Trent Ernst

Publisher

Trent is the owner, publisher and editor of Tumbler RidgeLines, a newspaper and online news source for Tumbler Ridge. At the same time, he owns and operates a boutique portrait photography business.

Trent Ernst has been researching and writing the BC and Alberta Backroad Mapbooks for the better part of the last decade. In 2008, he started researching the entire Backroad Mapbook series, save for Quebec books. Trent has an uncanny knack for digging up often unheard of trails and places to explore.

Trent was born in Rosthern, Saskatchewan because his hometown of Waldheim, found 25 km (15 miles) down the road, was too small to have a hospital. The evening he was born, the townsfolk celebrated with a big party on Main Street, and fireworks lit up the evening sky.

It was only later he learned that it was the simply the annual 4H festival. Since that time, his life has been inexplicably linked with cows.

June 17, 2026

Inside Tumbler Ridge: A Local Journalist on the Worst School Shooting in Canadian History

On February 10, 2026, the peaceful mountain town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia faced the worst school shooting in Canadian history. In minutes, eight lives were taken at the community’s only secondary school and at the shooter's home, two more were critically injured, and the town was thrust into a nightmare no one could have imagined. In this episode of the Wildfires, Floods and Chaos Communications Podcast, host Tim Conrad speaks with Trent Ernst, publisher of The Tumbler RidgeLines and a long‑time resident who found himself reporting on an unimaginable tragedy in the community he calls home. Content Warning This episode discusses a school shooting, loss of life, and trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

Guest: Trent Ernst

Listen to the Episode