Hualapai Tribe Plans Trail of Tears Run Touching Ehrenberg, Parker Areas

More than 100 runners have signed up for the Hualapai La Paz Trail of Tears Run, which will go from Kingman, Arizona, to Peach Springs, Arizona, over a two-day period starting April 21, organizers reported. The run’s annual starting point rotates among four locations; last year the journey began in Ehrenberg near the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ historic La Paz site.

"The Hualapai Tribe on April 5th joined the Colorado River Indian Tribes to commemorate the Trail of Tears" at a ceremony on the CRIT reservation near Ehrenberg, a joint act of remembrance that preceded the run, according to coverage of the event. CRIT Tribal Council Members Tommy Drennan and Anisa Patch attended the April 5 commemoration alongside Hualapai Chairman Duane Clarke and Hualapai Council Members Robert Bravo Jr and Earlene Havatone. Frank Mapatis performed the opening blessing at the ceremony.

Organizers and social posts frame the run as a physical and cultural memorial. An Instagram post described the struggle this way: "The run was 50+ miles to commemorate Hualapai ancestors who fought and died for the future generations of Hualapai." The Instagram phrasing underscores the event’s length and purpose; this year’s Kingman-to-Peach Springs route is scheduled as a two-day journey beginning April 21.

Community education around the 1874 relocation is being paired with the run. The Colorado River Indian Tribes Library Archives in Parker will host a presentation led by the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources from Peach Springs, scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. The presentation will use a PowerPoint and include a Q&A session with presenters Loveena Watahomigie, Stering Selana, Lyndee Hornell, and Jorigine Paya. Havasunews framed the talk as an exploration of the "harrowing 1874 forced relocation of hundreds of Hualapai people to the Colorado River Indian Reservation" and the annual run that commemorates survivors’ return to their homeland.

The April 5 commemoration and the April run underline continuing intertribal ties along the Colorado River corridor, with both Hualapai leadership and CRIT officials participating. Local organizers say the rotating start point keeps the La Paz site and other places of forced displacement in public view as successive communities host the event.

Lake Havasu City and Parker residents who want details about the Parker presentation or the run can contact River City Newspapers for more information at 928-764-7657. Organizers and presenters from the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources plan to use the presentation and the two-day run to preserve memory and press the region to remember the 1874 relocation as an ongoing part of local history.