Mahikan Trails

It’s an eye-opening experience when you take a walk in a mountain meadow or through the forest with Brenda Holder. She can point to and identify any plant, tree, or bush and tell you how it can be used to make something crucial to survival – a fire cider for the flu or cold, a food source, or a fire starter. Holder, operator, and owner of Mahikan Trails, is following in the footsteps of her family lineage as a Cree guide of the Kwarakwante people of Jasper, Alberta where she grew up. Passing along her knowledge is part of her passion for supporting indigenous tourism for which she has won many distinctions. Holder offers several workshops, including her medicine walks, designed to educate people about how her ancestors survived off the land for millennia. Over two days in the hands-on workshop guests learn how to identify a variety of plants and learn how to make simple medicines.