County environmental health officials are urging residents to be on the lookout for toxic algae in rivers and other fresh water areas following the recent death of a dog shortly after the animal went swimming “in a slow, stagnant pool of water off the Eel River near Scotia.” As the Department of Health and Human […]
Big Lagoon
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Humboldt’s Lagoons
Of the four lagoons claimed by Humboldt Lagoons State Park, only two would pass muster with any self-respecting dictionary. A lagoon is usually defined as a shallow body of brackish water separated from the ocean by a shoal, having a regular source of fresh water. Big Lagoon and Stone Lagoon (the latter being Chah-pekw O’ […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Get Out in Nature More in 2022
“However you decide to exercise, remember to make your moving joyful” was the recommendation with which I ended the article I wrote for this column in January of 2020. I stand behind those words. Joyful moving has helped my physical and mental health in the past two years while the pandemic changed our lives in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Get Out into the Fog
If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would come to love fog, to find solace in its soft and moist embrace, I would have dismissed the prediction. As a young adult, for 10 years I lived in Milan, which is located in the Po River Valley, land of impenetrable fog. During the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Lagoon Challenge
It was a cotton cloak type of fog, reducing visibility to 30 or 40 feet. Donna and I swam this stretch in bathing suits, “skinning it,” without the protection of wetsuits. Ariana looked at us skeptically as she pulled her well-worn neoprene over her long limbs and we eyed each other warily from 10 feet […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sharing our Waters with Other Mammals
Humboldt County’s has one of the richest and most diverse populations of marine life in California, as well as some 135,558 people, plus visitors. My family, like many others, is particularly active in the waterways, especially kayaking and surfing in spaces shared by other mammals. Even though we know the animals are there, encounters come […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Swimming with Otters at Big Lagoon
Blue skies, eagles, osprey, otters — those are the attractions that compel Humboldt caterer Lauren Sarabia to drive up to Big Lagoon and swim three mornings a week. Although as a kid she played in pools in Los Angeles, she didn’t become an open water swimmer until five years ago, when a friend invited her […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
[UPDATE 2 P.M] Traffic Collision on 101 by Big Lagoon
Two vehicles – a blue Titan and an SUV – collided on northbound Hwy 101 near Big Lagoon in the Kane Road area about 12:09 p.m., according to the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page. According to first reports, two adults and four children are injured. Two ambulances have been requested. [Note: at 12:32 p.m. a […]
Posted inMusic
Iko, Iko
I mentioned in a recent tagline that I’ve been getting into the works of the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It’s a fitting coincidence I’m lately drawn to the comical and grotesque “The Fight Between Carnival and Lent,” which balances a wild pageant of characters from the lands of the sacred and the […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
McKinleyville Man Reported Missing Found at 101 Crash Site
A 65-year-old McKinleyville man who had recently been reported missing was discovered dead after his pickup truck went off U.S. Highway 101 north of Big Lagoon for an unknown reason. Michael Criswell was found around 8:30 a.m. today after CHP responded to a report of a car on the west side of the highway. According […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Clearing Overturned Semi Will Close 101 for About an Hour
UPDATE: Caltrans is readying to shutdown U.S. Highway 101 for about an hour today, starting just after 3 p.m., to clear away a semi that crashed off the road near Big Lagoon. The accident occurred around noon, leading to controlled traffic in the area, but the closure will be necessary for get the large “rig […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Orick Woman Killed in Big Lagoon Crash
A 56-year-old Orick woman was killed this afternoon when an SUV she was traveling in veered off U.S. Highway 101 north of Big Lagoon and overturned several times near the water’s edge, causing her to be ejected from the vehicle. According to the California Highway Patrol, a 26-year-old woman, Tina Josephine Siders, and her 1-year-old […]