The best campgrounds on the Big Sur coast in order of preference are as follows ...

1. Kirk Creek State Park
2. Andrew Molera State Park
3. Limekiln State Park
4. Plaskett Creek Campground
5. Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park

1. Kirk Creek State Park

Kirk Creek takes the prize because, well, the picture sorta says it all ...

There are places up the road where you'd pay a minimum of $2,000 for the same view, here it's $22 a night - God bless America! (are liberal, environmental hippie freaks like me allowed to use that phrase?). Plus, there's no beach access at the Post Ranch and Ventana Inns (oops, did I mention the name of the overpriced celebrity fests up the road?) - so while Brangelina and Gyllenspoon are enjoying their redwood soaks, you can take some satisfaction in knowing you've got the best seats in the house for the price of dinner at Denny's.

There are 34 sites here plus these five "hike-in" spots - and when I say "hike-in" I mean walk 30 yards down a path and sit your lazy, cheap butt down in one of the most beautiful spots you've ever been. But even if you don't want to be more than 20 feet from your car, you just can't go wrong here. Every spot has the gorgeous forever views that define the Big Sur experience in a pleasant, small scale family style camping venue.

Stats: 34 sites, $22 per night; both walk-in and reserved sites (reservations at http://www.parksman.com/). This campground is extremely popular, so during the peak summer season either reserve early or show up on Friday morning to get a spot.

2. Andrew Molera State Park.

I love Andrew Molera state park. Although it doesn't have the glamorous views of Kirk Creek, this 5000 acre state park stradles the Big Sur river and is a hikers/kayakers/sufers dream with the best beach in the whole area and endless access to the most fabled hiking trails of the Big Sur region. You have to hike in about 1/2 mile to get to the campsites which is why all the RV's and lacksidasical car campers roll right on by and check in at Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park 200+ internal combusion engine friendly campsites. But if you can manage to drag your tent and sleeping bags and food a half a mile, you'll treat yourself to one of the best easy camping experiences in northern California.

The first time I went to Andrew Molera was about ten years ago when my new girlfriend (now wife) and I went for a backpack up to Sykes Hot Springs (10 miles up the Little Sur river trail). We were just looking for a place to camp before our trip. We pulled into the parking lot at about nine at night, and were in the process of unloading our groceries out of the back of the car when a group of insanely fearless raccoons descended on us and tried to take our food. I don't mean that they were grabbing the food when we weren't looking, they were literally grabbing the bags out of our hands. I witnessed my wife in a back and forth tug-of-war over a Berkeley Bowl bag of camping goodies with overly-empowered raccoon - she'd pull the bag towards her and yell, and then he pull it and hiss. We survived the mugging with our food mostly intact, and stumbled through the dark down the path to the campground area where we were met with the most pleasant little hippie scenario. It was UC Santa Cruz's Spring break, and the campground was packed with stoner college kids, bonfires and acoustic guitars. Now I'm not the drum circle, jam band type, but I was just so charmed by the whole scenario - the warm evening, the laughter, it was really sweet. We set up camp and went to sleep with the distant sound and singing and laughing.

Now I understand that I'm not painting the most appealing scenario with the woodstock-like campground and rabid raccoons - you'll be happy to know that the State Park cracked down on the open camping scenario that used to be in place in the meadow area. Now there are 24 official campsites with a limit of four people per campsite - so while the marauding raccoons are a constant, the campsite is very quiet these days. This is such a gorgeous state park with great access to the heart of the Ventana wilderness, hippie jam sessions or not, you just can't go wrong here.

Stats: 24 campsites; $12 per night; no reservations/walk in only.

3. Limekiln State Park

I've never stayed here but I took some pictures recently when I was driving through. This is a really nice campground tucked away in the redwoods with access to a great little beach. Here are the pics ...

Stats: 34 campsites/$25 per night; revervations http://www.reserveamerica.com

4. Plaskett Creek Campground.

This is a flat, grassy campground right across the highway from the best beach in the southern part of the Big Sur Coast - Sand Dollar Beach. Great family campground with good access to trails and great ocean views.

