Enterprise - Doug Lamalice believes it is important to preserve Dene culture.

He contributes to that effort by offering interpretive walks between Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls on an ancient portage route along the Hay River, just south of Enterprise.

Doug Lamalice offers guided walks between Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls, south of Enterprise. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"This keeps me happy, knowing I'm doing my part in preserving our culture," he said.

The short hike is called "Walk a Mile in My Moccasins."

Lamalice, 47, said the free walks explain how the Dene's ancestors portaged through the area since time immemorial.

"It's considered sacred ground to our Dene people," he said.

According to traditional Dene beliefs, there are grandmother and grandfather spirit keepers of the falls.

It is believed the spirits watch over the whole portage route from Escarpment Creek to Alexandra Falls, Lamalice explained. "Just to watch who was going through their land, to make sure everybody was respecting it."

Lamalice himself feels he must lead a clean and healthy lifestyle to be able to guide the walks, or he would anger the spirits of the falls.

Before every guided walk, he says a silent prayer for guidance and to show respect.

Lamalice said in the old days Dene people would pass by the falls on two portages each year.

In the fall, they would head upriver before turning east towards their winter hunting grounds at Buffalo Lake. In the spring, they would head downstream to what is now Hay River and the Hay River Reserve.

It would take six days to portage from Escarpment Creek past Alexandra Falls.

"They would do ceremonies both ways," Lamalice said, adding the ancient Dene would always portage on the side of the river - the side where the highway exists today - since the terrain is easier to portage.

Alexandra Falls was the most significant to the Dene people because of its strength, he said. "It shows you the power of nature."

Lamalice said offering the walks is important to him.

"It keeps me very strongly in my culture because I'm working with elders and I'm feeling the power of nature," said the father of seven children.

Lamalice has been guiding tourists and NWT residents along the trail between the two waterfalls for two summers.

The walks and its infrastructure were developed in conjunction with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and his own business, Cultural Designs, which is involved in creating signage, artwork, crafts, carvings and other specialty work.

The walk starts with a fire-feeding ceremony, to show respect for the area and to put visitors in the proper mindset for the walk.

Elders from the Hay River Reserve help with the fire-feeding ceremony and there are also traditional drummers.

The 2.5-km journey intersects with 17 interpretive signs along the route.

Lamalice said he has led between four and 54 people on the walk.

The most common question he hears from visitors and local residents alike is why the area is so well kept and undamaged.

"It's very beautifully kept up, that's what they always say," he said.

Lamalice also said people are emotionally touched by the power of nature that surrounds them.

The walk began in the mid-1990s when Lamalice was working at the Dene Cultural Institute (DCI) on the Hay River Reserve. The institute and the then Department of Renewable Resources and Economic Development developed the walk and it ran for about six years. K'atlodeeche First Nation helped DCI and the territorial department to erect the interpretive signs.

When not offering the walks at the falls, Lamalice works as a salesperson at Hay River Castle Building Supplies.

The next walks are scheduled for Aug. 1 and Sept. 5.