![]() There is an energy you get out here that leaves you feeling charged and relaxed,” Walker said, squinting happily into the late-afternoon sun. “I really do believe that the trees feed you. The destination may change depending on the trail, but the rewards are as timeless as the scenery. In her rare moments of down time, she likes to read, hang out with her 29-year-old son and her three cats, and indulge her reality-TV habit.īut if you want to find Walker in her element, you will need to follow her footsteps as they lead yet another band of visitors down the dusty path to enlightenment. Now, Walker works for Hearts Pest Management, where she gets to blog about beneficial spiders, Acorn Woodpeckers and cheese mites. Her “meat and potatoes” jobs have included 17 years in vocational rehab and several years at a women’s recovery center. “I learned how to draw from comic books, so after school, I would come home and draw and go out and pick flowers for my mother. “I’m an artist, so I have always looked at the landscape in a different light,” said Walker, who grew up in a strict religious household where television was on the forbidden list. More than anything, Walker’s affinity for nature is rooted in her native San Diego childhood, where the nooks and crannies of Imperial Beach (and later Fallbrook) were her playground, her refuge and her great inspiration. And her work at the San Diego Archaeological Center taps her love of Native American history and drawing, both of which she studied at Palomar College. Also, her gigs at Elfin Forest (which she started last year) and Mission Trails (which she began five years ago) let her turn her forest-ranger dreams into something close to reality. ![]() There are many reasons why Walker volunteers for three different nature-centric organizations. I think she makes her hikes very rewarding for people.” I participated in one of her hikes at Mission Trails, and I could see that she had that passion, and she is able to communicate that to people right away. “She has a knack for drawing people in during her hikes. “Donna has a special energy about her,” said Jeff Anderson, parks department supervisor for the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, which operates the Elfin Forest Reserve. There were the totem poles designed by Palomar College art professors and the serene Escondido Creek, which flows from Lake Wohlford to the Pacific Ocean.įrom the native plants that are too tough to die to the tarantula hawk spider that is almost too scary to talk about, Walker is a fountain of nature knowledge that can’t stop bubbling over. ![]() ![]() There were the evil invasive mustard plants and the even more evil poison oak shrubs. She pointed out the nest of the wood rat, which is made with branches and twigs stuck together with wood-rat urine. ![]() On a recent scorcher of an afternoon, Walker ignored both the heat and the bugs as she walked briskly from one trail highlight to the next. “My friends think I’m weird and my family thinks I’m weird, but when I talk to someone here about bee pollen baskets or native plants, they get excited. “I really love doing this because I enjoy being with people of like minds,” said the 54-year-old Walker, who also volunteers at Mission Trails Regional Park and the San Diego Archaeological Center. ![]()
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