In the US, the Rainbow Family is defined by general areas we call bioregions, that host regional gatherings, counsels, and other events throughout the year. The Katuah bioregion is roughly the southern appalachian mountains, and also contains the cities of Knoxville Tenn., Asheville NC, Roanoke Va., Greenville SC., and Athens, Ga. The Piedmont region is between the mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, and also contains the cities of Norfolk Va., Charlotte NC., Wilmington NC., Columbia SC., and Macon, Ga. The Atlanta family has long been associated with both Katuah and Piedmont families (and Piedmont and Katuah also share some of the same folk) and has now gotten enough equipment together to start our own kitchen. According to the consensus of the Atlanta, Piedmont, and Katuah Spring Counsils, Uncle Bill, Trucker Bob and I have come up here early to find a site for the three tribes to all be in the same neighborhood this year.
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We are having an incredible time here - lots of work to be done, but it is all FUN! get your stuff and COME ON OUT!
Bring what you need to camp out, blankets or sleeping bags, etc., tents or tarps (tarps are better; more room underneath and drier); stuff to eat with (bowl and spoon minimal); bulk food to contribute to the kitchens if you can; any musical instruments you like to play - drums, flutes, guitars, harmonicas, etc. Mostly, bring your friends and lots of good vibes - come on! join the fun!!
PLEASE DO NOT BRING -
any weapons or alcohol.
Please do not bring any commercial enterprizes, our gatherings are completely free and voluntary, barter is encouraged.
Please leave dogs at home unless they cant stay behind (and are well behaved and trained, keep on leash)
Most Rainbow folk are not vegetarians (but more and more are every day), but we ask that you don't bring meat to the kitchens, which are all by consensus vegetarians. Meat doesn't keep well in the woods, and many people are vegetarians. (if you have to have meat, you can cook it at your own camp fire).
DIRECTIONS
From I-80 - Take US 219 north from Interstate 80 exit 16. At the town of Ridgway, take Pennsylvania rt. 948 northwest towards Highland. At Highland, take Sakett Road southwest to the community of Sackett (becomes dirt road). At Sackett, look for turn to the left that goes to "Owl's Nest", and head south. At Owl's Nest, turn left onto Forest Service Road 135. A mile or two past the bridge at Bear Creek be looking for our cars parked on the right.
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use PA 948 according to the directions and do NOT come in through the residential neighborhoods of the community of Ridway. The road that way is rough;, the road by Owl's Nest are dirt, but smooth.
From the north - exit I-88 at US 219 and head south to Lantz Corners. Turn right onto US 6. At Kane, turn left onto PA 66. Turn left onto PA 948 for about 2 miles to Sackett Rd. at Highland
Next time I come into town, I will have even more detailed directions posted
And So Far...
Wednesday, May 26 - left Atlanta at 6:00pm on the Skinny dog.
Thursday - Norfolk Va. at 7:25am. Uncle Bill picked me up at 7:30 and we left for Pennsylvania. Got to Spring Counsil in the Allegheny National Forest, the site of the 1986 National Gathering, at just before dark. We were in the first few to arrive.
Friday - more people arrived, had a great party!
Saturday - Spring Counsil quickly consensed to gather at the Bear Creek site the scouts had found. over 100 people for counsel.
Sunday - Explored north side of the site and discussed problem with that area.
Monday - We checked out springs on the north sid of Little Otter Creek and found some possible sites for Katuah, Piedmont and Atlanta kitchen
Tuesday - Started raining in the night - got my tarp up and my camp is nice and dry. Came into to town to post this. Will be back with more info later.
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Wednesday, June 2nd - Rained of and on during the morning. Jonathan and Tallahassee Steve showed up. Uncle Bill, Trucker Bob and I scouted possible supply route from the road.
Thu. 3rd - talked with the forest service about opening locked roads.