5. Pfeiffer-Big Sur State Park.

Not to be confused with Pfeiffer Burns State Park which has two great hike-to environmental campsites, this is the place where most people stay when they come to this area. 200+ campsites tucked away in the redwoods with lots of RV's, but it's still frickin' gorgeous. If none of the other campsites were available, this wouldn't be a bad option at all. As an added bonus, you can leave right from the camping area and hike up the Little Sur River trail which is one of the best trails in the region.

Stats: 204 campsites/$25 per night; reservations 34 campsites/$25 per night; revervations http://www.reserveamerica.com.

Here we are at the start of the hike. We are well rested from a night of sleeping out in perfect weather under the stars. At this point we are also still fully hydrated and curious about our surroundings, so we are asking Hall lots of questions about the beautiful wildflowers and plants along the way.

We all hiked for several hours and arrived at one of the palm groves. They were beautiful in a surreal way - palm trees in a little cluster in the middle of the dry desert. I thought this was an image only dehydrated cartoon characters would see, but they were there, they were real, and they were beautiful. We enjoyed a nice rest there and relaxed for a bit in the shade

We hiked on a bit further and then, in a unified subtle wave, all of the seasoned Juniper Ridge employees decided to turn back and head home. Myself, the eager new employee, and Micky (a dear friend to Juniper Ridge), decided we would continue to follow Hall - our fearless leader - up a steep, cactus-filled mountain under the heat of the desert sun.

Everything around us was beautiful - with the exception of one thing - Teddy Bear Cholla. I made this photo huge for a reason; these little "jumping cholla" were an ever-present part of my Anza Borrego experience. The name Teddy Bear Cholla is really a bit insulting to those of us who were repeatedly outwitted and attacked by these teddy bear plants.

We hiked up and up - finally my Midwestern legs which developed on flat flat land, said no more so I sat on a rock with Micky and enjoyed the spectacular view as my boss galloped towards the summit.

An hour passed, Hall reappeared, and Micky and I were now rested enough to slowly stumble down the mountain. We enjoyed the views for a moment longer and then began our descent.

Here Micky is arriving back on flat ground again! The timing was rather perfect, we strolled towards our campsight at dusk and arrived just as the last bit of light disappeared.

I spent the rest of my Anza Borrego experience enjoying the wildflowers from a chair by the campfire. What a beautiful, beautiful place.

The last thing the world needs is another beautiful picture like this of the Big Sur area. Yes we all know it's unbelievably scenic with its 5000+ foot peaks rolling down to the sea, and yes it's largest block of coastal wilderness on the West Coast, and yes Ferlingetti, Kerouac and all those beatish types famously hung out down laying on a patina of literary mystique to the embarassment of natural riches already present - but like one of those sumptuous Beach Boys songs that you've heard too many times and think you're sick of, the fact is, no matter how many times you may have heard about how beautiful it is, it really is all that and more. What can you do? All those car commercials and movies, it's like the Grand Canyon, you think you've seen it but you just don't know how beautiful it really is until you're there.

Sometimes you just get lucky and sometimes you make your own luck, and I did the latter when decided to ditch my plans to race back to the Bay Area after our trade show in LA and take the slow road. I wanted to bust back home, but I was pulling out of LA and it was just too beautiful. LA is unbelievably gorgeous on those early spring days after it's rained and the air is sparkly and clear. Mt. Baldy, San Gregornio, San Jacinto - everyone always talks about the mountains in Denver, Sante Fe, Salt Lake City but what about LA? It ain't all OC and Costcos people, you've got a ring of 10,000 foot + peaks surrounding this city. In fact, to get a little nerdy and geographcially confrontational here, in terms of relative elevation from city to peaks that you can actually see from downtown, there's no other city in U.S. that has this kind of visual drama - sea level to 11,500 feet with over 20 peaks in the 8000 ft+ range? Denver, Santa Fe, SLC and their ilk don't even come close. And as I drove out of the LA basin the views were practically bringing me to tears, so I decided that rather than blasting home on the I-5, I'd take my time and see something real.

