May the Spirits Go with You: False Face Reflections on the Great River.

A professor of outdoor and experiential education reflects on the development of group relations and on lessons in outdoor ethics learned during a canoe trip in the Canadian Arctic. Written to celebrate a transforming experience, this paper illustrates the experiential learning and individual development that can result from intensive outdoor experiences. In addition to the customary events of wilderness travel by canoe, the eight-member party had rich encounters with wildlife and with the land. Noteworthy features of group life included: (1) an absence of overt leadership, yet decisions were made (eventually) that had full group support; (2) a tendency toward spontaneous synchronization of individual activities; and (3) the presence of a spirit of generous helpfulness and cooperation. Several events impelled the author to think and feel differently about the ethics of wilderness travel, his own relationship and responsibility to the land, the questionable ideals of our culture, and whether or not "sport" fishing and hunting are ethically defensible. Plans are outlined for a future trip in which participants enter into a more genuine relationship with the land and discover more deeply the spirit of respect for the wilderness. Intertwined with the narrative are excerpts from Douglas Le Pan's poem "Canoe Trip." (SV)