Fri 4th - found spring head at the site for Katuah, Piedmont, Atlanta and Zipolite Kitchen. Two years ago in Oregon, we got the spark of an idea for a new kitchen, and last year at AZ we started Camp Zipolite for the first time. (Zipolite, my home in Mexico is visited by quite a few Rainbow Family visitors every year) At that time, we only did koolaid and ice tea, and occasional meals for people in camp (and we had about 25 or 30 visitors come by the camp who had been to visit Zipolite every day). But I had the idea of starting a french fry kitchen - only needed a heavy duty restaurant quality potatoe press to cut them with. At the Katuah Spring Council, Katuah folk said they wanted to come to the gathering and send a kitchen, but did not want to have to work so hard this year. I told them my idea about the french fries - easy to do, a simple, streamlined operation that would make a lot of people happy, and that idea was very well received. Uncle Bill thought that was such a good idea, that he went ahead and bought the french fry cutter himself (and saved me about a hundred dollars in not having to buy it, too!)
Sat 5th - Talked with the forest service about the Indiana bat, water shrew, and other endangered and protected wildlife species, archeological and/or other artifacts left here by previous people. Moved onto the site with Uncle Bill's kitchen equipment. Saw 4 deer and a porcupine. Spent first night on the actual site of our camp.
Sun. 6th - Dug out spring head in preparation for laying out our water line. Looking for the proper location on our site for setting up our kitchens, compost and grey water pits, and latrines (shitterville). We will be a large camp this year, Katuah, Piedmont, Atlanta, and Zipolite; already several people from last year's Camp Zipolite have shown up, including my friend John Tarleton, a journalist, check out his web site - (click here). The site we have chosen has some good camping on both sides of a major path through the area, and our spring water is sweet, with an output of about 5 gallons a minute or more coming out from under a rock up on the hill about a hundred yards from the camp. We have a large fire pit area out in the open with a nice soft ground area for wrestling and other activities. Even with as few of us as are here now we have turned up a lot of interest for wrestling! WOW! Just wait till EVERYBODY gets here!! There are probably about 75 of us here total, now, its hard to say. About 20 of us have moved out of the holding camp and are down on the land, we are a lot more spread out now and don't see as many people. We have lots of work to do, actually we are just getting started good. The land has been scouted and people are starting to move their kitchens down. John and I are the first two to have camped here on our site, but there are several others camped out on the land. Ananda kitchen is also down here on the other side of Bear Creek about 3/4 a mile away, and I think there is a handfull of others camped somewhere else on the land last night, and one or two others have been here for about a week. The Katuah tribe is preparing for their summer solstice gathering in Tennessee, June 14-24th, and then they will caravan up here together.
Mon 7th -Uncle Bill and Trucker Bob headed back to VA and to the Katuah regional, and left me here to hold down the fort and get things started. John moved over to the supply entrance for the next few days. It is so peaceful to be camping here by myself!
Tue 8th - Was visited by a deer at my camp last night. Went swimming! The water is GREAT! Finished digging out our spring head.
Wed. 9th about 30 of us or more are now down on the land. Most are still back at the holding camp or still camping up by the trail heads. Started the donuts movie and had about 15 show up.
Thu. 10th - Laid pipe from the spring head to the main path. Had about 20 show up for donuts.
Fri 11th - Started the french fry movie!!! Got water running from spring to the camp, but still not quite finished. Getting the kitchen area cleared in preparation for building.
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What is so great about all this?
This is our vision.
We all share a vision of World Peace.
We really believe that it is possible for all of us to live together in peace and harmony. This may seem only idealistic to you, but have seen the vision, and on this path we walk.
We gather together and practice this vision.
On July the 4th and every other time we hold silence together, we pray for World Peace.
We can do this because we have FAITH, faith that we will bring World Peace. You will see this at our gatherings. We gather in Peace. We live in Peace.
Faith is the necessary ingredient in prayer.
Faith, not just belief.
Faith is how we walk. We walk faithful to our beliefs and to our shared vision of World Peace. When we pray together in silence, we send our energy out to the whole world. As we do, more and more people share our vision.
Come and see. Sit with us. Eat with us. Pray with us.
And you will see our vision, too!
