We know of Happy Camp as the Temporary Autonomous Zone usually in Golden Gate Park, but there is also a permanent place, a small town in northern California. There is only one place in the world named Happy Camp, located at Latitude: 41.79 N, Longitude: 123.25 W. It is considered one of the most unusual places in California, which I don't think is a coincidence.

The Karuk who camped on the Indian Creek banks called the place "Athithufvuunupma" in their language. It was in July of 1851 that Happy Camp was renamed by prospectors looking for gold who camped there. Newspapers on the coast referred to the place as “Murderer’s Bar” before that.

Happy Camp is home of the Bigfoot Jamboree (2007 was the 41st year)! Festivities include the naming of the Bigfoot Jamboree Queen, and a parade through the town of Happy Camp. This year, there was a special Christian Rock Concert at the pavilion after the parade. There is also a giant Bigfoot statue in the town of Happy Camp. The Bigfoot Byway runs from Willow Creek to Happy Camp. There have been more Bigfoot sightings around Happy Camp then anywhere else.

Happy Camp is also home to the world's largest dreamcatcher, with a circumfrence of 105 feet.
( Happy Camp News article - happycampnews.com/ )

There is not a single stop light within fifty miles of Happy Camp. With a population of around 1,500, if we got 2,000 voting age people to move to Happy Camp, we could take over the town and make our own laws. Think about it... next year's Bigfoot Jamboree could have live Christian Psytrance by the Fractal Gold Diggers, and there would be mandatory dancing for all residents. But most importantly, there is still plenty of gold in dem dar hills!

Happy are the people of Athithufvuunupma!


Maybe we should rename our Happy Camp to its original name... Athithufvuunupma Camp?
It's way better than Murderer's Bar Camp.