The last Friday in May was the beginning of the newest chapter for the Humboldt Crabs. The ballpark has gotten a facelift, the team has turned over, but the sounds, smells and ambiance are all the same. The Crab Grass band, photographer Matt Filar and the notorious hecklers were all in attendance, primed and ready. […]
Get Out
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Birding Above the Fog in Kneeland
Have you ever wanted to just get away from it all? Like, recently? Maybe you made the mistake of catching a few minutes of national news and now your go-to birds — the raucous Whimbrels and wheeling Caspian Terns off the Hikshari’ Trail in Eureka and the cheery Common Yellowthroats at the Arcata Marsh — […]
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Blue-winged Warblers, 2025 and Personal Bests
There’s something uncanny about birding in 2025. The Humboldt birders have hit the ground running this year. Everyone in my feathered circle is out there with single-minded dedication, chasing rarities, putting in long hours day after day, birding like there’s no tomorrow because — well, let’s not go there. I’ll admit I’m not a huge […]
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High Water and ‘Old Boys’ at the Trinidad to Clam Beach Run
The 11 a.m. start time of Saturday’s 59th annual Trinidad to Clam Beach Run Honoring Ford Hess turned out to not to be good timing for the tidal-influenced water crossing of the Little River. With 720 runners, including 200 grade school and high school students sponsored by Coast Central Credit Union, at the starting line, organizers […]
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Don’t Worry, Be Walking
Have you ever had a day when everything you touch ends up broken, materially or metaphorically? Your favorite mug slips from your grasp and shatters on the floor. You open the dishwasher at the end of its cycle and find a moving piece detached. Someone misunderstands a word you say and a pleasant conversation turns […]
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The Enviably Thick-skulled Woodpecker
This election has left many of us a bit shaken in our beliefs and buffeted by fear and doubt. The yammering and hammering are unrelenting. Never has a bird that smashes its head into wood up to 20 times a second been more relatable. We all could use thicker skulls these days. If only we […]
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The Tasty and the Toxic at the Mushroom Fair
Hundreds of fans of the world of mycology stopped by the 46th annual Mushroom Fair at the Arcata Community Center on Sunday to improve their mushroom identification skills. Attendees checked out tables filled with local mushroom species labeled “Edible” or “Toxic,” and stopped by the bring-in-your-mushroom identification table staffed with experts. They ought to know […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Fall in the Redwoods
As days get shorter, I get more eager to spend time outdoors. In September, I hiked in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on the James Irvine Trail to Fern Canyon and back via Gold Bluffs Road and the Miners’ Ridge Trail. It is almost a loop, as Miners’ Ridge merges into James Irvine less than […]
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Water Witches Ride Again
The fifth annual Humboldt Bay Witches Paddle on Oct. 19 attracted a record number of witches to Humboldt Bay on stand-up paddleboards, in kayaks and even on an e-hydrofoil board for a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon on the water. Celebrating the power, wisdom and beauty of women, the coven of witches met at the Eureka […]
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How to Be Scared
If the sun is still up and shining incongruously over the 8-foot-tall skeletons atop the entrance to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds — done up for its seasonal shift as the Scaregrounds for Griffin Loch’s Scream-A-Torium — fear not. Well, not yet, anyway. Treat the entrance like the lobby of the movie theater before you settle […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Temporary Insanity
I’ve been a pretty casual birder all my life. I do a little birding every day and often take photos, but seldom range far afield. Sometimes I chase local rarities if they’re easy to get to; I’d rather listen to a Giants game from my cushy recliner than tromp through brambles and poison oak for […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Ladies Throw Their Hats In
Participants in the 12th annual Ladies Hat Day at the Races event on Saturday offered some glamour and wild creativity in front of the recently repaired (from earthquake damage) horse-track grandstands at the 128th annual Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale. This year’s fair theme was “Ribbons, Rides & Racing,” with six days of horse racing […]