This paper addresses a call for submissions to provide greater clarity on the defining features of experiential learning. This is accomplished with a critical review of literature relevant to experiential learning and a qualitative-leading, mixed-method investigation exploring the defining features, canonical works, and theoretical foundations of experiential education occurring in natural settings. Postulations about experiential learning can be organized by foundational literature (ranging from Rousseau to Dewey) and definitional literature (with the formation of professional societies, research, and definitions). This is investigated further by exploring the perspectives of experiential education experts and practitioners, revealing the knowledge base to be broad and eclectic yet lacking cohesiveness. Personal experience was the single most agreed upon source of knowledge. There was not a shortage of information, but instead an overall lack of organization and cohesiveness within the field. The investigation identified the following defining features: personal experience, existential engagement, agency, fluid affordances, flexible pedagogy, empirical and conceptual ways of knowing, freedom, and precision. In addition to these insights on experiential education, this study offers a research methodology that may be useful for clarifying how experiential learning occurs within higher education settings which, in turn, can help implement it more equitably.