![\"Guides](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Guides2.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cAlmost all trail guides who go through the class have a passion for nature, whether it\u2019s recent, or most cases, from childhood,\u201d said Kramer. \u201cAnd a special place in their heart for the park.\u201d<\/p>\n
MTRP currently has over 100 active trail guides. The 2019 training class has 21 students. These prospective trail guides are required to attend 23 training classes from January to March, then must pass a final exam at the end. Class time includes guest lectures from specialists and hitting the trails to get familiarized with the landscape and wildlife. Topics of the classes range from the local botany, biology and geology to the park\u2019s history and Native American history of the region. Wendy Esterly taught the Jan. 30 class about animal tracking.<\/p>\n
Esterly gave students some helpful tips in identifying scat, such as the fact that rabbit scat looks like Cocoa Puffs, deer scat like Raisinets and coyote scat like the curly-Q of a soft-serve ice cream cone.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite topic [of the training] has been this unit \u2014 the mammal tracking,\u201d said Jesus Aguilar, a recreation and tourism management student at San Diego State University (SDSU) who is in the trail guide training program this year. \u201cI go hiking a lot and always see tracks or scat but never knew how to identify it. I really love animals, and now it will be easier to point out on the trail which ones have come by.\u201d<\/p>\n Aguilar heard about the trail guide training program from fellow students at his college. He\u2019s always had a deep love for nature and wants to be a park ranger.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve learned more here [at the training] than my five years at SDSU,\u201d said Aguilar. \u201cIt will be fun to be a trail guide for people at Mission Trails and volunteer for other parks. I would highly recommend this training to anyone who is even remotely interested.\u201d<\/p>\n The unique perspectives of trail guides are what make the nature walks come to life, according to Bill Howell, who is referred to as the \u201cFather of the Trail Guides\u201d because he started the program in 1995.<\/p>\n \u201cOur guides bring themselves,\u201d said Howell. \u201cThe hikes we lead are full of \u2018trail tales.\u2019 Not just factoids, but stories that tell a bigger picture of the park.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, guides led about 300 nature walks. These walks are free to the public, and special walks can also be arranged for groups of any age and fitness level.<\/p>\n Those interested in a guided nature walk can check the Mission Trails schedule of walks offered, including bird-watching, wildlife tracking and family walks. This spring will be a great time to come out, Axtmann said, because the park will \u201ccome alive\u201d with the amount of wildflowers expected to bloom.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have just spectacular plants,\u201d said Axtmann. \u201cIt\u2019s neat trying to identify them. Like an entire field of deerweed and lupin, these purples coming out of these oranges and yellows, it\u2019s just really, really stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n Kramer, Axtmann, Howell and other instructors and volunteers are looking forward to the future of the newest trail guide class and what they will bring to the park.<\/p>\n \u201cFor our guides, whether they hike or not, we hope they maintain their love of nature,\u201d said Howell. \u201cWe don\u2019t preach in class, we don\u2019t talk politics. We just expose people to the environment and hope they will want to protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n