So I cut over the mountains and stopped in Santa Barbara for the night so I could take my time winding up the coast the next day. I spent the night in the Motel 6 of my youth. This is the Motel 6, the very first one ever built in 1962. It's right next to the beach, and when I was a kid my parents booked a room here for 2 weeks every spring, and we'd drive all night from Portland through the rain and wake up in this sunny paradise by the sea. You have to know how much it rained in pre-global-warming-Portland to understand how magical this alchemical transformation of rain into sun was. Me and my brother would go to sleep in the backseat of the car with rain pecking against the windows, and wake up with palm trees, sunshine and the ocean - it was sheer magic in that way that things are magical when you're a little kid and I'll never forget it as long as I live. I have to say, it's kind of strange to have an emotional attachment to something as sterile and ubiquitous as a Motel 6. It looks pretty much the same as all motel 6's, but it must be a little different because every detail was reverberated in my brain - the texture of the fake stucco walls, the open outdoor stairway, the curves in the thimble sized pool. Suddenly I found myself thinking of my Dad getting ice from the ice machine, our boogie boards drying outside our room, jumping up and down on the beds.

The next day I got up and headed north. I stopped at the Salmon Creek trailhead with the intention of just walking in a mile or so to see what was there, and almost instantly I came across this beautiful swimming hole. This is all of a 1/4 mile from the road, and no one was here - what the hell? All those RV's racing by, and right next door the cool clean water, the waterfall and sun, this is heaven on earth. So I did what any semi-intelligent simian with half a brain stem would do, I stripped down and swam. And I've come down from the mountain and I'm here to tell you that it was delicious my people. There are moments in life when everything comes together and you say this is what it's really all about, well, this was one of those moments. Thank you Jehovah or Shiva or Gaia or whichever one of you deities sponsored this cathartic moment for me.

So of course after my swim I was energized and decided to follow the trail up the hill for a ways, and it was unbelievably beautiful - the wildflowers, the sunny day, it was just intoxicating. Stay tuned to part 2 to hear about the wildflowers and the rest of my hike up to the ridge of the Santa Lucias.

These cabins are only $70.00 a night (there is camping nearby which is also beautiful) and they are right off Highway 1 about a mile up from Stinson Beach. I went with my friend Kelly. I have known her since freshman year of highschool. She knows everything about me, so I find hanging out with her very restful. I love her.

I also love her because she reserved this cabin for three nights and invited me to stay with her. We both have husbands and kids but we left them at home.

Reserving Steep Ravine cabins is practically impossible, and reserving a campsite or a cabin there is a byzantine process which defeats all but the most dedicated. The central mystery is: when you camp there or stay in a cabin, you see only about half the cabins and campsites occupied.

Something is very fishy and if I were an investigative reporter I would investigate....it seems very very odd that the cabin reservations are incredibly hard to get and yet the cabins are always half empty.

I need no words, really

At night I sat here, wineglass in hand, looking at the stars, listening to the ocean

You have to drive down to the Steep Ravine area on a little road. It is gated with a combination you get when you reserve.

Here we are, Kelly the blonde one, and I, with our wheelbarrow we used to cart our stuff to the cabin. I was so happy there.

Oh man did we get to witness a nice little desert wildflower bloom on our company camping trip in Anza Borrego State Park. The best I ever saw down there was the El Nino winter of 1998 when wildflowers carpeted the desert from mountains through the valleys, but this was certainly a better than average year and the best since the relatively wet winter of 2005.

Of course wet is all relative. In the Northwest where I grew up, 60+ inches of rain was the winter norm, but down here there are years when the total rainfall is measured in the the hundreths of an inch. This year Anza Borrego got about 3 inches of rain - wow, that's a mild winter evening in Portland.

If you're not interested in plants, you should stop reading right now because I'm done with my intro chatter and I'm going to get downright nerdy and boring now as I go through roll call of stellar desert wildflowers ...

Desert Dandelion

Beautiful Ocotillo! We were a little early for the full on explosion of these blossoms in the valley area, but some were going off like this one

Ephedra virens - this is in the same genus as Chinese Ephedra (E. sinica) known as Ma Huang in the TCM pharmacopia, but has only a fraction of the speedy ephedrine found in that plant. You know what Ephedrine is, right? Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine are the basis of countless diet pills and are used in to make Methamphetamine, but it all started with this innocuous looking little plant. Isn't it weird that a plant would make something that would mimic human adrenaline? How does that happen?

