Friday, the 6th annual Yachats New Years Day Peace Hike sets off from the Yachats Commons at 9:45 A.M. The event, in part, honors the memory of the American Indians forced to leave their homes in the mid-1800's.
The Amanda Trail Bridge was completed in 2009 to raise awareness about the incarceration of the Siuslaw, Coos, Alsea and Lower Umpqua peoples at the Alsea Sub-agency prison camp.
Lauralee Svensgaard is chair of the Yachats Trails Committee. She says Amanda was a Coos woman who didn't want to leave her home and daughter behind.
Svensgaard: "But, was tied to the back of a wagon, forced to march from the south to Yachats, a 60 mile trek. And the soldiers wrote in their diaries that you could follow the path by the bloody footprints that Amanda left."
This year's hike was forced to change venues after heavy rain and flooding washed out the trail and a statue honoring Amanda.
Attendees will meet at the Yachats Commons and have the option to hike 3.5 miles before returning for a ceremony.
