Stories

Yosemite is One of the Most Deadly Rock Climbing Destinations in the World. That’s Why It’s So Popular for Climbers.

Photo by Billy Onjea There are inherit dangers in any rock climbing scenario. Sturdy equipment, knowledge of your surroundings and climbing…

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The Bats of the Yolo Causeway Marvel Onlookers with Nightly ‘Batnadoe’

Flickr/Bev Sykes Every summer just west of Sacramento, roughly a quarter of a million migrating Mexican free-tailed bats settle at…

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Nostalgic Northern California National Park Posters to Hang in Your Home

Rob Decker grew up in the Bay Area and found a love for National Parks at a young age. He…

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Watch Rob Lowe Search for Bigfoot in the Northern California Wilderness

It’s no secret that Northern California sits as the unofficial home of Bigfoot. So when Rob Lowe and his sons…

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Redding Woodworker Creates $65k Table from 1,500-Year-Old Redwood Tree

A woodworking company in Redding recently created a table from a 1,500-year-old redwood tree, selling it to a local restaurant…

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Is It Possible To Jump Off Burney Falls? You’re About To See For Yourself

Years ago we wrote about the legend of Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, who also played Tarzan in the movies, diving…

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The Real Life Zorro: The Life and Legend of Joaquin Murieta

Some say he was a good man turned renegade when all he held dear was taken from him. Others claim…

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Big Basin’s Story: How a Wildfire Completely Changed California’s Oldest State Park

On August 18, 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire blazed through California’s oldest state park – the Big Basin Redwoods.…

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How We Witnessed the Filming of Top Gun: Maverick in Northern California

It was a beautiful morning in February 2020 when Brien O’Brien (Bob) and I began our 9-mile hike to Feather…

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How the Carr Fire Ushered ‘The New Normal’ into Northern California

On July 23rd, 2018, a flat tire on a trailer sparked a wildfire in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. 39…

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An Ode to Squirrels: The Badass Rodents Living in Your Backyard

Photo by Simone Mascellari When a buddy asked if I had seen any of the “Squirrel vs. Rattlesnake” videos on YouTube,…

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The History of NorCal Names – How Redding Was Once Named ‘Reading’

Photo courtesy of the Shasta Historical Foundation Redding, California sits center stage in Northern California, nestled comfortably smack dab in…

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This Northern California Ghost Town is Cursed, According to its Visitors

Flickr/Robert Shea The workers at the Bodie State Historic Park are used to receiving letters in the mail talking about…

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An Urban Hike to Explore Sacramento’s Spectacular Murals

Improv Alley in Sacramento’s Midtown District It was a beautiful day in Sacramento so I set out to take an…

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The Good Guys and Bad Guys of Historic Northern California – Part 1

Hollywood is obsessed with “good guys and bad guys,” and why not? There’s something very satisfying when good triumphs over…

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Why Are There Old Train Tracks Going Into Lake Tahoe?

If you’ve ever explored the breathtaking beaches of Lake Tahoe, you may have noticed a rare sight of railroad tracks…

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The Rich History of Star Wars in Northern California

It was in the 1950’s, just east of the Bay Area in Modesto, California, where a young man named George…

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Courageous Explorer or Bloodthirsty Killer? The Sobering Truth About Kit Carson in Northern California

Who hasn’t heard of Kit Carson, the steely mountain man, courageous explorer, military hero, character in numerous dime novels and…

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The Weird Controversy Behind the New ‘Tenaya Stone’ at Disneyland

Photo: Disneyland Resort Disneyland recently opened the Tenaya Stone Spa at the Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, boasting a…

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Geologists War ‘Ring of Fire’ Volcanoes in Northern California are Due to Erupt

Photo by Deanna Lewis With the volcanic eruption of Kilauea in Hawaii last year, geologists are on high alert for the…

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Historic Photos Show Lumberjacks Chopping Down the Giant Northern California Redwoods

Northern California is known for being the home of some of the oldest and largest trees in the world. The…

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Guardians of the River: How the Yurok Tribe is Fighting to Save their Sacred Klamath

“Being a Yurok person, the river is our lifeblood. It’s just as important as the air we breathe.” The project…

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Literary Review: ‘A Wall of White’ Humanizes One of the Deadliest Avalanches in American History

The list of special places in NorCal is endless, but besides getting out there and forming your own impressions, it’s…

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Ancient Aliens Dives Deep into the Mysteries and Unexplained Disappearances of Mount Shasta

The mysteries of Mount Shasta have been heavily documented on this website. Our admitted obsession with the iconic mountain and…

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22 Jaw-Dropping Outdoor Destinations to Visit in Northern California in 2022

We did it! We survived 2021! With a crazy year in the rearview mirror, it’s about time we look forward…

