Wildflowers follows writer and historian Meghan J. Ward as she recruits an all-woman team to revisit Mary Schäffer Warren’s 1908 expedition to Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. Artist, photographer, writer and explorer Mary Schäffer Warren overcame the limited expectations of women a century ago in order to follow her dreams.

Schäffer (1861-1939) is best known for being the first non-Indigenous person to explore Maligne Lake. She was 43 years old and recently widowed when she bucked Victorian-era conventions and reinvented herself as a mountain explorer, writer and photographer. She was the first non-Indigenous woman to visit Maligne Lake and many parts of Jasper and Banff national parks. She also wrote two books, including the classic Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies.

Blending backcountry adventures with historical research, Wildflowers demonstrates that sometimes we must look back to blaze a better trail forward.