We try our best to get the history of the areas we ride. It makes the ride much more meaningful. Ishi Wilderness was named after America's last "Wild Man". Ishi was a Yahi Indian, a small but feared sub-tribe of the Yana. As settlers moved into the lower valley, the fear of the hill people was passed on to the white man. The ranches expanded into Yahi's hunting ground and they were forced to steal cattle and sheep. Posses would ride in killing Yahi and the Yahi would retaliate by killing women and kidnapping children.

Things were getting out of hand. Large groups of people set out to exterminate the hill people. Because of the shrunken hunting and gathering ground the Yahi would come out in daylight to steal food. Posses would then chase them back into the hills, killing them group by group. Soon there were no more signs of the Yahi and the fear of the Yahi was gone. A few years passed and when some stone-age tools were found, wrapped in a deer hide, hidden in a tree.

On August 29, 1911 a skinny man, barely clothed, was found collapsed by the corral of a slaughterhouse. The sheriff in Oraville was called in to take a "wild man" off the property. The sheriff took Ishi to jail and people from all over came to see this "wild man" behind bars. Ishi was without kin or friends. To travel beyond his borders was certain to cross physical and psychic limits.An anthropologist took Ishi to live in a museum in San Francisco.

Here was a stone-age man, suddenly living in the 20th Century. Ishi became a part of the museum. He gave daily presentations on the fire drill, bow and arrow making and other stone age practices. Up to 1,000 people a day came to watch and learn from Ishi. He liked his new life and made many friends. He thought white man's greatest invention were matches and glue. He thought the white man was smart, but not too wise. Life in the 20th Century brought a strange new life to Ishi and a strange disease that took his life.

Ishi died of Tuberculosis.

As we rode into Ishi's wilderness we were taken back in time, reflecting on Ishi's story. We collected acorns in the same trees that the Yahi did. We leached out the tannic acid, then dried and pounded them into flour. Some of the acorns were roasted into carmel, nutty tasting pieces. Then we collected Buckeyes and made them into flour. In two weeks we made 30 pounds of delicious and nutritious flour.We enjoyed a small taste of what Ishi's life must have been like.