By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
YACHATS — The annual New Year’s Day Peace Hike has always been about remembrance of the past, but this winter there’s a more modern aspect — honoring the life and work of Chief Donald “Doc” Slyter.
Now approaching its 14th year, the hike traditionally honors the memory of Amanda De-Cuys. She was a 19th century Native American woman who has come to symbolize the persecution of indigenous people in what is now Yachats.
Also honored will be Slyter, of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw, who died in November of esophageal cancer.
The Yachats Trails Committee hosts the hike, which includes ceremonies at both the pavilion behind the Commons, and at the Amanda Gathering Area along the Amanda Trail.
The event will begin at the pavilion behind the Commons at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Since the Amanda Trail itself is rigorous, maps of alternative trails for easier hikes and walks will be available. For the full schedule, go here.
Begun by Lauralee Svendsgaard in 2011, the New Year’s Day Peace Hike coincides with “Indigenous Peoples Day” as declared in 2016 by then-mayor Ron Brean and the Yachats City Council.
All participants in the 2024 hike will receive Peace Hike buttons, designed this year by local artist Laura Cole. As part of the ceremony, sprigs of cedar (a sacred tree for many tribes of the Pacific Northwest), will also be provided to all.
“Doc was part of the Peace Hike from its inception,” said Joanne Kittel, one of the leaders of the Yachats Trails Committee and advocate of recognition for Native Americans in the area. “He was a true leader of his tribe and remarkably respected; he earned it, spending five decades working for the betterment of his community.”
One of only two honorary members of the Confederated Tribes, Kittel was a close friend of Slyter and his wife Debby, who lived in Coos Bay.
Following tribal custom, Slyter won’t be mentioned by name in the 2024 Peace Hike ceremonies, but referred to as simply “Chief.” Kittel explained that this tradition is followed to “allow his spirit to go on.” The 2025 hike will include “a more active remembrance” of Slyter by name, she said.
De-Cuys, after whom the Amanda Trail and Gathering Area are named, was a blind member of the Coos tribe. In 1864, she was wrenched from her daughter and forced to walk barefoot by a government force to a prison camp in what is now Yachats.
Some 36 volunteers have been working on the Peace Hike, under the coordination of Kittel and Loren Dickinson. The hike is sponsored by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw, the city of Yachats and its trails team, Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce, View the Future, Oregon Coast Visitor’s Association, Yachats Ladies Club and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
The schedule:
9:30 a.m.: The Yachats community drum will be available at the pavilion behind the Yachats Commons;
10 a.m.: Fire will be lit, and the ceremony will begin in part led by tribal members including the telling of the Amanda story;
10:30 a.m.: Participants will walk with their cedar sprig on the trail they have chosen, return to the fire where they will place the cedar sprig, to add their prayers or visions for the new year. (For people hiking to the Amanda Gathering Area, which is 2.2 miles south of the Yachats Commons, there will be several options to park to lessen that distance.)
Noon: There will be a ceremony conducted by tribal members at the Amanda Gathering Area and a fire on which to lay a cedar sprig.
1 p.m.: Closing of the fires at Amanda Gathering Area and Commons pavilion.
