Join Heritage Outbound Winter Adventure on Feb. 11

The 2017 Heritage Outbound Winter Adventure, an annual day of activities and learning at Fort Clark State Historic Site and Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, will be on Saturday, Feb. 11. A $65 registration fee covers the days activities, two meals, snacks, an information packet to take home, and snowshoe use. Leading activities and providing content during the adventure are Erik Holland and Timothy Reed, State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) staff, and Chris Floyd and Terry Madden, members of the American Mountain Men, a group of living history devotees. Preregistration is required at heritageoutbound2017.eventbrite.com. The day begins with snowshoeing (weather permitting) at Fort Clark State Historic Site. Participants should arrive at the Fort Clark State Historic Site parking lot before 10:15 a.m. CT. While snowshoeing across the site, participants will consider life in an earthlodge village in a discussion of events recorded in the historic record of the area. Topics will include how the Missouri River changed it course, fur traders and business men, and painters and naturalists who visited the Mandans and Hidatsas and lived at Fort Clark in the 1830s. Following the snowshoe adventure, participants will travel to Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, north of Stanton, ND. After lunch at the Knife River Indian Villages Interpretive Center, participants will spend the afternoon snowshoeing the trails through the Hidatsa villages. Staff of the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site will be available to answer questions, assist with activities, and guide participants as they appreciate some of the collections of the Knife River sites. The group will visit Awaitixa Xi'e, or Lower Hidatsa Village, and Awatixa, also known as Sakakawea Village, and will learn about Hidatsa village life and the Knife and Missouri rivers through the lenses of archaeology, history, and oral tradition. Participants will warm up by comparing traditional hot teas made by the Hidatsa with Chinese black block tea, a favorite hot drink of the fur trade era. Other skills will be explored while learning about earthlodge life and investigating objects in the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site Interpretive Center. Outdoors, participants will test their “hunting” skills, as they learn to use atlatls to throw spears at buffalo targets. In past years competition between participants has proven that the group may “go hungry or feast,” said Holland, “depending on their newly acquired skills.” Participants will participate in making pemmican, learn to strike flint to steel to create sparks for kindling fires, and join in other winter activities such as sledding and sliding ice gliders (feathered rib bone darts) in a traditional winter game. “Participants will experience an evening in an earthlodge around a crackling fire,” said Holland. “It will be an unforgettable evening.” A traditional feast of bison soup will be enjoyed while listening to traditional stories, music, and songs by Allen and Nahish Demeray, enrolled citizens of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. This outdoor program requires moderate physical activity and is recommended for ages 12 years and older. Participants are responsible for their own warm clothing. Snowshoes will be provided by the SHSND. For more information and to register before the deadline of February 11, go to history.nd.gov/events/heritageoutbound.html or contact Erik Holland at 701.328.2792 or email eholland@nd.gov. For more programs sponsored by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, go to history.nd.gov.