West Coast vacation

The East Coast Nayduchs have been enjoying a family vacation that is taking them from SF to Seattle and many points in between: Yosemite, Willits, Redwoods, Portland, and Seattle.

Ross, Peg, Katya, and I spent a weekend in Trinidad enjoying the coastal redwoods. Many banana slugs were captured and tamed (none were injured), namely Slughorn and Slimy. We did a little grazing on thimble and huckleberries.

We hiked out to Wedding Rock, Lookout Point, and down to agate beach.

After lunch Ross, Ivan, and I headed down to check out a beach that looked enticing. Ross and Ivan tossed the frisbee. We discovered tidal pools and a small arch rock/cave.

We also spotted this star fish dinning on a crab.

It was a wonderful weekend!

Seven Fall Hike (127 hrs with Rosser)

After navigating miles of obscure logging roads we arrived at the trail head to Seven Falls, in the Middle Feather wilderness.

Our hike was steep, but relatively short.

We arrived at the river at the third fall (behind Ross) and spend most of our time here and down stream. The water was too cold for either of us to swim even though it was a hot day!

We scrambled through the river and on both banks for view of the other falls. This is the view of the next falls down stream from the above picture. The water was crystal clear.

Aren't we brave:)

This is the next falls down stream of the above picture. We scrambled down hill. It formed a perfect pool to swim up to the edge and rest your arms while taking in the view down stream, but alas we didn't actually do that.

Next summer we will explore upstream.

Backpacking in the Russian Wilderness

Last winter Scott and Jamie suggested that we go backpacking together in August; that plan resulted in the great trip you see pictured here. We spent 8-5 to 8-7 in the Russian Wilderness which we accessed from the Deacon Lee trail head. From the th. we hiked four miles into a group of lakes (Waterdog, Gold Russian, Lower Russian, and Russian) to establish our camp at Russian Lake.

Views on the hike in...

The Russian Wilderness was incredible. Many of the lakes had large newt populations in addition to brook and rainbow trout. We were surrounded by granite and marble. The wildflowers were impressive for early August. Russian Lake was swimable.

This is a view of Russian Lake from the peaks separating it from Siphon Lake. Ross and I scrambled up to enjoy the views. Our camp is down in the forest background portion of this photo.

Enjoying the views of the southern part of the wilderness from another peak near camp.

A group photo before we broke camp and hiked out. Scott and Jamie hiked back along the Deacon Lee trail while Ross and I hike out along the PCT (thanks to S&J for setting the shuttle).

Thanks S&J for planning a memorable trip!

July-August B-day Celebration in Davis

The weekend of July 30th, we gathered in Davis to celebrate the July-August family birthdays: Mumphie, Peg, Ross, Scott, and Katya. Mike and Amanda graciously opened their home to a big crowd. We spent Saturday afternoon at the Davis pool. Then Mike bbq'ed and Amanda prepared several delicious salads. Dinner was followed by present opening and cake.

Kurt is wearing Ross's nerd straps (pant cuff holders) on his head below.

Pool time fun...

Sunday morning we all walked to the park after breakfast to watch Mike launch rockets and play before we all headed off in separate directions.

Katya with the Talls

Sorry I can't rotate the image.

Camp Kurty 7-26 to 7-30

CAMP KURTY is a fun filled vacation from Davis for Kurty. While staying in Chico he/we:

1. Swam at the Feather River.

2. Caught crawdads at the Feather River.

3. Fed carrots to Ginger (the local horse).

4. Showed off muscles.

5. Dove/flew.

6. Bungee jumped off of slackline.

7. Went to Kirshner Wildlife Sanctuary to look at exotic animals like: liger, ocelots, ring tailed lemur, average bears (black bears), grizzly cubs, etc....

8. Visited the Dr..... Kurt weighs 47lbs....

9. Bowled on bowling Tuesday and bowling Friday!!!!!