Sweet!!

I've been entertaining the idea of trying to do the Rainbow Gathering trick of doing something out on National Forest land. They pack 30k+ folks every year in somewhere this way, without any formal organization or need to sell 'invitations'.

In my dream world, we could invite everyone for free, but I know that's probably just in my dream world...still, I'm personally thinking in terms of keeping all costs as near to nothing as possible.

There's an amazing national park that contains land from three states, the Ellicott Rock wilderness preserve, and I love that place for camping.

The plus side of this idea..it's there, we could just DO it, and it would certainly test everyone's radical self reliance, leave no trace ethic, and would be radically inclusive. Also it would be free.

The minus side...I actually don't think that loud noise is prohibited in any meaningful sense, but I'm pretty sure that fuel spilling IS, and that any fire activity would have to be strictly controlled. Also, I'd much prefer to inform the park service of what's happening, but they have a history in dealing with the Rainbows of initially agreeing, then disagreeing at the last minute and organizing a man's world response to shut it down. I'm not about trying to do something that would end up just being a raid. Any gathering larger than 75 people on national park land requires a permit, and the process of asking for that permit lets them know where you are.

It's hard as hell to explain to people that aren't familiar with the scene that we're not just a bunch of irresponsible pyromaniac freaks, that we're actually as much or more concerned with safety and the environmental impact as any other folks!! *Sigh*....

So maybe not a feasible idea but I've been entertaining it, anyway.

XXXOOO,
Me