Today we’d like to introduce you to Parker Balla.
Hi Parker, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, happy to live in the happy bubble of a loyal city. After studying Environmental Science at Slippery Rock University (just north of Pittsburgh), I learned I really cared about the world around me. I began to crave exploring new landscapes; the desert, the mountains, caves, and rivers.
Roadtrips became essential. Anything from jumping in all 5 great lakes in 4 days in Spring, to backpacking around Central America and babysitting a baby pig named “Piggy Smalls” on an island off the coast of Belize in the Winter.
After graduating, I moved out west to work in a conservation core in Arizona. There was housing provided for 26 people to a house, sleeping in the desert for 8-day shifts and swinging a pick ax most of the day. You could return home from planting trees in Texas for a month to find that all of your stuff had been moved and someone new was occupying what used to be your bed.
I became addicted to new experiences, trying to own as little as possible and explore everywhere that I could think of. I slept in cars in Walmart parking lots, got paid less than minimum wage, and still felt like I was living like a king. My breakfast sandwich would taste heavenly after eating sandy peanut butter and jelly tortillas in the woods for a week.
I eventually moved on to work on an educational farm in Northern California, with thousand-year-old Redwoods right outside of the cabin doors. I learned that food is power. Half of the time I grew veggies and made compost, herded sheep with a sheepdog and lunged horses, and learned that farming is not easy.
The other half of the time, I taught what I was learning to at-risk students, mostly from LA, who would stay on the farm for about two weeks. I lived in this new bubble for almost two years, watching staff and students come and go. A big dysfunctional family of misfits using this beautiful farm as a way to figure out what came next in life.
I left the farm, knowing my next step was to hike the Appalachian Trail. I had been swinging farm tools all day, and running in the evening, to get into the best shape of my life. My goal was to hike 2192 miles in 100 days, about 50 days faster than what is typical. I was obsessed with miles, waking as the sun came up and hiking till the night.
I did not allow myself to listen to music, have a beer, watch a movie, or do much else other than look at the trail in front of me. I stopped at every lookout, hiked with others when I could, and thought of nothing but the woods and cranking miles.
My mission was not to get there as fast as possible but to see what it felt like for my body to be pushed as hard as I could manage. I saw bears, bobcats, and a lynx, crushed a frog between my toes by accident, ate a half gallon of ice cream on 6 different occasions, pooped myself twice, and hiked 34 miles in a day. I loved the smell of the pines, sleeping in the woods, and could eat any amount of food and still look like a ghost of my former self.
When I arrived at the last shelter in Maine after not taking a day off in 45 days, a storm blew in and made it too dangerous to go up Mount Katahdin. I sat in the shelter all the next day, with barely any food, and read one of the only books in the shelter “Briefing For A Descent Into Hell.”
Here, I learned my greatest lesson in life so far, that I need to accept giving-in some times. I climbed the final mountain the next day, as the sky finally opened up. I wept at the top as I got to the top in 94 days, 14 hours, and 4 minutes.
I moved to Utah in February of 2020, ready to live in a city, not as isolated in the woods for a bit, right as Covid was about to move on in too. I found a job in wilderness therapy, working with students who are struggling. I learned to be more vulnerable and that Wilderness is Medicine.
Eventually, I moved on to my current role as the Volunteer Coordinator at the Ogden Nature Center. Here, I get to combine a lot of the passions I have in life, from engaging with passionate people to habitat restoration, to education and gardening.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My struggles have been to learn to forgive myself and be more vulnerable! I have always been good at following my passions and taking chances, but it took me some time to grow emotionally and not dwell on mistakes.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As the Volunteer Coordinator at the Ogden Nature Center, I wear many hats. Anyone is likely to burst into my office at any time and say “Hey we have a beaver problem” or “Do you have anyone that can seal 1000 envelopes in an hour?”.
I love this aspect of my job, as it keeps me on my toes and makes every day different. I have volunteers who remove invasive species, work events, distribute materials around town, feed our birds of prey and small animals, help with our education program, and so much more!
I don’t love the idea of going to work and not feeling passionate about what I am doing, and the volunteers and staff make it easy to come to work. I believe in helping people feel heard and care about the world around them, and this position helps me pursue that every day.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
Going to my Grandma’s house with my mom as a kid is a memory that brings me comfort and warmth. Playing board games with Grandma and exploring around the house was always something I loved and looked forward to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ogdennaturecenter.org/
- Instagram: @ogdennaturecenter
- Facebook: @ogdennaturecenter
- Twitter: @ogdennaturecenter
