Crouching on the guardrail of a bridge 60 feet above the Trinity River, 19-year-old cliff jumper Nico Ponnekanti looked like a sprinter in the blocks. Except instead of going forward, he was going down, down dozens of feet, whirling in every direction over the blue of the river, and down he kept going, right up […]
Get Out
Posted inLife + Outdoors
A Walk Among the Spotted Owls
After four decades of hiking in Humboldt County forests, I’d never spotted a wild northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) until Saturday during a Godwit Days tour, thanks to help from a tour guide and an assist from a white mouse. My wife and I did see a barred owl (Strix varia) a couple years ago […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Driving with My Father
To give my brother and his wife a break, I take my 97-year-old, Alzheimer’s riddled dad for a couple of days every month. By mid-morning, I’m stir-crazy and Dad is getting antsy. So, the days go something like this: “Hey Dad, it’s Sunday, how about a drive?” Never mind that yesterday was Sunday and tomorrow […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Godwit Days
When you live in a place as awash in natural wonders as Humboldt County, it can be easy to take it for granted. Towering redwoods with trunks as thick as Volkswagens? Just look out the window. Miles of rocky coastal beaches with endless tidepools to explore? Been there, done that. But how about backroads that […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Without an Exclusive Second Week, Fair Racing Faces Competition
Horseracing at the 2023 Humboldt County Fair will once again overlap with races at Golden Gate Fields for the second week of the fair after four out of five California Horse Racing Board commissioners voted to keep the status quo. Jim Morgan, special counsel to the Humboldt County Fair, and others consider the competition for […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Intertribal Project Celebrates Traditional Boat Building
Marc Daniels-Aygagnax had a dream to build a nigilax, the traditional open skin boat of the Unangax (Aleut) people. In 2014, he founded the immersive MakeAccess Iqyax Apprenticeships with his wife, Leah, teaching Native youth traditional boat-building. He had built single- and double-hulled kayaks, but the nigilax was different. Knowledge of how to build it […]
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 inLife + Outdoors
A Burrowing Owl Pops Up
Until a year ago, I had never seen a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia). I wasn’t even aware we had this species locally — I thought they only lived in the desert. But that all changed in February of 2022 out in the dunes next to the Pacific Ocean. Out walking on a sunny morning, my […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Snow Much Fun
The once-in-a-lifetime snowfall that hit Humboldt County last week did not go undocumented. Journal readers sent us photos of blanketed backyards, snow-heavy redwood boughs and the dusted dunes. High elevations are still winter wonderlands but down at sea level, even the last lumps of former snowmen have melted away. Enjoy a few highlights of the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Standout Shorebirds
Colorful” and “glamorous” aren’t words that usually spring to mind when it comes to shorebirds, the diverse group of generally drab birds that includes sandpipers, plovers and related species. Their beauty tends to lie in sheer numbers: When flocks of thousands wheel in unison over Humboldt Bay and the light flashes off their pale bellies, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
In Defense of Slack
We cut people slack by overlooking their failures to perform how and when we would wish them to. But this article is about communal slack: the allowances that are just out there as part of the fabric of society and the environment. Here are some examples. We kids had the run of our neighborhood in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Marine Life Tips for a Spearfishing Newbie
Getting in or under water offers an almost instant separation from the literal and figurative, gravity of life on firm ground. Whereas a mountain bike ride or trail hike may take some time to truly detach from our everyday lives, getting into the ocean offers an instant sense of separation. Sight, sound and motion are […]