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Short Film Explains the Importance of Removing the Word ‘Squaw’ from the Tahoe Basin

We have seen the typical “comment section warrior” nonsense when it comes to the name change surrounding what is now…

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Unique Northern California Redwood Forest Permanently Returned to its Indigenous Tribe

Tc’ih-Léh-Dûñ, 523 acres of forestland donated to the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council. Photo by Max Forster, courtesy of Save the…

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Everything You Need to Know About Jason Segel’s New Movie Filmed Entirely in Northern California

At the end of 2020, a Hollywood film crew descended on Humboldt County to film Jason Segel’s newest movies. With…

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Dog Lost in Caldor Fire Found 4 Months Later in the Snowy Sierra

Photo: Tahoe PAWS a Community Animal Response Team When the Caldor Fire moved through the mountains west of South Lake…

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The Top 10 Active NorCal Stories from 2021

Another great year here at Active NorCal! The New Year brings new vitality at the Active NorCal office as we…

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How to Shop Local this Holiday Season in Siskiyou County

Brought to you by Discover Siskiyou Five Marys Farms The Holiday season has arrived in Northern California and we couldn’t…

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NorCal Rocks: The Fascinating Geological Story of Northern California

Lassen Peak Geology is not considered terribly exciting, probably because most of it happens in ultra, ultra, ultra slow-motion. But…

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Famed Pioneer Stephen Meek Arrived in Northern California in the 1800’s. He Was Probably Just Lost.

When Christopher Columbus discovered the “New World,” (Cuba and the Bahamas, really) he was convinced he had landed on the…

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Who Was Jim Beckwourth? A Life as Big as America

How do you take the measure of a man? It usually begins with facts documented and witnessed by credible sources.…

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Famed Camp Fire Muralist Brings His Hauntingly Beautiful Art to Greenville

When the Camp Fire burned through the town of Paradise in 2018, muralist Shane Grammer decided to bring his art…

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Experience the Beautiful Fall Salmon Run on the Klamath River

Brought to you by Discover Siskiyou It’s fall in Northern California, which means the salmon who were once hatched in…

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Has Infighting Between CalFire and the Forest Service Slowed Firefighting Efforts in Northern California?

The brave firefighters battling the dangerous and fast-moving fires in Northern California put their lives on the line to protect…

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Dear Armchair Experts – This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

It’s the internet age. Everyone’s done their own “research” and thinks they are an expert on everything. It’s become a…

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Journal of a First-Time Home Brewer – Part 1: Overcoming Anxiety and Finding a Recipe

I never knew there was such a thing as “brewer’s anxiety,” until it smacked me in the face. While it…

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Palisades Prognostications: Why Squaw Valley Got it Right with its New Name and Logo

We’ve deliberated for more than a decade about whether Squaw Valley should change its name. Today, the right decision was…

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Are There Frozen Bodies at the Bottom of Lake Tahoe?

Sitting at 6,225 feet elevation as the largest alpine lake in North America, there is plenty to be fascinated with…

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An Inside Look at the UC Davis Master Brewers Program – One of the Most Prestigious in America

Photo: Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis Residents of NorCal love their beer. But how many knew the oldest and most prestigious Master…

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Jedediah Smith’s Travels Through Northern California – Part 2: Strong Was His Middle Name

Every time he visited California he got arrested. When a grizzly bear chewed off his hair and ear, he had…

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Jedediah Smith’s Travels Through Northern California – Part 1: The First White Settlers of NorCal

There is little doubt the standards have changed for what it means to qualify as a “bad dude.” NorCal has…

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Man Claims to Have Recently Visited with Lemurians Inside Mount Shasta

Since diving deep into the legends of Lemurians in Mount Shasta (and posting my findings on this website), I have…

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Inside Union Pacific’s Harrowing Attempt to Save the Dry Canyon Bridge During the Lava Fire

The Lava Fire damaged the Union Pacific Dry Creek Bridge. UP is working on repairs and estimate the bridge to…

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Behind the Photo: Capturing Historic Structures at a Drought-Ridden Shasta Lake

With another drought causing low water levels in Northern California, we wanted to revisit a unique story of historic structures…

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The Bizarre Stories of Paranormal Encounters in Lassen Volcanic National Park

We all know Lassen Volcanic National Park as the beautiful outdoor destination in Northern California free from crowds and full…

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Meet Tahoe’s Youngest Pro Snowboarder – 5-Year-Old Leland the Falcon

Instagram/@lelandthefalcon When Chuck Vogt, founder of Tahoe Longboards, took 2-year-old Leland to the slopes with a tiny snowboard for the…

