Organizations like the Niagara Geopark give inspiration to people by advocating for policies and supporting projects that address both the socially constructed systems and the earth's natural systems. A key aspect of the Geopark project is building a better relationship and connection with the land, water, air and the environment around us. In doing so we must recognize the Nations and the peoples to whom we owe the biodiversity we’re trying to protect today.
Prehistoric trails have been travelled for years by traders, hunters, visitors and pilgrims. They are the outdoor footprints of long-past peoples. These remarkable pathways have now become some of our oldest roads. They form an amazing network that is bound up in mystery and legend. Clues have been hidden in the Niagara landscape that hold the truth behind all of these sacred places. Trails go on while we forget.
Hiking can be a meditation in the cadence that we set up by walking along. It helps us think, feel, create and get more into ourselves. Our trails are more than just history, they can be a place of self-revelation. It makes sense that ancient folk would have had some of the same preoccupations. It’s possible to imagine the different cultures and ages of the past and the people who would have walked the path before us.
Each step transports us to a different time. We can interact with nature and the magnificent vistas along our path. It’s a journey to feed the imagination. The trail inspires storytelling and folklore as a way to make greater sense of the experience. Was a spot along the trail thought for generations to be a place of ceremony and ritual connection to the divine?
Our ancient pathways were instrumental in the exchange of trade goods, gifts of history, art, music and ceremony. These rocks and trees raise more questions than they offer answers. Did this path witness pageantry or hardship? They supported fully sustainable economy governed by an indigenous perspective of natural phenomenon and the consequences of living beyond the planetary boundaries and damaging the environment.
When you reach a high spot at the southern terminus of the Bruce Trail at Queenston, it is as if one can channel into the past. The dramatic views of a great lake, the sound of a great waterfall, a majestic river, forests, grasslands and wineries produced by a favourable climate and fertile soils unfold before your eyes. Humankind has lived here for thousands of years and from this viewing point it might be possible to imagine many settlements and sacred places.
Somehow these trails have maintained their existence through strange and changing times. The Niagara Geopark Trail Summit keeps the old pathways alive in people’s minds. Want to learn more? On June 2, 2023, the Niagara Peninsula Aspiring Global Geopark will be hosting a Trail Summit at Niagara College. To learn more about this wonderful opportunity, subscribe to the Geopark newsletter and register to attend go to https://www.niagarageopark.com/
