Indigenous Tourism

Hiking can be so different depending on who you go with. For me, it normally consists of selecting a trail that leads to a goal, such as a mountain summit or an incredible view. Other times, it might be to reach a destination. Recently, however, we joined Tim Patterson of Zuc’min guiding for an education hike around Mount Yamnuska in the Kananaskis. While hundreds of other people made their way up the mountain on an extremely well-trodden trail, our small group spent hours in one small area near the bottom, meandering slowly through the forest to learn about all the plants and flowers we normally hike by. While I might admire the beauty of various plants and flowers during one of my typical hikes, I certainly didn’t know about some of the medicinal or even spiritual properties some of them hold. For example, Trembling Aspen is beautiful to look at, but did you know that if you rub the “spores” off of the bark, it can be used as sunscreen? Then again, did you know that the whole Yarrow plant (Achilla millefolium) can be used to make tea for colds?