I give up a city kid in a concrete jungle. My only experience with wildlife were some pigeons downtown, gulls at the beach and crabs that would grab our toes as we went into the ocean to play. I never got to experience summer camp, girl scouts, or any of those things that most normal kids did. Growing up a poor inner-city kid just did not have opportunities like that. There was no such thing as family vacations either..I did go on a few with friends families, and got to spent most of my summers in LA visiting my sister. If not for her, I probably would have never left San Francisco.
Even though I was a city kid..I always loved animals, and read as much as I could about them, and watched shows about them as well. One of my favorites was Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. I did not get to experience nature first hand very much at all, but was taken on a field trip when I was 9 years old to Samuel Pete Taylor Park. To be honest, I am not even sure where it is located..the outskirts of San Francisco I guess..but I have ALWAYS remembered the name as it made such an impression on me. This was my first and only experience hiking in nature up to this point in my life.
I was absolutely fascinated by the wildness of it all..had never seen trees, plants or animals in this way before. When the hike was over I did not want to go back. Me and another student begged our teachers to let us finish out the trail. Amazingly they did! This would never happen today. We were left to finish the trail by ourselves and then hike back down alone where the rest of the group would meet us. We were given a brief warning by the teachers before they left, about bobcats and other animals we might see. I remember having absolutely NO fear at all of any animal I might encounter on the trail…it was all too exciting and fascinating to me!
I feel that this field trip was a pivotal point in my life. I realized then how deeply I cared for animals and nature. This was the very start of the many travels and journeys I would take as a wildlife biologist. It made me realize how impressionable children can be and how important it is to get them outdoors and experiencing nature. Almost every biologist I know first became interested in their career by having a positive early childhood experience in nature. If I had never taken that hike, my life may have taken a completely different course.
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