Chemeketans

Chemeketans is a Salem-based club dedicated to the use and preservation of the out-of-doors. The club was formed in the fall of 1928 after the idea was conceived on an August climb of Mount Hood. Our club has always been run by a nine-person Executive Council. The names of the persons on that first Council, probably the charter members, were the following:

President – Dr. Vernon A Douglas

Vice-President – Mrs. E.M. Hoffnell

Corresponding Secretary – Gertrude Breyen

Recording Secretary – Stanley D. Vail

Membership Secretary – J.E. Blinkhorn

Treasurer – M.G. Panek

Historian – Mrs. M.G. Panek

Chairman of the Annual Outing Committee – Ben Rickli

Chairman of the Local Walks Committee – E.M. Hoffnell

Ben Rickli is considered to be our founding father. At the time he was the Executive Secretary of the YMCA. He went on to Berkeley a few years after the club was formed, but came back to Salem in 1978 for our 50th anniversary and received an honorary life membership. For the first 25 years of its existence, membership ran about 80-100 a year, and then began growing until the present roster lists about 600 members. Probably our most famous member was Statesman Newspaper editor and Governor of Oregon (1939-1943) Charles A. Sprague.

Our primary accent is on day-hiking, but we also have a strong mountain climbing program as well as backpack, canoe, bicycle, and winter sports trips. We own a mountain cabin which is available for the use of members. An eagerly- anticipated activity is an Annual Outing where we go some place far from home, set up a camp, and hike for two weeks.

A Conservation Committee concerns itself with the preservation of wilderness, and a Trail Maintenance Committee helps to build and maintain area trails. One of the trails we are most proud of developing is the Tumble Ridge Trail that begins near the Detroit Ranger Station and climbs to the summit of Dome Rock. My wife and the late Bernice Shold accidentally discovered this old, over-grown, abandoned route and, through their efforts (particularly Bernie’s effort), the trail was restored and is now in active use We schedule several trips every weekend and one or two mid-week.

My first 15 years or so of membership, my big interest was in mountain climbing, and I think I recall more interesting experiences about that, like the time when climbing Mount Hood that a B-36 came flying by BELOW us! Or the time I climbed Mount Olympus with bad weather on the two-day hike in, including one quite bad storm, and rain on the way out, but the day of the climb was probably the most crystal clear I have ever enjoyed on a mountain!

To become a member, an applicant must complete two qualifying hikes of five or more miles in length. For more information write Chemeketans, P. O. Box 864, Salem, 97308, or visit our website at: www.chemeketans.org.

Written by Kim Hyatt

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Bibliography:

“Go Take a Local Hike” by Kim Hyatt, December 1983

Interview with Kim Hyatt, September 2001

This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.