BY KAREN BOSSICK

Kat Cannell and her horse have nearly completed their journey following the journey of the salmon.

And the Ketchum horsewoman and her comrades—Katelyn Spradley and M.J. Wright—will celebrate the conclusion of their 1,000-mile horseback ride at 2 p.m. Friday, June 9, at Redfish Lodge.

A welcome home party will be held from 2 to 4 p.m.

The three Idaho women started their journey in Astoria, Ore., to trace the route of Idaho’s iconic fish on the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers.

They dubbed their project Ride for Redd after a salmon spawning nest, which is called a redd. Idaho Rivers United, a nonprofit river advocacy organization, helped sponsor the ride as it called attention to the plight of wild salmon, whose numbers have dwindled since dams were erected on the Columbia and Snake.

"We do feel the only way to get these fish back is by removing four dams on the Lower Snake River," Idaho Rivers United Board Memeber Andy Munter told those attending adventurer Jon Turk's lecture Wednesday night at The Community Library.

Like the salmon, the women were tested—in their case, by lightning, rain and blistering sun.

They rode through downtown Portland on April 23 and arrived in Hood River April 27. They made it to Lewiston, Idaho in mid-May and since have been working their way through the backcountry towards Stanley.

As horseback riders they may have been the only travelers able to circumnavigate the washed out highway  west of Stanley, before authorities reopened it on Wednesday.

This is Cannell’s second big ride for a cause in two years. Earlier she rode on behalf of Devon Peterson, a young Bellevue girl who was fighting leukemia. Peterson is back home and doing well.