Colorado River Trip Analysis

Growing up with my dad I went on a lot of hiking, backpacking, and kayaking trips to many different places. It wasn’t really about where we were going because I knew, in my mind, that wherever we were going to go it was going to be beautiful. There was one trip in particular where we were kayaking the Colorado River near Hoover Dam and I remember being amazed by the water, vegetation, and how a mountain goat could be at the very edge of the mountain and not fall off. My first instinct was to “observe the landscape, attending for reasons of [my] own to aspects of its appearance and to sundry goings-on within it” (Basso, 1988, 100). However, looking back now at my experience of the trip, I can still recall how beautiful the nature was, but what

Relationship can mean oneself interacting with other individuals or oneself interacting with other individuals and the environment. This interaction of oneself, other individuals, and the environment directly relates to sense of place as stated above in my trip of kayaking the Colorado River. How and with whom an individual interacts with the environment makes up their sense of place which can either be positive or negative depending on the mindset of the individuals and the experiences that result from the landscape. Nelson points out that we get our “livelihood from nature” (Nelson, 1983, p. 46). This is an accurate statement due to the fact that, once again, the experiences had with a sense of place directly make up an individual’s worldview. To elaborate, sense of place gives an individual a sense of belonging, metaphorical place in the world which directly builds their worldview. Then in turn, worldview is the lens through which people view phenomena so it will affect their sense of place so in other words, sense of place and worldview influences and build on one another. I like to think that it is safe to say that people who go out and experience landscape, whatever kind that may be, will be more inclined to do what is needed in order to protect and improve that particular landscape. For me, natural landscapes became my sense of place because I grew up around and was influenced by a lot of different types of landscapes. Due to these influences with my sense of place, my worldview and mindset is to do my part in protecting the beauty and experiences that natural landscapes have to