Lakota Riders Pass Through Boulder On 400 Mile Trek

This story was originally broadcast in September 2018. The Tipi Raisers are passing through Colorado July 15-19, 2019. Find their schedule here.

In July, the Tipi Raisers, a nonprofit working to enrich the lives of the Lakota people through aid projects and community building, rode through Boulder as part of a 400 mile horseback trek ending on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. This year, a total of 75 to 100 native and non-native riders of all ages joined the three week trip lead by executive director of the Tipi Raisers, Dave Ventimiglia, his kids and Oglala Lakota resident of Pine Ridge Waylon Belt.

KGNU’s Hannah Leigh Myers joined the 2018 Lakota Ride for a day of their journey and heard just how much the cross cultural relationships the trip fosters means to the people of Pine Ridge, struggling to survive in the community with the lowest per capita income and life expectancy in the United States.