By Shannon Lukens. (See before-and-after comparison pictures below.)
The Welcome Home sign that was hanging during the gathering is no longer there.
We took a trip up to Northwest Routt County to see how it looks at the site of this summer’s Rainbow Gathering. About 10,000 people came to northwest Routt County from across the country to camp in the area of California Park, July 1-8.
“We’re walking up the main path that they used to get to the different villages and the gathering site. It’s a 4-wheel drive trail that’s only open from July 1 to Oct. 1. You can see there is some wear and tear on this trail. You can see where 4-wheel drives have also been on this trial. You can see where they used their pushcarts and that’s how they got to all the different camps so there is a lot of traffic on this. There are off-shoot trails and they did erosion control by taking lots of dead tree limbs and dead logs and thrown them across those off-shoot trails so they will naturally grow back eventually.”
You can see where campsites may have been at the gathering. You can also see effort made by those on the clean-up crew to leave it looking the way it was. There was no trash left that we saw. We saw ranchers, horseback riders, and lots of cattle on the road.
It’s about five hours round trip from Steamboat Springs. We went north through Hayden and then around to Craig.
This was the first parking area, where the medical tent was also set up. This is where people picked up supplies to take up.
Before:
After:
This is the start of the 4-wheel drive trail up to the villages on June 29.
This is the start of the trail head today.
On the trail before:
On the trail after:
Story Glory Camp Before:
Story Glory Camp After:
Tiny Camp Before:
Tiny Camp After:
A downed tree along a trail has directions on it. It says, “Safe Swinging That Away.”
Four-wheelers were on the trail when we were there today (Sept. 4). The trails are open for 4-wheeling from July 1 through Oct. 1 each year.
Dirty Kids Village Before:
Dirty Kids Village After:
Path to Lovin Oven Kitchen today, with lots of trees throughout the trail:
Lovin Oven Kitchen Before:
Lovin Oven Kitchen area today:
Area of Phat Kids Village today:
Parking areas before:
Parking areas before and after:
Road north of the gathering before and after:
Parking areas before and after:
Parking areas before and after: