Yellow Wolf’s escape from Bear Paw, like White Bird’s, represents the choice of a man who decided that whatever came after surrender was worse than the risks of escape.

His eventual return to the United States and his decades of life on the Colville Reservation gave him a perspective on both outcomes that most of the principals of 1877 did not live to have.

The Annual Ride: Living Memory

Every summer, members of the Nez Perce Tribe and supporters from the broader community participate in ceremonial rides along portions of the 1877 route.

These rides are not historical re-enactments in the theatrical sense.