Have you ever driven up the coasts of Washington and Oregon? You'll see a lot of rural counties that used to rely on timber and commercial fishing. Once those industries died, they sort of became economically depressed, and started seeing an influx of drug abuse. It's the same thing in Del Norte. I'm from Josephine County, OR, which has its fair share of economic depression and drugs, but my family owns a beach house in Smith River. One night, as we were settling into bed, we heard a blood-curdling scream from outside our house. It turned out to be someone od'ing on our front porch. My dad called the sheriff, who took about an hour before they sent over the game warden. That's right. The game warden. Then a few years later a bunch of RVs parked at the parking lot in front of the mouth of the Smith and were there all week. You don't have to watch Breaking Bad to know what was going on. Then a few years later my mom and I entered a triathalon in Crescent City, and while we were waiting for the race to start, some guy was standing in the middle of the street yelling about how he'd beat up the entire county.

Another factor is Pelican Bay State Prison, the county's main source of income. It's where the state sends its worst criminals. Even Charles Manson spent time there. This means that most of the county's residents are relatives of the state's worst criminals, or the people hired to guard them, which further contributes to the "rough" reputation.