Experiencing the Wilderness

• Main Author: Wedin, Bitsy M
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 2009
• Subjects: expedition; wilderness; women; descriptive; phenomenolgical; Canada; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/jorel/vol1/iss2/5; https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=jorel

The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the experience of wilderness travel as noted by 11 women who had completed at least a 46 day 700 mile canoe expedition to the Nunavut and Saskatchewan territories in Northern Canada. Research typically explores outcomes of such travel and not the detailed descriptions of the actual expedition experience. Little is known empirically on how women paddlers experience the day-to-day life of wilderness trips. Women meeting criteria were asked to submit completed trail journals of their journeys which were read, analyzed and formulated into essences with resulting themes of perceptions of wilderness travel. Women describe the expedition experience through connections to the journey, the land and the people.