This story needs you 🙏🏼

Following in the footsteps of the remarkable Mary Schäffer Warren. 🥾

If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll pause for a moment amidst the many demands on your time today and the requests for your attention, and give an extra bit to what I’m about to ask.

If you want the short version: For three years I have been pouring blood, sweat and tears into a woman-powered documentary film about an early 20th-century mountain explorer named Mary Schäffer Warren (1861-1939). We’re now turning to our community in hopes of pushing the film across the finish line! Please consider making a contribution or sharing this post to help us bring this story to life. Keep reading for more information about Mary and this exciting project!

I’m so excited to introduce you to the teaser!

The longer version:

It’s not every day we come across a story that ends up becoming a big part of our story for years.

I couldn’t have known when I heard the name Mary Schäffer Warren, way back in 2005 (when I was working my first summer in the Canadian Rockies), that I would continue to come across her name in the two decades that followed. I couldn’t have known then that tracing her story would lead me neck-deep into archival research, reading her letters and sifting through photographs; that I would get on a horse and travel for two days in the backcountry to retrace one of her first journeys deep into the Rockies landscape; that I would follow in her footsteps through the Maligne River Valley and replicate her experience of moving from land to water as I dipped a paddle into Maligne Lake.

I couldn’t have known that, years later, I would be making a documentary film about Mary Schäffer Warren that would take over my life in the best possible way.

But I was continually drawn back to her story — this Victorian-era woman who came from Quaker roots and established herself as a mountain explorer, photographer, writer, and artist. I was compelled to understand her, not only because she was remarkable but also because the more our team delved into Mary’s story, the more the focus of the film turned to how she inspires us to navigate life transitions, embrace our imperfections, and seek healing in nature. 

As I turn 40 this year, I’m looking to Mary for inspiration on how we can reinvent ourselves at any age in life. Mary was 43 when she lost her first husband and reinvented herself as a mountain adventurer and artist. Mary allowed herself to be re-shaped by her experiences and, among many things, fell in love with the ‘wilderness’ as a place of healing.

On another level, her story has drawn me into a deeper understanding of my status as an 8th-generation Canadian and descendant of settlers. In my own life, I have been leaning into Indigenous wisdom and doing my best to understand what it means to decolonize our narratives and rethink history as it has been told to us. Schäffer’s story has provided an avenue for exploring these threads.

What’s more, our team set off to work with as many women as possible through the process. Women creators are underrepresented in the outdoor filmmaking space. Many women, as well as members of the BIPOC community, need to see each other working in this industry in order to feel encouraged to participate. We are proud to say our team — between cast and creative — is made up of 95% women from a variety of cultural backgrounds.

There are many things I could tell you about, but to save space here, you may enjoy some of the updates and blogs our team of co-producers has written on the website.

Here’s the ask, from the bottom of my heart:

We have now wrapped three years of filming and are moving into post-production. To complete the film, we have turned to our community to help us raise the funds we need. The crowdfunding campaign lays out why we have turned to crowdfunding to help us meet our financial goals.

As of the time of writing, we are at 68% (!) of our goal, which is incredible in itself. This allows us to hire our dream editor and cover basic costs. But the film of our dreams is dependent on us hitting that 100% mark — even exceeding it.

Small contributions of $10-$20 goes a long way. Larger contributions will be game-changers for us. It’s not easy to ask for assistance in this way, but I know we can’t do this without our community. Wildflowers needs you so that we can share this story with as wide an audience as possible.

Please consider making a contribution today or sharing this post with others. The campaign is open until January 18, 2024.

“Stories are among our most potent tools for restoring the land as well as our relationship to land. We need to unearth the old stories that live in a place and begin to create new ones, for we are storymakers, not just storytellers. All stories are connected, new ones woven from the threads of the old.”

— Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Image above: [Mary Schaffer with horse] V527 / PS 1 - 151 WMCR. Meghan J. Ward on horse by Trixie Pacis; Wildflowers theme image by Nat Gillis.

Meghan J. Ward is an outdoor, travel and adventure writer based in Banff, Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the author of Lights to Guide Me Home. Meghan has written several books, as well as produced content for films, anthologies, blogs and some of North America’s top outdoor, fitness and adventure publications.

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I am an eight-generation Canadian and a descendent of British, Scottish and German settlers living, working, and recreating outdoors in Treaty 7 Territory — the homelands and gathering place for the Niitsitapi from the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani First Nations; the Îyârhe Nakoda of the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations; the Tsuut’ina First Nation; the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region III and many others. I am doing my utmost, both personally and professionally, to deepen my understanding of the history of Indigenous peoples and the impacts of colonialism — past and present.