As far as I know, this is only my second overnight in Eureka since I’ve been working for the airlines. The first time was way back during my IOE (training flights) for the CRJ. I was supposed to be in Eureka for double overnights about two months ago or so, but the fog that is notorious in this area had canceled those flights. Fun fact! The Arcata airport (which serves Eureka) had one of the first instrument landing systems in the entire country due to the issues with fog.

Anyway, due to Nicole’s love for places that are off the beaten path and, how should I say , “different,” she hopped on a plane from LAX to Eureka, and just under two hours later found herself in the terminal of Arcata’s “expansive” terminal building. My crew flew in from San Francisco, which is about a forty minute flight. That’s what’s fascinating about the state of California — it’s so big! While most people (including myself) would consider the Bay Area to be “Northern California,” there is actually quite a bit of state left north of San Francisco until you reach the Oregon border. Perhaps this is why this area has come to be known as the “Lost Coast.”

Our arrival was a bit delayed due to very strong winds in SFO, which shut down two of the runways. Nicole spent time in the Arcata airport thinking about tickling the ivories of this fixture, but was also scared of a homeless woman and her dog occupying the same area. This is basically Eureka in a nutshell. There’s a lot of interesting history in the area, but also a lot of problems with homelessness and drugs.

I had personally been to Eureka as far back as 2009, but didn’t find it to be particularly blighted by homelessness or other issues. I found the people in the town to be a bit “off,” but I chalked this up to them living really far from the rest of society. After all, San Francisco is more than a five hour drive away. There was something different this time around, however, and it was a bit unsettling to say the least.

In the morning, we walked across the street for a breakfast. It was a crowded establishment, with not a lot of places to sit. It was very reasonably priced for a large amount of food. After that, we braved the wind and started walking toward the old town. After just a block, we encountered an individual carrying some old luggage and yelling about how a tree was about to fall down on him. This would be one of the more normal people we encountered that morning. We walked by some of the old Victorian-style houses of the area, but in between these sites were numerous people wandering with their possessions. It was all very unsettling.

The town was otherwise completely dead. Businesses were mostly shuttered. There were maybe two other people out taking pictures of some of the old buildings, but everyone else was either homeless, a drug-addict, or a combination thereof. It was very eerie. At no point did we feel like we were in danger, but we also felt a general sense of unease.

When we got back to Los Angeles, Nicole was doing some research on the area to shed some light on what we saw while up north. It turns out that while the state of California has a lower-than-average rate of heroin-usage compared to the rest of the country (a fact that might surprise the Fox News viewers), Humboldt County’s rate of usage is about five times that of the state average. For being a relatively small community, heroin and meth have essentially decimated the area. The why and how of it is a bit complicated, though some of it stems from limited industry and lack of affordable housing.

If you’re curious, Nicole was not expecting Eureka to be like this, but she also doesn’t regret visiting. It is, after all, best to have experiences that are both good and bad, otherwise perspective is often lost. And if there’s a lesson in here somewhere, it’s that Eureka’s problems are not unique to Humboldt County, they are a country-wide issue. So it’s my hope that we will someday find solutions, or at least the root causes of these types of problems, so that the “Lost Coast,” won’t be forgotten.