Oh and the desert poppies (Eschscholzia gyptosperma)! Desert poppies are so sweet and small compared to the their siblings the more robust and showy California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). Desert Poppy is sorta like the weaker but sweeter art student twin of frat boy/captain of industry sibling.

Fiddleneck (Amsinckia spp.) Classic indicator of a good wildflower year in the desert, very common in washes and open valley areas

Desert Chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana)

Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis). You know you've got it good when you wake up in the morning and see a Desert Willow above you - I love this tree! You only find this in those sweet, lower elevation deserts of far Southern California and Arizona, and it's blossoms are some of the sweetest and intoxicating of any plant anywhere. I just love this little part of the world, all these fabulous plants that you just don't find anywhere else, or at least in the U.S.

My wife Laura Boles with Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)

Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis). This is the same Jojoba that is so popular in bodycare products these days. In fact, being the trend followers that we are, we use this in our soap. The was is extracted from the leaves and has excellent anti-oxidant/moisturizing properties.

Desert Monkey Flower (Mimulus ? come on all you wildlower nerds, you know what this is, let me know). Continuing with the common desert wash/valley wildflowers, I'm used to the big bushy Monkeyflowers that you find in Coastal Chaparral throughout California, but this is such a tiny, cute little monkeyflower - it's all flower and no plant.

Popcorn Flower (Plagiobothrys spp.)

Desert Pincusion (Scabiosa columbaria)

As I climbed higher and higher towards Sombrero peak, I began to see more Chaparral plants including Scrub Oak, White Sage and this majestic Manzanita

Here some Mountain Mohagany (Cerocarpus) near the peak

I'm so happy here! It's been so long since I've been in Anza Borrego. I've hiked the whole park south to north from the Mexican Border to I-10 in Mecca, Ca, and I just love it here, it's one of my favorite places anywhere and to see it in bloom like this for the third or fourth time in my life, I just felt high as a kite the whole time. Thanks to all my employees and friends who came on this trip - it was a magical little time for me, and I was so glad that all of you got a little taste of that sweet desert beauty. Some of you had never been in the desert before, and it's such a pleasure to be able to share this little slice of heaven with you, there's nothing else like it.

For those of you in the industry (I'm talkin' about natural products here), you know all about ExpoWest. For the rest of you—ExpoWest is the huge tradeshow in Anaheim, California for "natural" products. Spending the first portion of our trip in the Anza Borrego desert was a very smart move (warmth, relaxation, beer, wildflowers), but once we were in Anaheim we hit the ground running. There's so much going on—all under one roof (with awful florescent lighting)—it can be very "soul-crushing" in the moment, as someone so eloquently put it. Now that I'm re-energized, I can tell you that it's not that bad. Our booth was rockin' with constant traffic and activity! Everyone seemed to know who we were—or wanted to learn...we were finally the popular kids! Believe me, we've paid our dues. If you've ever attended a tradeshow, you know that there are good areas to have a booth and very, very bad areas. We have graduated from the bad areas and this year seems to be the turning point for us. There is now no respite from the masses...and I'm not exactly complaining—just a little bit. Seriously, though...not to sound dorky, but it's really amazing to be a part of something that's garnering so much attention. Juniper Ridge deserves it. Check out this photo of our fabulous goods—doesn't it make you want to consume?

Our booth is pretty darn great—it's made entirely of reclaimed wood. Some of the wood is local (from an old chicken coop) and other parts are old plum drying trays (for making prunes). We're quite happy in our little booth—it's a welcoming place since most booths are comprised of plastic and metal. This tradeshow takes place right down the street from Disneyland, so we decided to try our hand at "themed" attire (Juniper Ridge-style)—think Deadwood meets Even Cowgirls Get the Blues meets I don't know what—we got a little bit lazy about it.

