I grew up as a self-proclaimed “city boy”. I guess I always thought that because I grew up in downtown Atlanta, I was not supposed to know about the outdoors or animals, and I would often make this opinion known to my graciously granola cousins in North Carolina. However, as I got older and eventually moved out of the city, I started to notice how much I loved the raw beauty of nature, and how much I didn’t miss living in the city. Acting on this interest, I asked my parents to sign me up for a backpacking trip in the summer before 7 grade. I ended up loving it, and I did another similar trip the next summer. I even went as far as to purchase my first pair of Chacos that summer. The outdoors had called to me.

After a period of stagnation caused by school and year-long baseball, I found a 14-day long backpacking trip to the High Sierras of California, and signed up. This was the summer of my junior year. Simply put, these were the best two weeks of my life, and included late night campfire talks with my trip mates, a battle of man vs. nature with a marmot, and over 100 miles of hiking in total.

I now am pursuing a career in studying predator behavior in national parks, and even chose to visit Yellowstone National Park for my senior trip this past summer. I’m thankful that I wasn’t in love with nature at first sight. The experience I’ve had becoming closer to the natural world now feels like something I’ve earned and nurtured; a relationship rather than an interest. Answering that call to the outdoors is one thing I’ll never regret doing.