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Wildlife
There is an abundance of wildlife here. On our first walk down into the land, we almost stepped on a baby fawn holding perfectly still where its mother had left it. (I see deer almost everyday, saw two yesterday). There are numemrous beaver ponds up and down Bear Creek. The first time we walked down there I saw two snapping turtles who were not in the least afraid of us or even self conscious, as they proceeded to 'make babies' right in front of us. In spite of turtles reputation for being slow, this was something that they wasted no time on, and the whole operation was completed right before our eyes in the space of about one minute.
The birds, wow! Wonderful to hear them all singing in the morning, and occasionally through the night. There is one very tiny little bird living near my camp. It seems to like me, or at least it's not afraid of me - it sits and listlens to me when I talk to it.
I saw a very large woodchuck too, the other day, and the first night I spent here in my camp, I heard a small group of coyotes yipping and singing. Coyotes in Pennsylvania? Who would have thought! Last time I heard that was last year when I was camping in the desert in Mexico.
How fortunate we are to have areas where what is left of this country's wildlife can live and prosper.
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Sat 12th - Best french fries I ever had! Had 30 over for french fries and donuts. Ron has gotten us two food grade 55 gallon plastic water drums for holding tanks at the springs. We are going to completely redo the water system - we have devised a way to get about 4 or 5 times the water output; tapping several other small springs and running them into the holding tank.
Sun 13th - Bliss kitchen has arrived. Had 43 arrive for french fries, digging the fire pit, wrestling, donuts, and great music. Lot of work done on our fire pit. It is a big heart surrounded by a circle and dug out in between so you can sit comfortably on the ground with you feet down in the dug out area, and the dirt piled around behind to lean back on comfortably. It is made with room to sit about 40 or more. We plan to put log benches all around the outside for more seating. Had about 8 wrestling matches, and lots of other guys are now saying that they want to wrestle too. And some sisters as well! I won the matches I was in, of course. We are really getting the 'stone soup' energy going with the donuts, only had powdered sugar donuts at first, but now strawberry, chocolate, Butterfinger bites, chocolate creme, getting really creative now!!
Already we are the most popular camp, almost everybody here comes over each night.
Mon 14th - Rained till about 3pm. Not much going on today. Movie going on in council about moving main circle to another nearby location. Federal Incident Creation officers have now replaced the local forest service and have moved in against us in their yearly $500,000 or more assault against the Rainbow Family and our constitutional freedoms. For some reason they feel like we are somehow a threat to them. 25,000 peace loving people praying in the forest is that reason, of course; they hate to feel un-needed. Strange, how always the local forest services always get along great with us, and appreciate what we do here and our ecological concerns and our clean-up and re-naturalizing work. But they are always replaced each year for the time during our gatherings and a special federal task force takes over their work, and proceeds to provoke as many "incidents" as they can (the more "incidents" they can report, the more money they can hope for the next year). They are led by special officers who apparently hate the family and for some reason are funded well with your hard-earned taxpayers money.
Tues 15th - More show up - cold all day
Wed 16th - French Fries and donuts! Wrestling! Music!
Thu 17th - Eric's birthday, went to town for pizza, cold and rainy had only 23 for french fries and donuts.
Fri 18th - Nice again! Started having wrestling practice in the morning for all who wanted to learn and get better at it.
Sat 19th - Ron and I brought down a new french fry cooker and frier baskets and other implements he bought dirt cheap at a junk yard. I built a cook stove in the kitchen for cooking with wood, and Caleb and Homefire worked on building the serving counter and table.
Sun 20th - improved water flow from the spring and sealed with plastic to keep out animals and bird poop.
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At this point, I had gotten so busy, I didn't have time to continue writing a daily journal, but all that happened was that things just continued to get better and more exciting every day as more and more people arrived. Zipolite ROCKS!!!!
We are planning to have a Rainbow Family excursion to Zipolite this winter for the Millenium at New Years, really an itenerary that starts at the beginning of December and continues through February, ending up at the Ocala Rainbow Family Gathering in Florida, last two weeks of Feb. Interested? Let me know, and I will send you the itenerary. It will be a loose kind of deal in which people can get on and off the train as their convenience allows. If and when I get some pictures of this years gatherings, I hope to get them also posted here.
Email me at - [email protected]