Rainbow Gathering

[China]

Watch out for those robot unicorns.

[Botched]

Sounds like Burning Man...but in the woods.

[THEREALTOR1]

I feel bad for any small furry animals that may live in the vicinity...:paranoid:

[hp703]

This is what I'm waiting for, All Good Music Festival

[Baculus]

I have been to a few -- two national ones and a regional one. They are incredible adventures, and full of fun, weird times.

The worst moments, though, are when locals harass the Family, or when the Park Police come in and start acting like real A-holes.

[Baculus]

Has anyone ever been?

I have always wanted to go and I am thinking about going this year.

Going to the national event, or to a local one?

[Hazel-Ra]

They had one in Idaho a few years, I didn't go (I like to burn tree and play guitar by myself), but i heard the local's complaing "that for a bunch of tree hugging hippies, they sure left the meadow trashed..."

[Baculus]

They had one in Idaho a few years, I didn't go (I like to burn tree and play guitar by myself), but i heard the local's complaing "that for a bunch of tree hugging hippies, they sure left the meadow trashed..."

I don't believe it, at least as far as the claims made by the locals. Rainbows have a crew that cleans up the area after the event. They'll spend weeks doing this if necessary, and even during the event, they are very specific about waste disposal and minimizing garbage.

The problem with gatherings, though, are the people, often locals, who think a gathering is a "party" to get trashed, and they will often cause disturbances, leave garbage, etc. Heck, they've even tried burning down a gathering -- I was at a Wyoming one in 1994 where a large forest fired, started by locals (one of which was the song of the local sheriff) that had to be put out by forest service aircraft. It was a bit scary seeing a wall of flame coming towards ya and thousands of people having to escape the approaching flames.

[Hazel-Ra]

Please don't be too offended if I take their word over yours. I can't speak for West Dakota (Montana), but in Idaho most people don't really care what you do in the wild as long as A: You're not in their face about it and B: Pick up after yourself.

The year was 2001 I believe by Cascade, Idaho and even the Idaho Statesman had a story had a story on the impact of so many vehicles in the meadow. So even IF the clean up crew stuck around there was still the impact from cars, trucks, vans, dogs, ect.

Were you there?

[Baculus]

Please don't be too offended if I take their word over yours. I can't speak for West Dakota (Montana), but in Idaho most people don't really care what you do in the wild as long as A: You're not in their face about it and B: Pick up after yourself.

The year was 2001 I believe by Cascade, Idaho and even the Idaho Statesman had a story had a story on the impact of so many vehicles in the meadow. So even IF the clean up crew stuck around there was still the impact from cars, trucks, vans, dogs, ect.

Were you there?

I am not offend -- I wasn't there -- but I have been to gatherings and I know how Rainbows (at least try to) handle these events.

Also, at a Gathering, you park your car at a car lot and hike to the site. (Sometimes as far as five miles . . .) You don't actually drive to the location, but I do know, over the last decade, the Park Police have tried to assert control and determining where and how people can park.

Everyone who attends these events aren't conscious about garbage, or forest fires, or all the things that a good camper should be aware about. This is why the gathering have fire and garbage patrols, and I would be disappointed if they failed on either of these efforts.

I guess it is up to a person to go there, experience these events, and to form your own opinion.

[China]

http://badassrainbows.wordpress.com/