Juniper Beach and puppy time

You know how sometimes things work out way better than you imagined they could? Well, three nights in Juniper Beach was pretty much like that for us. We'd booked ourselves in as Martin and Inge said it was nice, just beware of the trains passing by. It had power and water so that was good too. Location - beach might be a bit misleading as it is by a river not the sea but hey, on the maps it looked good. It was also close enough to places called Cache Creek and Ashcroft that had food stores too. 

So, we duly arrived mid afternoon after another lovely drive.  After Mr Google telling us that highway #1 was closed, we were quite blasé about the reported diversion on this route. Only Mr Google was right this time. The detour involved driving around the south of Mara Lake:

which proved to be a real bonus. Pretty stopping spots to make tea and admire the views:

and to check out the strange to us lake houseboat things that look ugly and seem pointless as they are on a very restricted area of water and have very few real landing places:

As you can see, some private owners bring their own AstroTurf with them, the rental folks make do with just a gangplank:.

The setting was idyllic though and it looked like a pretty sedentary lifestyle with minimal fuel consumption for the outboard motors hanging on the stern of the things as there is not far to travel. Not a style of boating that we "get" or understand but clearly it works for some folks.

As we approached Juniper Beach the scenery changed once more. The country is full of surprises. This is the view back up the hill from the site:

and this is looking back at the river from up on high as it snakes through the valley:

The artistic composition of this image appealed to the captain - a reflection of the landscape and the crew in the almost clean paintwork of the tow truck:

No idea why it appeals really. Kind of a petrolhead thing probably.

Arriving in the camp we found it way busier then many had been and with way less separation between the pitches. Naturally this was the one where the captain made a mess of reversing the Airstream into our spot (poor instructions to the crew on arrival, all his fault) but a kindly neighbour directed things to get us into the right place. Typically nobody witnessed the previous night at Blanket Creek when it all went rather well. So much like berthing a boat it is untrue.

We arrived just as it was all kicking off there. The normally peaceful location had witnessed an assault by one "interesting" camper on an elderly guy who had a heart condition. The aggressive person was in a scruffy old converted ambulance that looked and smelled pretty disgusting. The police arrived and after some persuasion took the man away to spend a night in the cells. Not quite the quiet gentle campsite that we had become so used to.

Things improved rapidly though. The kindly neighbours (we will call them Mike and Kathie, just as everyone else does) were very friendly and helpful with local information and advice. They also had the cutest puppy called Willow who was a joy:

Her antics and cuddles were just wonderful to watch and experience.

Ashcroft was visited to raid the local bakery and the crew managed to book a hairdresser appointment there too. The bakery had a good choice of bad things to enjoy - see some on their Facebook page weblink . They also hosted the two fattest paramedics we'd ever seen, who were busy getting their lunch to take-away. How they would manage to attend to anyone on the floor and then get vertical again was beyond us. We tried to stay healthy whilst in the area. Still all the folks were very friendly and the supermarket had all we needed. 

We returned to the campsite and walked around the river watching the salmon running upstream to spawn. Quite a sight indeed as there were loads of them. When we lived in Scotland we used to visit the fish ladder at Pitlochry in the vain hope of seeing a salmon or two head upriver. We never managed that and the fish counter installed there didn't record very high numbers. Here, the fish were a bit like cars on the M25 motorway. Sadly many never quite make it as this poor image shows:

This picture of the river running past our camping pitch also shows you how close the train track is:

and how long the freight trains are. We said "the train track" but this was one of two - the other ran on the other side of the site so we were a train sandwich. Not too noisy in the night though as here they didn't seem to need to blow the mournful horns that often - fewer wildlife on the tracks perhaps? We became very used to them very quickly.

We returned to Ashcroft for the crew to have her locks tidied up (hardly an issue for the less than hirsute captain of course)  and then went to the Desert Hills Ranch Taco Stand for lunch. Why such a random thing?  Well, Willow's owners recommended it and they were dead right again. Quite an amazing place with more sauces and dressing and accompaniments then we'd ever seen before on offer.

It is a bit of a local institution it seems and justifiably so:

Here is a small part of the "extras" help yourself area:

After suitably filling tacos / burritos we wandered out to the truck then realised they had ice cream. Had to be done so we headed back and ordered one that sounded interesting. Only as the guy was serving it did we realise that it was this alarming colour:

It tasted fine but probably had more E numbers in it than the average tube of blue Smarties. We didn't feel too "high" that evening though and we rounded off our time in Juniper beach beautifully, joining our most hospitable neighbours and the gorgeous puppy Willow for a farewell dram sitting around their outdoor fire. All in all not too shabby a time.