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The Dumbest Things I’ve Done in NorCal: A Poison Oak Nightmare on Hatchet Creek

If you buy into the notion that we learn best from our mistakes, I must be one of the smartest…

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Searching for Fishing Solitude in Northern California

Reasons people have for needing to escape the rat race are endless, but the fact remains that we all do.…

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Meet the Women Who Kayaked 450-Miles from Mount Shasta to San Francisco Bay

Instagram/@sacsource2sea The Sacramento River is a vital waterway in Northern California. Bursting out of the rocks below Mount Shasta and…

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Ishi: The Last California ‘Wild Indian’ We Never Really Knew

Ishi making a wood harpoon in Deer Creek in 1914 Most California school kids have heard the story of Ishi,…

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Hiker Discovers Tree Growing Over the Trail in Redwood National Park

The Redwood National and State Parks are full of many wonders. The park system holds the three tallest trees in…

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How Wildlife Officials Survey Northern California’s Dead Salmon to Help the Living

Curtis Brownfield, fish biologist for the Service, checks the tag number on a salmon carcass pulled up from the depths…

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How ‘Euro-Nymphing’ Originated in Northern California

Joe Kimsey was a fishing legend on the Upper Sacramanto River If you refer to that fly rod as a…

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Sasquatch: Get a Sneak Peak at Hulu’s New True Crime Documentary About Bigfoot in Northern California

Hollywood is once again diving deep into the world of Bigfoot, this time through a true crime documentary set in…

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Point Reyes Has a Big Poop Problem

Photo by Claude Piché Point Reyes National Seashore is one of the gems of the National Park System in Northern California.…

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The 10 Natural Wonders of Northern California

Photo by Casey Horner The outdoor surroundings of Northern California make it one of the most beautiful places on the planet.…

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Redwoods Rising is Putting Northern California’s Damaged Forests on a Better Path

Save the Redwoods League, California State Parks, and National Park Service staff touring a Redwoods Rising restoration site in Redwood…

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6 Legendary Road Trips for Outdoor Adventurers Near Redding, California

Road tripping is a time-honored tradition for outdoor adventurers. There’s nothing like feeling the excitement of your upcoming trip while…

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The Time I Snowboarded with Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White in Tahoe

It was a normal spring day at Northstar-at-Tahoe in 2009. This was my fifth consecutive winter with a season pass…

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This Zillow Listing for a House in Tahoe is the Weirdest Thing You’ll See Today

On the surface, a house for sale in South Lake Tahoe is pretty standard. The multi-family home is just over…

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Artist Builds Giant Buddha Snow Sculpture in Downtown Mount Shasta

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mei Drucker (@meidrucker) Snowmageddon 2021 brought plenty of snow to Mount…

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Will the Yosemite Firefall Happen in 2021?

Photo by Steve Corey During a two-week span in February, photographers and nature lovers alike flock to Yosemite’s Horsetail Falls…

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The Top 10 Weather Events of the Past Decade in Northern California

The landscape of Northern California is especially diverse. From the Pacific Ocean beaches to the snowy peaks of the Sierra…

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The Most Read Active NorCal Articles of 2020

2020 is in the books… Thank goodness! We can all admit that this year has been rough for everyone. With…

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The River Why? A Little-Known Movie That Any Angler Would Enjoy

The novel was published in 1983, and the movie came out in 2010. So why are we finally getting around…

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Monolith Photographed Over Lake Tahoe Revealed as Prank

You’ve probably seen the numerous monoliths appearing around the world, beginning with the famed structure found in rural Utah in…

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Biking from the Sundial Bridge to Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River Trail

We’ve all felt like we were going in circles at some point in our lives, but just maybe there’s an…

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Tour a $44 Million Lake Tahoe Mansion with a Private Beach

Let’s be honest – we all have dreamed of living in a mansion on Lake Tahoe. With money pouring into…

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How Will Dam Removal Impact Fishing on the Klamath River?

Northern California is pretty famous for good fishing. In fact, I’ve often wondered how much this may have to do…

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We Asked What Squaw Valley’s New Name Should Be. Here’s What You Said.

Squaw Valley Resort has a monumental task of coming up with a new name, following their announcement that they would change it…

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NPS Hiring Park Ranger Positions Throughout Northern California

Want to get paid to be outdoors in one of Northern California’s most beautiful areas? That’s what’s being offered at…

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Redding Garden of Lights Brings a ‘One Million Light Experience’ to Northern California

Brought to you by Visit Redding The Holiday season is about traditions. Whether you decorate your house the day after…

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Meet Griff – The Viral Dancing Park Ranger from the Humboldt Redwoods State Park

When quarantine hit in March of 2020, State and National Park throughout California were forced to close their gates to…

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The E-Biking Craze Has Arrived in Northern California

“Dang,” I said to myself. “My legs are on fire. Time to downshift.” The grade was steep, and as I…

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Spend the Holidays in Northern California’s Undiscovered Wine Country

Clear Lake State Park. Photo: @karenpavonephotography By Trudy Wakefield Sure, COVID has made 2020 anything but our average year, but…

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What Should Squaw Valley’s New Name Be? Here Are a Few Ideas.

