“I’m the knowledge keeper here. Welcome to my home.” Lilyrose Meyers’ eyes twinkled as her face broke into a warm grin. “You are here today to experience our culture. You will leave here as family.”

I was at Métis Crossing, a cultural interpretive hub and hotel in Alberta run by the Métis People. With European and First Nations ancestry going back several centuries, they are defined as an Indigenous group in their own right, and we have covered their culture and Métis Crossing in Wanderlust before. However, I was keen to experience both for myself.

I had started my trip in Edmonton, a one-and-a-half-hour drive away, where I had joined a few other people on a fast-paced tour of Alberta. The journey then took me to Métis Crossing before heading west to the Rockies and finishing in Calgary.

I was astonished and admittedly a little apprehensive to see a carpet of snow. A major snowstorm had hit just hours before my arrival, something I hadn’t really been expecting at the very end of March. I was glad that I had bought some snow boots at the very last minute, just in case.

I needed them at Métis Crossing, which had been hit by deep drifts. My first excursion was by 4WD, heading into the centre’s wildlife reserve. Here I encountered a series of 32-hectare paddocks, each home to a different species. The first revealed a herd of wood bison, which lumbered through the snow and disappeared into the trees. Wood and plains bison were once common in this region and used by the Métis, so both are kept here.

In the next paddock, a herd of elk stood camouflaged against the white poplar trees. “Once the buffalo were gone, the Métis hunted elk,” added Lilyrose. “Every bit was used.”

In another paddock, I saw some white buffalo, their cream-coloured coats not quite as pristine as the snow, while huge black Percheron draft horses approached our vehicle in another enclosure.

Métis Crossing lies along the North Saskatchewan River, on the Victoria Trail, a historic trading route originally used by First Nations and Métis Peoples, and reputed to be Alberta’s oldest road. This route was itself part of the Carlton Trail, which ran all the way to Fort Carlton in Saskatchewan, where I had first witnessed traditional Métis dancing 18 months earlier.

I was staying the night in a new sky-watching dome and was keeping my fingers crossed for a sighting of the aurora. Sadly, the sky clouded over as the day went on, although gazing upwards did reward me with the sight of a bald eagle flying over my dome.

After a lunch made of traditional ingredients, including bison and Saskatoon berries, I donned a thick capote coat over my clothing. I joined my group in crunching through the crisp snow to Cromarty House, a recreation of a traditional Métis homestead, where Lilyrose was waiting. She offered a choice of teas and passed around pieces of bannock (a traditional flatbread).

Lilyrose spoke softly of how the Métis lived. She herself had grown up on a farm and had fished and trapped rabbits as a child. Refreshed by the tea and the encounter, we left the cabin, strapped on our snowshoes and followed a path down to the river. The tracks of birds and deer could be seen in the snow. A bear, just out of hibernation, had been sighted the week before, and I saw signs of where it had scratched a tree.