Tamkaliks is a special time of year for Fred Minthorn of Pendleton.

For the past five years he has ridden on horseback through the mountains from the north fork of the Umatilla River to Wallowa in time for the celebration (set for Friday, July 18, through Sunday, July 20, this year.)

Minthorn was putting up his tepee on the Homeland Project grounds just outside Wallowa in preparation for the big pow-wow gathering Saturday, when he spoke with joy about his sixth back-country horse trek.

“I look forward to it every year,” he said, adding that those who plan to join the trail ride this year are all “real excited about it.”

While in the past he’s ridden either alone, or with one or two others – for the past two years with cousin Brian Conner, president of the Tamkaliks – the 2008 ride seems to be limited only by how many horses are available.

In addition to Conner, Minthorn will be joined by his brother, Randy Minthorn, Chris Williams, Caleb Wilson and perhaps others. “We’re all Wallowa Band descendents,” he said proudly. Providing support for the riders will be Charles Jones, and Minthorn’s sister, Kimberly Allen, will be waiting at the Wallowa encampment “with stew and fry bread.” The riders planned to leave Monday morning and arrive Wednesday evening, in time to help put up the parachute on its new pole over the Tamkaliks dance arbor Thursday, the day before the 18th annual celebration starts.

While no one is sure if the route they ride is the historic path through the Blue Mountains into the Wallowas, Minthorn said the Tamkaliks riders have made it their own traditional trail.

He said that some of the riders commemorate their ride for an elder or someone who has passed on. “Personally, this is my coming home vacation ride,” he said, adding that he always takes a two-week vacation from his maintenance job at Wildhorse Casino to coincide with Tamkaliks.

Though he’s not a rich man, Minthorn has donated the event’s biggest raffle prize – an Appaloosa horse. However, this year he got a late start looking for the right horse in Idaho, and the raffle tickets were already printed. Next year, perhaps, there will be another Appaloosa on the raffle prize list.

About 25 volunteers armed with weed eaters, rakes, gloves and other tools gathered at the Tamkaliks grounds Saturday to get it in shape during the annual workday.

One new sight this year will be two bridges to nowhere, bridges that are destined to become foot bridges over the Wallowa River from the town of Wallowa to the celebration grounds.

According to Mary Hawkins, one of the volunteers and also a member of the Wallowa City Council, one of the bridges was donated by Wallowa County and one by Union County. They are destined to become part of the Nez Perce Fisheries “meander project,” but for now they are just being stored on the site.

For more information about the 2008 Tamkaliks celebration, see the special insert inside this issue of the Chieftain.