D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
April 2010
Business Beat
A year in the great outdoors • reviving the horse and
buggy • gardening giveaway • rocket racing moves to
Tulsa • and more business news.
Making Roughing It Easier
When Zack and Jamie Crockett talk about "roughing it," they're referring to the Gila Wilderness experiences they provide for hikers, birders and other wildlife lovers — not the rough challenge of starting a business in a recession. But they've succeeded at that "roughing it," too, celebrating the first anniversary of their Gila Hot Springs-based outfitter business, Gila Backcountry Services.
Gila Backcountry Services opened in 2009, offering camping trips for adults and families, hiking treks, packing services, gear drops and equipment rentals. The company uses mules to service the trips and also offers cooks, naturalist guides and guided hikes to complete the wilderness experience. Their packing service and gear drops make it easy for do-it-yourselfers to have a wilderness experience. Gila Backcountry Services operates under a special-use permit from the Gila National Forest.
The company also offers deluxe base camps with a nature study focus, and recently announced two 2010 camp trips with local naturalists: ornithologist Mike Fugagli and botanist Donna Stevens. Also on the 2010 schedule are two cross-country treks that take participants hiking across the Gila Wilderness, with pack mules in tow.
"We offer a total immersion experience to enjoy the wild backcountry, with naturalist guides, comfortable accommodations and great food," says Jamie Crockett. "It's hard to enjoy your surroundings when you're slugging a 50-pound pack through the woods. That's why, for the naturalist camps, we pack everything to the camp site in advance, with mules. The treks are more challenging because we cover more miles hiking across the wilderness, meanwhile still using mules to haul the gear."
Gila Backcountry Services has scheduled naturalist guided camps with Fugagli and Stevens for April 26-30 and June 21-25. Cross-country treks are scheduled for June 2-11 and July 2-9. All trips depart near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, 44 miles north of Silver City. For more information, call 536-2213, email info@gilabackcountryservices.com, or visit www.GilaBackcountryServices.com
Horse Sense
If you see a horse-drawn carriage on the streets of Pinos Altos these days, no, you haven't suddenly been transported back to days of yore. It's Sonny Rumschlag who's doing the transporting with his new business, Pinos Altos Horse Drawn Carriage Rides. A lifelong rancher, Rumschlag sold his southern Arizona ranch in August and he and his wife, Elaine, moved to Pinos Altos to start a new life. As Elaine went back to teach school, Sonny was restless and bored, suddenly having time on his hands after working long hard hours for so many years. He decided to buy a couple of crossdraft paints raised by the Amish, and a carriage to start a carriage business.
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Sonny Rumschlag with Clyde (left)
and Bonnie (right), the muscle behind his new Pinos Altos Horse Drawn
Carriage Rides business. |
Rumschlag and his team — he's named the horses "Bonnie" and "Clyde" — will be parked at the Two Spirits Cafe in Pinos Altos on Wednesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. He will take reservation for other places, times and events at 534-9605.
And on the subject of horses, Larry Hyde and wife Becky Ferranti are back in (nonprofit) business as Serenity Acres ("Riding to the Rescue," November 2004), working with local abused and neglected horses. Ferranti reports, "We are partnering with the JPPO program in Grant County, mentoring their clients. We would like to have a camp this summer, not only for the JPPO kids, but open to all youth in the county. It will include horsemanship, organic gardening, nutrition and healthy food snack preparation, life skills, and possibly some metal art and car mechanics."
In the meantime, Serenity Acres is in need of hay, grain, building supplies, volunteers willing to supervise kids and horses, gardening supplies, and of course cash donations. All donations are tax deductible. A few horses are already available for adoption with more once they gain weight and get healthy. 590-4843.
Growing Things
It's not exactly the HGTV Dream Home, but if gardening gets your sap flowing you'll want to enter the Gardener's Dream Giveaway Sweepstakes, co-sponsored by Silver City-area businesses Gila WoodNet, Dunn's Nursery, Lone Mountain Natives and Center Line Log and Timber. The sweepstakes also is targeted at supporting local community gardens.
The prizes include two Community Garden Gift Packages, with items from each sponsor plus, in the package to be given away May 26, a plot in the Bayard Community Garden. Ten additional prizes, including gift certificates and garden consultations, come from individual sponsors. One prize is being given away per week; no purchase is necessary to win. Enter in person at participating sponsor locations or by mailing an index card with your name, address, phone number and email address, to PO Box 530, Santa Clara, NM. 88026.
Speaking of gardening, as we promised in the February "Business Beat," the Silver Heights Nursery has returned and is now open at 1950 Hwy. 180E, behind Aunt Judy's Attic. Regina Vinson says the longtime Silver City favorite will be open through September, Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. 956-3159, www.silverheightsnursery.blogspot.com
Change in the Wind
Cadillac is back in Deming, as Sisbarro Superstore has regained its Cadillac franchise following an arbitration with General Motors. The Deming dealership had lost Cadillac as part of GM's 2009 restructuring, in which more than a thousand dealers nationwide saw franchise agreements yanked. Sisbarro, which also has two Las Cruces dealerships, has franchises for GM brands Chevrolet and Buick, along with Voklkswagen, Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Suzuki.
New downtown in Las Cruces is Downtown Desert Yoga, at 126 S. Downtown Mall. Look for an official grand opening sometime in April. 647-YOGA.
Las Cruces' Mesilla Valley Mall is getting a Children's Place clothing store, set to fill the space next to Fanzz Sports Apparel by early summer. The nationwide chain already has two stores in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe.
Silver City's Phillips 66 gas station at 1929 Pinos Altos Road has switched affiliations and is now a Ram station. (The giant ram's head sign is probably your first clue.) Although unfamiliar at this end of the state, Ram has three gas stations in Albuquerque, where they tend to be on the lower end of the price spectrum. Meanwhile, Silver City's formerly lockstep gas prices have recently become more competitive, which this switchover certainly won't hurt.