Just when I thought I was going to hit a wall from talking to so many people, Hall had the brilliant idea to infuse some Maker's Mark with white sage and mint (we did this in our "hippie shed"—the part of our booth where we store odds and ends - and it felt kind of naughty—like bootlegging). Now I really don't want to tarnish our image or anything, but I want to make it very clear that tradeshows are not conducive to wholesome behavior. I know that there's this "lifestyle" that we try to uphold, but it's hard to be perfect all the time (just for the record—I, myself, am not all that wholesome...I'm not going to speak for the rest of the Juniper Ridge crew). You all must know that Hall's drink was quite fabulous—you can make it at home with our sage and mint teabags. Now for a photo of Hall—ruler of the roost...

Here's to another successful year at ExpoWest! I guess we better start wildcrafting...

We wanted to let everyone know that Juniper Ridge is taking a road trip this week and heading out to the desert and then on to ExpoWest in Anaheim! We're going camping in Anza-Borrego for the next few days and are hoping to see a truly spectacular wildflower bloom. There's been a little rain in the desert this year so the prospects are promising. On Wednesday we'll head over to the Natural Products show, set up our booth, and get ready to greet all of our customers. Come visit our booth if you are at the show (#3812)!

We apologize in advance for being a little slow on the phones next week since most of our employees will be on the trip. Please be patient and someone will get back to you as soon as possible if you leave a message. We'll start posting to the blog again the week of the 18th and will have lots of pictures to share of our adventures!

Holy shit, talk about a good executive decision—what a beautiful day! East Coast half-wits take note, it's February 28th. Yes, February, as in winter. And in case you missed my point the first time around, take a look again...

Observe signs of spring—Sycamores putting on new leaves...

In our new blog, we plan on talking not only about wildcrafting and our products, but also about cool Western environmental groups, recommended hikes and backpacking trips in the West, native plant gardening tips, and much more. We'll have a monthly contest in which you'll be able to win a Juniper Ridge product for sharing your thoughts and ideas about the outdoors and the West. Think of this as a place to learn more about the outdoors and to get to know what is going on in our community. We hope you will come back and visit often! Here is some information about our first event of the year that will be open to the public.

APRIL HIKE
Please join us on Saturday, April 26th for our annual Mt. Diablo hike. We'll do the Back Creek Canyon/Eagle Peaks loop once again. We did this same hike last year in the pouring rain, but we should have better weather this year. This vigorous hike from the base of Mt. Diablo to the Eagle Peaks area is gorgeous anytime of year but especially in the spring with some spectacular wildflower blooms.

Your trip leader, Juniper Ridge founder Hall Newbegin, is lazy, so while there will be lots of nerdy babbling about native wild plants, medicinal herbs and wild foods, there will also be plenty of rest stops and vegging time to enjoy the splendor of this magical area in all its spring glory. The hike is approximately 5 miles with a little over 2,000 feet of elevation gain/loss so it is a fairly strenuous hike. We will go at a leisurely pace, but you should be in decent shape and it will take about 5-6 hours.

Unfortunately there is a limit to how many people can join us, so please rsvp to info@juniperridge.com by April 1 in order to secure a spot. We'll get back to you with directions when you sign up.

Mt. Tam wildflower walk - Saturday, June 2nd. Well this is going to be a tasty little hike. We'll begin in the redwoods of Cataract Canyon on the North side of Mt. Tam, hike along the coastal bluffs of the Bolinas Ridge and end our hike with frosty pitchers of beer on a deck overlooking muir woods at the best-view-in-the-world pub, the fabulous german Tourist Club.

Hmmmm, I spent almost half of my intro paragraph talking about beer and the tourist club. I have no shame, and I suppose that is a correct representation of my priorities, but the hike itself will be the real treat. I love the micro-climate ecosystems of Mt. Tam, and we'll be passing through a veritable greatest hits of the Sleeping Lady's extensive catalog - redwood forests, oak/bay woodlands, serpentine pygmy forest, wildflower meadows, dramatic coastal bluffs, chaparral - do I need to go on? I'm probably overselling this hike and we're going to end up with more people wanting to go than we can take, but I'm in love with this mountain so what am I supposed to say? Your trip leader is a opinionated misanthrope (there, that should scare some people away)and finds an unhealthy amount of sustenence and solace in his relationships with wild plants, so there will be lots of talking about native plants, herbal medicine, wild foods, ecology etc ... He also has the unfortunate habit of lapsing into referring to himself in the third person in his blog entries for no apparent reason. Can a love of wild plants heal this person and make him normal? Stay tuned.

