would come anywhere close to describing Nayda, is the term 'Mountain Man'. She has lived her entire life out in the mountains. She was born and raised in the remote Alberta foothills. She raised her kids out in the mountains, packing, guiding, outfitting, chasing wild horses...living a subsistence life with the barest of necessities. Search the world. You'll never find another Nayda, anywhere. Rugged individualism...fiercely independent...tough as nails...these terms really don't go far enough. When God made Nayda, He carefully broke the mold. The first time I met Nayda she was holding the foot of a, nearly, 1500 pound pack horse, pounding the nails in a horse shoe with a huge ball peen hammer. It was a long time ago. I wish I could remember how she was clipping the nails, mayby she didn't - it was incredibly unorthodox. That shattered my concept of horseshoeing as being a fine art! Whether sucessfully guiding hunters on a hunt for big horn sheep, or a bow hunt for a grizzly, or living off the land travelling in the most remote areas by pack horses with her children...whatever...you name it. Horse trainer...trapper...never out of sight of the horses. Right now shes riding ever day, on kind of a contract deal for a horse trainer. Her home is in the remote bush on her trapline. She is a friend of ours, and the other day called to say she wanted to give us a couple pigs. She loves all kinds of animals, and somehow acquired these potbellies, but couldn't really keep them out in the bush, so she gave them to us to make lard out of them. With the logging and oil & gas drilling, the Big Horn dam, etc., our wilderness is greatly changed. I doubt it will ever produce another Nayda!
Here is a picture of Nayda with our twins, Melany & Melody.