Welcome Home

Updated 6/24/13 12:45 Am Montana Time

Bless the sky above, the earth below, the wind in the trees and the water in the creek. Love each other even when you don't like each other. Walk gently on the earth and on your family and come home to this special place where we really try to love and respect each other, cook for each other, make music for each other and laugh together. 

July 4th Prayer/Meditation for World Peace

Dawn until high noon.
Please respect the silence and hold it (or the om) until ALL the children make it to the center of the circle.
Feel the power of thousands of people meditating, praying, blowing bubbles, doing Tai Chi/yoga for world peace and the positive evolution of the planet.
Participate in creating the peace we want to experience every day around the world.

 ~~~ Rap 107 ~~~

Please protect this Beautiful Land

Walk softly.  Harm no living thing.  Harmonize - Blend in.  Use only down, dead wood.  Do not cut living trees.  Preserve the Meadows . . . camp in the Woods.  And remember, We are caretakers of this land.

Everyone sharing makes a strong Human Tribe!

Please Protect the Water Sources by staying out of DELICATE spring areas.  Avoid camping, peeing or washing above spring areas.  Keep ALL soap out of streams, springs or the creek!  Use a bucket to take your bath 300 feet away from the water source.  To be certain drinking water is safe: boil it for ten minutes at a rolling boil!

Use the slit trenches or covered latrines - cover your paper & waste with ashes or lime, wash hands afterwards.  Break the fly/illness connection: shit-fly-food-you!  Dig no shitters near water areas or kitchens.

Protect our Health!

Use your own cup, bowl & spoon!  Wash them after eating and rinse in bleach-water. Go to C.A.L.M. if you feel ill - especially if you have a contagious disease - or are injured.

Camp Together – Establish neighborhoods.  Community Fires only!  Keep a 5 gallon bucket of water and shovel nearby for Fire Protection. If you are the last to leave a fire PUT IT OUT!  Please, NO fireworks!  Keep you camp secure.  “Tempt Not Lest Ye Be Lifted From.”

Pets are discouraged, but if you must bring them, keep them fed, on a leash and out of the kitchens, springs & fights.  Clean up their poop.  Love them.

 * * PACK IT IN  - PACK IT OUT !!! * *

Cleanup begins when you arrive.  Please bring only what is necessary.  There is no janitor here . . . YOU are the cleanup crew.  Separate Garbage for recycling.  Please DON’T LITTER - Find a collection point.  Compost in pits only.

You are the Gathering!

Participate and Volunteer!  Participate in Shanti Sena (the peace keepers council), work crews, workshops, councils and all activities.  Volunteer wherever and whenever needed: kitchens, welcome home, fire watch, parking lot, shitter digging, supply, front gate, etc.  R-E-S-P-E-C-T your Sisters’ & Brothers’ energies.

Keep the Balance: Earth, Sky, Trees, Water & People!

Alcohol is Discouraged, Guns are Inappropriate, Violence is contrary to the Spirit.  Please do not take pictures or videos of people without asking their permission first.  Discourage Drug Abuse.

Buying and selling endangers our right to be here.  The Magic Hat is our Bank, please donate early to fund our needs.  The Magic Hat goes around at Dinner Circle and with the Magic Hat Band.

Our power together is many times our power separated.

Enjoy the Rainbow with an open heart and you Will see the Vision.

There seem to problems with invasive weeds getting into Montana, that    travel in the undercarriage of vehicles traveling across the country.    Please stop at a car wash after entering the state.  Rinse off your car. Make sure you are not bringing in any invasive plants accidentally.

Directions (this is the site we used in 2000):

Fill up your gas tank before you leave the interstate.  No grocery store in Jackson. Last gas station is Wisdom and more expensive than off the interstate. Wisdom gas station open Mon-Sat 8 AM to 5 PMish for cash customers. Credit card customers can purchase gas 24/7.

From points east/south:

From Interstate 15 near Dillon, Montana (about 60 miles south of the Interstate 90/15 interchange). Take the MT-278 exit, EXIT 59, toward Jackson/Wisdom. 

From points west/north/Missoula: (revised 2nd time)

I've driven Hwy 93 from Missoula to the gathering and back. Great road. Crosses Contentienal Divide so a few twisty sections but the road is good.

From Interstate 90, Take the Reserve St exit, EXIT 101, toward I-90-BL/Hamilton/US-93 S.  Follow the signs to stay on HWY-93.  About 80 miles take MT-43 (which pops through Idaho and becomes ID-43 for about 1 mile). Drive 25-28 miles.   Turn right (south) onto MT-278. (MT-278 is 0.9 miles past Lower North Fork Rd If you reach Pine St you've gone a little too far)

Note to hitchhikers, if you thumbing it out of Missoula, make sure you're getting a ride as least as far as Jackson if not all the way home. First 35/45 miles has many little towns and stores, etc.  Many travelers are heading into Idaho and you might get stranded in the middle of nowhere at MT-43/Hwy 93.  Be prepared.

****From Jackson, Montana for all travelers****:

About a mile south of Jackson, turn onto SKINNER MEADOW ROAD heading south toward Idaho, big mountains, (good gravel/dirt road - please respect private ranches - drive slow, watch for cattle) Go 8.5 MILES, through fence and cattle guard into National Forest then take LEFT TURN and ONE LANE BRIDGE over creek (left turn is approx 1.5 miles before Van Houten Lake campground) to FRONT GATE ~ PARKING ~ BUS VILLAGE ~ HANDICAPPED PARKING WELCOME HOME!

See the topo map http://tinyurl.com/Montana2013map.  Or plug N 45.23845 W 113.43487 into your GPS or gathering map at bottom of this post.

The altitude is about 7,000 feet above sea level. Be prepared for days in the 60s & 70s and nights into the 30s.  Thunderstorms happen. Be prepared for rain.  Check the weather here.

 Just a friendly reminder, directions will probably change or additional details will change over the next week or so.  Check back for updated directions.

The site is the the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.  The local USFS offices is at 420 Barrett St. Dillon, MT 59725-3572. Visit the website.
USFS phone numbers:

• (406) 683-3900
• (406) 683-3913 (24-hour recorded information line)

Additional Transportation Information:

Butte, MT is the closest large city although I think Bozeman or Missoula are probably not much further and seem to have bigger airports.

Trailways operates service to Dillon, MT --  the closest city on the interstate and about 45 miles from the gathering site.  Call Trailways at 703-691-3052 between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

There is a Greyhound/Trailways stop at Jim's Smoke Shop, 25 E Helena, Dillon, MT 59725 that is open M-5 from 8 AM to 5 PM. Call (406) 683-6703.

• A bus leaves from Butte @ 7 AM and 7 PM daily to Dillon from 1324 Harrison Avenue Butte, MT 59701.
• There is a daily bus at 4 PM from Missoula Greyhound Station @ 1660 West Broadway Missoula, MT 59800. 
• There is a daily bus at 4:30 PM from Bozeman 1205 E Main Street Bozeman, MT 5971.

Misc. Information:

The closest grocery store is in Wisdom - about 30 miles from the gathering site. Gas is hard to come by once you're off the interstate as the few (very few) places that sell gas are not open 24/7 - although the Wisdom gas station allows pay at the pump with a credit card 24/7.  Be prepared. Always helps to bring 5 gallons of gas in a red jug in case you run short or to share with someone else as the case my be.

The USFS has information check points to look for probably cause to search you. Don't give it to them.  Click here (post on right side of blog) to learn more.

For the USFS map of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, click here.

   Please copy and distribute this information freely.
Ignore all rumors of cancellation.

We Love You!