How, When, Where. I've mapped this out in my head, but I have to do a little research to plan out our exact route, meeting spot etc ... I don't have all the details yet, but it will be about a 8-10 mile hike starting at 10am on Saturday, June 2. I will email details the week before the hike to the folks who have signed up for this trip. Please note that we have to limit this hike to 15 people in order to keep it manageable, and I have a feeling this is going to be a popular trip, so sign up early if you want to go by emailing me hall@juniperridge.com. See you there!

Ithurial's Spear (Triteleia laxa)
Blue Dicks (Dicholostemma spp.)
Johnny Jump-Up (Viola spp.)
Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum)
Monkeyflower (Mimulus spp.)
Wind Poppy (Stylomecon heterophylla)
Black Sage (Salvia mellifera)
Diablo Fairy Lanterns (Calochortus pulchellus)(thanks to Vicki for spotting this one - we almost walked by one of the coolest wildflowers of the day)
Serrated Onion (Allium serra)
Checker Lily (Fritillaria affinis)
Goldenbush (Ericameria linearifolia)
Lupine (Lupinus spp.)
Scarlet Larkspur (Delphinium nudicale)
Soap Root (Chlorogalum pomeridianum)
Death Camas (Zigadenus fremontii)
Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Pearly Everlasting (Gnaphalium californicum)
Yerba Santa (Eridictyon californicum)
Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Buck Brush (Ceanothus cuneatus)
Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
California Buttercup (Ranunculus californica)
Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja spp.)
Indian Warrior (Pedicularis densiflorus)
Royal Larkspur (Delphinium variegatum)
Shooting Star (Dodecatheon hendersonii)
Owl's Clover (Castilleja exserta)
Chinese Houses (Collinsia heterophylla)
Blue Witch (Solanum umbelliferum)
Clematis (Clematis ligustifolia)
Cleavers (Gallium sp.)
Wallflower (Erysimum spp.)
Hops (Ptalea sp.)

There, I feel so much better!

I love this photo! Kellan, 16 years old with the sullen expression on the right, is so hating life - "dude what the hell am I doing here with my parents on a Saturday in the rain?"





OK this is when the rain and hail really started coming down. Everyone was getting soaked at this point, and we basically forgot all about the wildflowers and started walking as quickly as we could back towards our warm cars. I remember seeing some interesting wildflowers and thinking "oh there's scarlet larkspur, there's silver lupine" but I couldn't stop to point them out because the wind was howling and the rain and hail was flying sideways pelting me in the face. I was thinking to myself that everyone was probably regretting the moment they left their warm bed that morning, but as we descended down the ridge, hypothermia started to set in, and we all started giggling and laughing for no reason other than that it seemed fun to be getting wet. When I was growing up in the Northwest, I remember playing in the rain and getting soaked, and rolling around in the mud and it was just like that- I felt like a kid again and was having ridiculous amounts of fun.





Taking advantage of a break in the rain.



Hall, Penny, Craig, Dave, Alli, Vicki, Tom


And here we are at the end of the hike, soaked and happy. Thanks so much to all of you folks - that was such a fun day! I feel so inspired to do more trips like this. Maybe we can do a short backpacking trip in the Sierra next year. Anyways, I had tons of fun and am eagerly looking forward to our next wildflower walk on Mt. Tam in June - I will be posting the details here soon and hope to see all of you there!

April 14 - Mt. Diablo: Back Creek Canyon/Eagle Peaks loop. This vigorous hike from the base of Mt Diablo to Eagle Peaks area is gorgeous anytime of year but especially in the Spring with sometime spectacular wildflower blooms in the Eagle Peaks area. Your trip leader, Juniper Ridge founder Hall Newbegin, is lazy, so while there will be lots of nerdy babbling about native wild plants, medicinal herbs and wild foods, there will also be plenty of rest stops and vegging time to enjoy the splendor of this magical area in all its spring glory. The hike is approximately 5 miles with a little over 2000 feet of elevation gain/loss so it is a fairly vigorous hike. We will go at a leisurely pace, but you should be in decent shape and it will take about 4-5 hours.

