By Ryan Lancaster, Herald staff writer
MOSES LAKE - Most high school graduates look forward to summer break as a time to lounge around the house, but not Daniel Talbot.
The 2011 Moses Lake High School grad spent his June trailblazing through the backcountry of Alaska as a volunteer with the Student Conservation Association (SCA).
Talbot, 19, is no stranger to the outdoors, a place he said he spent most of his childhood exploring.
"I wasn't yet part of the generation where kids were raised in front of a TV. I was always outside playing with bugs and getting dirty," he said.
In high school his fascination shifted toward hiking, camping and the adrenaline rush of cliff jumping and rock climbing.
"I don't have the money for harnesses or anything, so my friends and I go bouldering," he said, a term for clambering around on 20-foot tall rocks without a rope.
An appreciation for the natural world has become even more important to him since his return from the Alaska with SCA, he said. Continue Reading [1]