Albert Hofmann (legendary chemist who synthesized LSD) and Shigeru Miyamoto (godfather of Nintendo who created Mario), both cite walking around and playing in the woods freely and unsupervised as a child being transformative experiences which (they believe) led to their later life accomplishments.
[1] http://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann
[2] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/master-of-play