SUQUAMISH — Of the 26 traditional Native American vessels that came ashore Wednesday evening in Suquamish, there were a few that didn’t quite look like Salish canoes.

But they had every right to be there, as they had traveled a long way to be a part of the annual journey that celebrates the ancestral highway and traditions of coastal Native Americans.

Members of the Unangax, a Native Alaskan tribe from St. Paul, Alaska, pulled into Suquamish Wednesday night in their kayaks, one of which was made from traditional materials of driftwood and sea lion skin. The kayaks are similar to the traditional vessels used by the tribe but differed greatly from the cedar canoes used by the First Nations in the Northwest.

Crew members launched from Alki Beach Tuesday and camped in Port Orchard that night before pulling more than seven hours on Wednesday to Suquamish, said puller Dimitri Zacharof.

The tribal canoe journey has been a learning experience for everyone from their community who was involved, said Zacharof. They had no idea what it was until last year, when Kerry Bischoff, a former employee of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, came to work for the Unangax Tribe and explained what it was.

“I was intimidated at first,” Zacharof said about the idea of going on a tribal journey. “I didn’t know about the protocol and I thought it would be a challenge. But I’m here to challenge myself and learn.”

Unangax member Eric Galaktionoff, who has been building kayaks since 1996, was excited about creating a new vessel and participating on the journey — primarily to help reintroduce the traditional ways of his native people.

“I would like to see the culture come back,” he said. “I know I’m going to start it and keep it running.”

Bischoff said it was a leap of faith for the community which didn’t know anything about the two week event other than watching a few videos and listening to Bischoff talk about it. Typically, before a tribe creates its own canoe family, a few members will help pull another tribe’s canoe during the journey to gain experience. The Unangax community had very little opportunity to do so but decided if they were going to do it, they had to do it themselves.

“The reason we’re here is to let people know we’re there,” Bischoff said.

Nooksack was another tribe on its first tribal journey as a canoe family. By Thursday, tribal youth and cousins Justin Johnny, 17, and Levi Johnny, 14, had helped pull 100 miles from their homeland near Bellingham, after starting July 21.

It’s worth participating because they get to see all the families, meet new people and watch all the tribes get together, said Justin Johnny.

They didn’t have much of a chance to prepare for the event, other than one training day before they took off. Many of the crew are canoe racers and are familiar with pulling, but it’s a lot different when it’s a long distance. They are also working on their equipment as they go along, such as carving their paddles, which they were hoping to have done by the time they left Suquamish.

“It’s great when other tribes are happy to see us out there,” Justin said.