Rancho Mil Ecotourism

28/08/2024

With a donation from the Rio Hardy Community Fund, we were able to buy backpacks and school supplies for 40 kids in the local Cucapa El Mayor village. Here's some of the elementary kids ready for their first day of school.

02/08/2024

A grande Muchas gracias to our friend Bill Wiemeyer for once again delivering school supplies for the Cucapa Indian Village. It is much cheaper to buy them in California, but sometimes challenging to get them across the border. Bill brought down 270 items in one load! Thanks to Bill, the kids will be ready for the new school year!

28/04/2024

This really nice group of "Nomads" in their converted school bus motorhomes visited Rancho Mil last week. They had spent 3 months touring Baja. The couple in the center, Ginnie and Austin, post about their adventures on FB and instagram at bumpinbus

28/03/2024

Gustavo Sainz and I assembled a new playset for the Cucapa El Mayor village primary school. Lots of parts and pieces and about 1000 fasteners. It took a while, but the kids are really enjoying it!

19/02/2024

Rancho Mil organized a playground improvement day for the kids of the Cucapa El Mayor village. With the help of some wonderful volunteers from the Rio Hardy Community, we were able to build a perimeter fence using old tires we recovered from the desert.
A Grande Muchas Gracias to everyone that came out to help!

26/11/2023

This really nice couple from Germany spent 5 nights at Rancho Mil. They have traveled the world on their tandem bicycle, 36 countries and counting. Their current trek started in Alaska, passing through Baja and heading for Argentina!

11/09/2023

11/09/2023

Our latest project......With a lot of help from Steve Rose and a grant from the San Juan Capistrano Rotary, Rancho Mil purchased an old flat bed farm truck and converted it to a fire truck for the Cucapa El Mayor Volunteer Fire Department (El Mayor is a small village of about 200 people and located at least 30 minutes from the nearest fire station). Thanks also to Bill Weimeyer and Maria Rose for aiding and abetting.

20/07/2023

View from Rancho Mil of last night’s Falcon 9 launch!

10/03/2023

Venus and Jupiter conjunction over 3 nights last week.

24/02/2023

With donated materials and fire fighting equipment, we created a "fire station" for the Cucapa El Mayor Indian village and started training volunteer firefighters! A group of awesome firemen from San Luis Rio Colorado helped us put on a 2 day interactive seminar. Many thanks to Steve Rose and San Juan Capistrano Rotary, Katherine Turner and Baja Bridges, Bill Wiemeyer, Marie Rose and the Rio Hardy Community Fund for helping to make it possible!

18/12/2022

Mars, stars and the moon rising over The Rio Hardy

02/10/2022

Sunset on thunderheads, waxing crescent moon or sun rays over the Rio….sometimes it’s hard to choose which way to look (note…FB cropped the main photo and cut out the best part…click to view it)

18/09/2022

Congratulations Bianca II (aka Lupe)!!! She set a goal to earn money for a new phone. After spending her summer working at Rancho Mil, she saved up enough for a new (gently used) iPhone 11. We are all really happy for her!!

05/08/2022

We had a swim instructor here at Rancho Mil a couple weeks ago to teach some of the kids from the village some basics. It seems Omar caught on!😎

03/07/2022

A sad event in the nearby Cucapa Indian village on June 24th. A young couple lost their home to a fire. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of some local vacation homeowners in our Rio Hardy Community, we were able to purchase some wood to start rebuilding their home. We put up the new roof framework and started installing the sheeting this last week. We are still seeking donations to purchase other materials to continue the rebuild. Thank you to all that have contributed to our efforts to help these unfortunate people.

17/06/2022

We added a merry-go-round to the playground at the Cucapa village. The kids seem to really like it!😜

12/03/2022

We cleared out some trees to create better access to our campground…….a couple hours later we got to use it (a nice couple from Germany with a 40 foot Tiffin motor coach visiting

12/02/2022

Many thanks to the "Rio Hardy Community" for their generous donations and to the volunteers that came out to our "community build"! We turned a barren piece of desert into a new playground for the kids of the Cucapa El Mayor Indian village! The kids absolutely love it!

25/01/2022

01/01/2022

Getting started on our first project of the new year….building a playground for the kids of the Cucapa El Mayor village! Feliz Ano Nuevo from Rancho Mil !!

24/12/2021

Thanks to the craftsmanship of Bianca II, Valeria and Alan we now have 5 more houses at Rancho Mil.
Feliz Navidad!🎄

19/12/2021

This wonderful couple from England, Steve and Tobi, with their “Overlander” truck, spent a couple nights at Rancho Mil. They have been touring Mexico for about a year, and just started their exploration of “The Baja”. It was great hearing about some of their adventures! Check out Trucklifeoverlanders for some great pics and videos of their travels.

03/12/2021

Clearing and grading for the new playground that we are building at the local Cucapa Indian village. Thanks to a very kind donation from the “Rio Hardy Community “ we plan to have phase one ready for the kids by mid January!

15/11/2021

Great picture of Gustavo and Alan taken a couple years ago at the Sonoran Institute's restoration center inauguration and used on the cover of their annual report!

The perfect setting for making memories is nature. With clean water, air and energy, we thrive.

Together we thrive!

Please donate in any way you can: www.sonoraninstitute.org/donate

20/10/2021

Rancho Mil is proud to have worked with and supported the organizations that have made this possible. We have hosted educational workshops and helped plant several hundred trees! We look forward to continuing our efforts.

Thanks to a historic U.S.-Mexico binational agreement, water flowing this year is providing hope for the future of a key ecosystem.

25/09/2021

Another great sunset at Rancho Mil this week!!

11/08/2021

29/06/2021

Great news story about the work being done by the Sonoran Institute in the delta, featuring my friends Gaby and Rocio!

Dams robbed the environment of water