This morning's hike was the greatest fun - up a snowy mountain (Tunnel Mountain) behind the Banff Centre, in the company of a Cree who told us about the sacred nature of the mountain and - below - the one it overlooks; talked about the sacredness of the earth; lit a bundle of cedar and sweet grass and sage; said a prayer and sang in Cree; gave us tobacco to sprinkle at the foot of trees. He also asked us not to photograph; not to recount his stories - but at the same time was eloquent about the need to tell things that at one time he would have kept to his own people. It was a very special hike - even if (despite having brought strong hiking boots with me) it left me vowing to buy a pair of snow cleats for any similar hikes I might do in the near future. My iPhone tells me that I climbed 86 flights.
The cloud was really settling in when we were down again.
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