Directions and logistics: Meet at the Mitchell Canyon Parking lot on the north side of Mt Diablo at Noon on Saturday, April 14 and bring a tasty lunch with plenty of chocolate and other goodies to share with your food-loving trip leader. From the Bay Bridge, take Interstate 580, then Highway 24 east to Interstate 680 at Walnut Creek. Take I-680 North and exit almost immediately (right hand lane) on Ygnacio Valley Road. Turn right, go 7.6 miles (into Clayton) to Clayton Road. Turn right on Clayton Road, go 1 mile to Mitchell Canyon Road. Turn right on Mitchell Canyon and go 1.6 miles to the parking area is at the end of the road. There is a $3 parking fee and you need exact change so bring some ones. If you are having trouble finding the parking lot, call me (Hall) on my cell phone 510-845-1418. See you there!

For the past two summers, we’ve harvested Juniper at Jack and Zee Varian’s stunningly gorgeous, 25,000 acre ranch in central California. But I can never figure out why Jack wants anything to do with us. Whenever we show up, he spends half his time helping us with our various car-related troubles, digging us out of the sand, opening gate locks we can’t figure out how to open etc.… In short, while we may we look nice people, we’re clueless big city types, and Jack probably cringes and buries his head in his hands every time we cross the county line. On our last trip, I drove our harvesting truck into a sandy wash and got stuck. While I was spinning my tires, Jack walked up, looked at the sickly, plaintive smile on my face, and said, without a hint of irritation as if it was in his plans all along, “I’ll go get my tractor.” When I asked him later if he was sick of us yet, he laughed and told me about a San Francisco friend who comes down to hunt on his ranch, and how he used to always get his car stuck, but eventually learned how to drive around the ranch. We’ll get it down, too, Jack, really we will!



Me and my rancher hero, Jack Varian


In his spare time when he’s not busy bailing us out, Jack runs the big V6 Ranch, taking care of sick livestock, managing rangeland, buying cattle and generally doing the million and one things it takes to run a ranch. Jack has so many skills and interests, I can’t begin to fit them all in here—he is an architect and carpenter (he built his own house and half the buildings in the neighboring town of Parkfield), an incredibly talented iron sculptor (check out Parkfield’s amazing antique boiler fountains), an activist in preserving local range land from L.A.’s creeping sprawl (he sold the development rights to his ranch to an open land trust and was instrumental in getting the neighboring 80,000-acre Hearst Ranch to do the same) and ecological steward who likes to quote Aldo Leopold and prioritizes the long-term health of his land over short-term profits. He has a gentle, engaging way about him that has thoroughly charmed all of us so much so that we cultishly talk about him all the time (“Remember when Jack was telling us about how to spot a sick cow?”). He’s also 72 years old and not only harvests Juniper with us for fun, but when we start fading in the heat of the day, he just seems to get stronger. He’s such a great worker, I wish I could hire him, but I guess he’s already got a full-time job—one that he’s very, very good at. Thanks for the great times Jack, and keep up the good work!

For more information on the V6 Ranch, Parkfield and the various Varian family enterprises such as the Parkfield Bluegrass Festival and Rodeo, go to www.parkfield.com. If you make it down to Parkfield for the Bluegrass Festival, look for the Juniper Ridge crew as we are planning our annual trip to coincide with it.



Jane harvesting Juniper Boughs - note that she is trimming around the outside of the tree. The tree itself in unharmed and responds well to the pruning by putting on new growth the following year.



Here's how we get the juniper boughs to the harvesting truck - we clip onto the tarps and drag it to the truck. Juniper harvesting must be really boring because for some reason it always seems like fun when we get to drag a full tarp back to the truck.



Once we've dragged the Juniper boughs to the truck, we throw the Juniper into the back of the truck.



Vicki demonstrating an alternate technique for getting the boughs into the truck



Hall stares moodily into the eyes of his lover, Juniper



Speaking of lovers, Reese and Jane glowing for the camera



Celebrating at the end of the harvest - we've got a full truck of Juniper, and we're heading home! Thanks to Vicki, Jane and Reese for a great harvesting trip - I had so much fun with all of you!