Wilderness journaling means keeping a handwritten journal about what you learn and experience in nature: the plants and animals you meet, the weather, and the seasons, together with drawings and your own impressions. It is one of the core routines of wilderness training.
For many people, it is important to connect, or to reconnect, with nature. Wilderness schools, courses, and seminars help them deepen this connection and practice mindfulness in the natural world.
Part of this wilderness training is a set of so-called core routines: tasks and activities that you practice again and again until they become a habit. One of these core routines is journaling. As the name suggests, it is all about writing, so here is a closer look at it.
What is journaling in a wilderness context?
When you set out on your wilderness journey, you learn a lot of new things, and in quite a short time. It is impossible to remember every detail about every flower, herb, or tree you come across along the way. You could, of course, collect information from the internet and print it out. But a wilderness journal is a much better way to connect with the nature around you, deepen your knowledge, and remember the facts that matter to you.
So a wilderness journal contains the information that is important to its writer. That information usually comes with a picture of the subject: a drawing or sketch, a photo, or, for a plant, a pressed and dried specimen. (A journal full of pressed plants comes close to a herbarium, though.)
Most important of all, the journal is made by hand. No typing at a computer and printing: these journals are usually handwritten. Writing by hand helps you remember the information much better and connect with the subject. 9 reasons why handwriting benefits our brains looks at why.
What sets your wilderness journal apart from articles, books, and websites is the personal touch. So do not forget to include your own experiences with the plant or animal: your feelings, special encounters, impressions, and other experiences. These questions can help:
- What kind of connection did you develop with your subject?
- What did you experience together?
- What feelings did seeing, touching, smelling, or even tasting the subject evoke in you? (Taste only what you know is safe.)
- What does the subject mean to you?
What kinds of wilderness journals are there?
Since these journals collect information, they are often grouped by subject:
- Flowers, trees, herbs, and other plants
- Birds, insects, and mammals
- Indicator species, from both plants and animals: species whose presence tells you something about the state of a habitat
But there are other kinds of journals as well. Some people treat their wilderness journal as a diary of their experiences and discoveries outdoors. A diary like this can also be organized around a theme, for example:
- Changes in the weather
- Changes with the seasons
- Records of different times of day
Good wilderness journaling practice
There are several ways to keep a wilderness journal. You can simply note down what you find, in no particular order, or organize it so that you can easily find what you are looking for later.
One method is worth a closer look, though: the mind's eye method.
What is the mind's eye method?
The main rule of this method is not to copy drawings or text. Instead, you engage deeply with the subject: you read about it, look at pictures, and observe the real plant or animal. Afterward, you form a mental picture of it.
Once that picture is clear, put it on paper. That way, you write down everything that stayed with you after your close study. The drawings may not be perfect and the text may not be complete, but they will show the important things you kept in your mind's eye.
Wilderness journaling at a glance
- Do: write by hand, add drawings, photos, or pressed specimens, and write about your personal experiences.
- Don't: print things out from the internet.
- Types: plants (trees, flowers, herbs, and others), animals (insects, birds, mammals, and others), indicator species, diary entries, and records of the weather, the seasons, and the time of day.
For a journal that looks inward instead of outdoors, read about Stoic journaling.