Photo: Squaw Valley Squaw Valley Resort has a monumental task of coming up with a new name, following their announcement…

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Take a Look Inside Lake Tahoe’s ‘Bonanza’ House Which Sold for Record $38 Million

Photo: Sierra Sotheby’s International Realty Lake Tahoe is known to have some epic homes, including the now world-famous $75 million…

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History Tells Us That Fire Season May Be Just Getting Started in Northern California

The past couple weeks have been very successful for fire officials as the largest and most damaging fires currently burning…

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Is This a Photo of Bigfoot in the Humboldt Forest? We’ll Let You Be the Judge.

Photos recently published on a Humboldt Bigfoot website show a shape in the trees of the Sequoia Park Zoo (future…

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Man Wins GoPro’s Million Dollar Challenge with Insane Yosemite Rock Swing Stunt

View this post on Instagram Overwhelmed by all the positive messages I’ve gotten in the last couple days since finding…

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How Will Big Basin Redwoods Recover from Wildfire? Here’s a Beautiful Lesson from the Humboldt Redwoods

With the news that the Big Basin Redwoods State Park had suffered extensive damage from the CZU Lightning Complex Fire,…

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Vacaville Man Uses 36-Rack of Bud Light to Extinguish Wildfire Approaching His Home

When a wildfire comes close to your home, you’re bound to do anything to save your personal property from being…

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8 Must-See Historic Gems Near Redding, California

Brought to you by Choose Redding While Redding, California is known to be the home of the some of the…

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The Perseid Meteor Shower is Returning to the Sky this Week. Here Are the Best Places to See it in NorCal.

On the nights of August 11th and 12th, the Swift-Tuttle comet will put on an extraordinary show. When the Earth plows…

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Firefighters are Using Pack Mules to Deliver Supplies into the Trinity Alps Wildfires

Mike McFadden getting mules ready. Photo by US Forest Service/Jay Burkhalter The Red-Salmon Complex Fire has grown to 4,278 acres…

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Farewell Neowise: Here Are the Best Photos of the Historic Comet Over Northern California

The summer of 2020 turned out to be historic, not just for the Covid-19 pandemic impacting everyone’s lives, but also…

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Photo of Comet Neowise Over Wildfire Illustrates a Wild Month in Northern California

Photo: Patty Hood Photography Everyone can admit that 2020 has been one of the craziest years in our lifetime. Not…

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Lightning is Shooting Out of the Smoke Plume from the Hog Fire

Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse… As Lassen County’s Hog Fire continues to send massive amounts of…

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Get an Overhead Tour of Northern California with Aerial America

The Smithsonian Channel does a fantastic job of getting an overhead view of Northern California, showing the entire region and…

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The Best Photos of Comet Neowise Over Northern California

The Neowise Comet has been giving astro-enthusiasts the show of a lifetime this week as it passes by Earth for…

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The Man Who Wrote ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’ is a Northern California Native

Melvin Lee Greenwood is a world-famous country music artist who has released more than 20 albums and charted more than…

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How E.T. the Extra Terrestrial Paved the Way for Blockbuster Movies Filmed in Northern California

When Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film E.T. the Extra Terrestrial hit theaters in 1982, it broke every record for box office…

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Fort Bragg Residents Voice Their Opinion on the Town’s Potential Name Change at City Council Meeting

The small town of Fort Bragg along the Northern California coast made headlines last week when it announced it would…

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Beware of the Shark-Infested Waters of Northern California’s Infamous Red Triangle

On the Northern California coast, starting in Bodega Bay and spanning down through the San Francisco Bay and all the…

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Odyssey 700: Watch Bikers Ride 700 Miles Through NorCal in Epic ‘Bikepacking’ Adventure

Ladies and Gentlemen, Ryan Spitz is at it again. First, he ran 330-miles from Arcata to Mount Shasta to create…

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Ooowee! Brand-New Outdoor Company Offers Guided Trips in Northern California

Have you ever wanted to rock climb Castle Crags? Or maybe ski in Lassen? Or backpack the Trinity Alps? Or…

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Opinion: Places are Beginning to Reopen in NorCal. Can We Please Be Smart About This?

Tahoe’s crowded Sand Harbor Beach. Photo by Steven Feather This week saw a litany of reopenings throughout Northern California as…

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