[pct-l] ranchita country store

[phix at optigan.com (Pea Hicks)]

i was in borrego springs today, and picked up a copy of the local 
newspaper... there was a little article about the new owners of the 
ranchita country store, which is 4 miles east on the highway from barrel 
spring, in section A. anyway, the article said that they were hoping to 
get business from equestrians and hikers, specifically mentioning their 
proximity to the pct. so on my way home i stopped in to see what their 
level of pct knowledge actually was. as i expected, they really didn't 
know anything about the thru-hiking scene, and were glad to have someone 
clue them in a bit. i gave them the straight story, which is basically 
that they're *sort of* well-positioned for pct hiker business, but that 
since barrel spring is so close to warner springs, most hikers would 
find it too much of a hassle to hitch to ranchita to get supplies, when 
they could just hike a bit further down the trail and get them more 
conveniently in warner springs. also, i made sure that they understood 
that the only significant hiker traffic only comes within a small window 
of time every year (late april / early may).

even so, they were very nice and enthusiastic about doing whatever they 
could to get hiker business. i told them to post a little note at barrel 
spring in the middle of april to inform hikers of the store and to be 
sure to put "hiker friendly" on the note. i also said that if they 
REALLY wanted business, to consider some sort of shuttle service (at 
least offer rides back to barrel spring). they sounded amenable to that 
idea too.

i asked if they had gotten a "stuff hikers buy" list from the pct-l, and 
they had not, and asked if i would pass along their address so they 
could get one. i can't remember who exactly was sending those things out 
(strider?), but if you could send one to them that'd be great:

Ranchita Country Store
37412 Landmark Ln
Ranchita, CA
92066
(760) 782-3476

they are CLOSED mon-tues, open wed-sun 9am-6pm.


anyway!! for what it's worth, at least it's nice to know definitively 
that they're hiker friendly and eager to do their part to attract hiker 
business, and i suppose that's enough to encourage folks to give them 
your business.


cheers-
pea
pct05