strategies. We’ll spend the first half of the trip in the former Klamath reservation at Chiloquin, Modoc Point and traveling along the Sprague River, visiting important cultural sites and meeting with visiting presenters. Then we’ll head into the Lava Beds National Monument to visit the strongholds of the Modicini where Kintpuash (Captain Jack) and a band of Modocs successfully fought off the U.S. Government troops for 5 months in the late 1800’s. The second half of our trip will include a short backpacking adventure in the mountains surrounding the Klamath Basin— wildlands whose waters feed this oasis.

This trip is structured as a moving workshop, with readings and visiting presenters curated by Signal Fire. Participants are not required to create new work during the trip and all content is optional, though we will be traveling as a group throughout the week.

Participants: Mika Aono, Sarah-Jasmine Calvetti, Sarah Farahat, Joe Hedges, Jessica Landau, Palmarin Merges, Pete Railand, Stephanie Rothenberg, Rachel Stevens, Ilvs Strauss