It seems much of the Northern Hemisphere is collectively irritated at the cold and lengthening darkness. Every year, complaints roll in as if the Earth has personally offended us by tilting its northern half away from the sun for an entire quarter of the year. Yet this tilt, this predictable and essential cosmic rhythm, is […]
Hollie Ernest
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Staying in Touch
Some sports are like foreign languages — infinitely easier to learn when you’re younger. Once humans reach a certain age, our hips, knees and balance operate as they always have, and it’s much harder for our body to move in new, contrasting directions. For example, if you are a runner or a cyclist, your joints […]
Posted inCannabis
Rolling into High Tide Lounge
I hear low male voices as I walk up to the Eco Cann Dispensary storefront on F Street in Old Town Eureka, a little intimidated at first. The door quickly unlocks and a glance around reveals a tidy dispensary with familiar bags and goodies stacked in glass cases and hanging on display. There’s a dog […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Humboldt Ladies MTB Pedals Among the Pines
Sure, it’s “just” a weekly mountain bike ride. Like many groups formed around a common interest and shared challenges, this weekly gathering of women mountain bikers has morphed into a unique community. For years now, every Monday evening, a group of women abscond to the woods on bicycles. On inky dark winter nights, when you […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: A Return to Salmon Mountain
While I was rushing to complete the Sea-to-Summit challenge in 2020, cycling and hiking from the ocean to mountain tops around Humboldt before weather and wildfires thwarted my plans, my friend Kelly was also pursuing all 10 peaks of the series (“Sea to Summit Part 1: Bald Mountain,” April 22, 2021). Unfortunately, she didn’t get […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: King Peak
I left the house at 6 a.m. to pick up Natalie and drive south for the tenth and final Sea-to-Summit Challenge. She is a great adventure partner, always up for anything. If you’ve been following this series, you might remember she was my companion for the 90-mile Grasshopper Peak challenge (“Sea to Summit: Grasshopper Peak,” […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: Horse Mountain
My alarm went off at 5 a.m., and I questioned again why I torture myself with these brutal awakenings. My sluggish thoughts were grumpily resistant to starting the day until I took my first sip of tea and remembered I’d get to do one of my favorite things: ride my bike. I was ready, in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Coho Salmon Eggs and Egress
Years ago, I was standing in an Alaskan stream with a flimsy fishing rod, trying to catch a spawning salmon. I had pedaled about 9 miles from my place of work, one inlet over on the famed Inside Passage, a small plastic bag sitting weightless in the pannier of my bicycle. I had a pocketknife, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: Fickle Hill
Corrina still wanted to ride with me, which was remarkable, considering our last ride was a slightly hellacious, two-day endeavor. This time, we picked a Thursday evening to complete the “Top of the World” Sea to Summit challenge, glad to be ticking one off on a weeknight (“Sea to Summit Part 1: Bald Mountain,” April […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: Schoolhouse Peak
I woke up later than I meant to, which has been the case for most of my days on this earth. I’m always trying to squeeze too much into a day but I’d rather have the bucket overflow than be sitting still, wondering what to do. Even when I’ve been without a job, I’ve always […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea To Summit: Grasshopper Peak
The general consensus among most cyclists is that once you ride Grasshopper Peak in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, you can check it off your bucket list and not repeat it. But that’s not how it went for me. Earlier in the summer I had joined some friends to climb 10,000 feet in one day, which […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea to Summit: Salmon Mountain
My alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. I immediately questioned why I torture my heavy limbs and black hole of a mind in this way. Then I remembered that Lizzie Odell was sleeping in the guest room of our small house, and her dad Errin was waiting for us at Freshwater Lagoon. The plan for […]