North America | Clay Duda

Posted on May 7, 2015February 2, 2016 by Clay Duda Posted in North America, Road Trip

Two months, 15,000+ miles — Part 1: The United States

NOTE: This is part 1 of a two-part series outlining travel plans for the summer of 2015. First we move across country, then comes Part 2: Backpacking Europe. Check back for updates.

I’ve got a two month window before I need to act like an adult again. Before starting a new job in mid-July, my wife and I hope to make the most of this adult summer vacation and cover some ground. By my calculations we’ll transverse more than 15,500 miles over the course of 60 days, from trucking our meager belongings back across the U.S. to spending a month backpacking around Europe. Here are plans for the first leg of that journey, driving California to Tennessee.

Posted on May 5, 2015February 2, 2016 by Clay Duda Posted in North America, United States: The West

One last hurrah at Burney Falls

My wife and I are moving to Tennessee in two weeks. More on that soon, but before we truck our stuff back out of Northern California we knew we had to have one last hurrah with some close friends out of Reno. So Friday night after work we headed for Burney Falls. It’s a place President Theodore Roosevelt once called “the Eighth Wonder of the World,” and I can see why.

Posted on April 22, 2015February 2, 2016 by Clay Duda Posted in North America, United States: The West

Where the Sacramento River bends

It’s finally started feeling a bit like winter here in Northern California, and it only took until April to get here. Recent storms left a smattering of snow on mountain peaks around the North Valley and brought in a wave of cooler temperatures.

Hoping not to freeze our asses off overnight, wifey and I turned to the valley floor for a weekend hike-in get away. (Ok, I consider it a get away, she considers it a long walk that will keep the hubs happy and hopefully amount to some quality time. I can live with that.)

Posted on March 25, 2015February 2, 2016 by Clay Duda Posted in North America, United States: The West

Out to pasture on Table Mountain

Cows at Table Mountain. Photo by Clay Duda. — I’m still not sure if it were the cows or the people put out to pasture at Table Mountain. Probably both.

If you’re trying to make it to the waterfalls on Table Mountain you may want to stick to the trails.

That sounds like a “no shit” piece of advice, but it’s easier said than done inside the expanses of the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve near Oroville, California. The roughly 3,300-acre refuge maintained by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife does have some trail segments, but many cut through ravines and other passes before fading away into open grassland and pastures in the Sierra foothills.

Posted on March 17, 2015February 2, 2016 by Clay Duda Posted in North America, United States: The West

Butte Lake to Cinder Cone

Clay Duda on top of Cinder Cone. — Selfie! That’s me on top of Cinder Cone in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Butte Lake and “The Fantastic Lava Beds” can be seen in the background.

Treks into the woods are often hallmarked by the animals you encounter, from a majestic buck strolling along a ridge line at sunset to a mama black bear and her cub rambling down to the lake’s edge. But I’ll always remember this recent trek into a remote stretch of the ~~Sierra Nevada~~ Cascade Range for the animals we didn’t see.