Sunday, June 27, 2010

Parking at the Gathering & The Hike In!

I received a call yesterday from a friend on site with some good advice about arriving at the Gathering.

The directions to the Gathering will land you on Forest Service Road 119 taking you to Parking on FS 552.

Most parking is along the side of the road. The Parking Crew (and the Forest Service) is asking all vehicles (who do not park in a lot) to park on the west side of the road, which is the LEFT side of the road as you drive in. Yes, this will involve crossing over the center line and parking on the opposite side of the road, going in the wrong direction.

ADVISORY!!! It is strongly advised, before parking, that you get out of your vehicle and check the softness of the side of the road. make sure the ground where you wish to park is HARD. There have been a lot of people who pull over the proper distance off the road, everything looks great, they park and walk away, and return a couple hours later to find two wheels have sunk into the ground, requiring chains and a bigger vehicle to pull the car out. The issue is NOT so much mud, but just soft, spongy ground. However, more rains may exacerbate this problem.

Please make sure your vehicle is legal, remove all hanging things from your rear-view mirror (the latest reason to pull you over) and that your tags are current and your brake lights and turn signals work. Please drive the speed limit for everyone's safety!

Supply is located on FS209, and people are being asked not to drive on this road unless they are a kitchen bringing in their equipment. Kitchen vehicles may park at the closest spot above their kitchen and hike stuff down through the trees. The same issues with soft shoulders apply here. I've also been told that no large vehicles should attempt to drive up FS 209 to the supply camp, as they'll get stuck.

The hike in from the parking area is a "long but refreshingly easy" walk in.

6 comments:

  1. We'll be towing a small rented trailer...do we park on the same road, I wonder, or do we park somewhere else? we are traveling w/ 3 kids who won't be all that patient about mama and dad not knowing the right place to be! LOL! Ty, The Other Karen for all your work on this (and other!) blogs! I totally appreciate you! Lovin you!

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  2. Not really sure on that one... but the Parking Crew should have "Welcome Home" set up before you get to the parking area. They should be able to help guide you to the best area/method.

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  3. Heya!
    Thanks a millionio for this lovely blog Karen!!!

    Where is Info?
    Down along Queen Creek, or on Piney Run?

    Does the FR 209 parking end up at the back-door of the Gathering?

    The post above says not to drive on 209, but I just had an email from Plunker (passing info along) that the north parking off FR552 is full up, and that 209 will take us to the new "NOW Park"

    to quote:
    (2) PARKING on Forest Road 552 is FULL UP. To reach NOW PARKING, at Main Parking Area...
    DIRECTIONS: From EAST HICKORY... From HIGHWAY 62... TURN EAST on HIGHWAY 666...
    then, LEFT ON YELLOWHAMMER ROAD....
    YELLOWHAMMER ROAD BECOMES BRECHT ROAD...
    then, BRECHT ROAD becomes FOREST ROAD 209....
    STAY ON FOREST ROAD 209 until you come to HOME.

    Can we take this advice as is?

    Many thanks!
    Looking for Kickapoo Kitchen, Diamond Dave, Wing, and can't wait to get there!

    love

    petros

    PS, leavin' Eastern Iowa this afternoon, hope to be Down Home by first light Weds!!

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  4. Thanks, I got that last night too and was trying to confirm it. Will revise very soon. thanks!

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  5. Oh, and I don't know exactly where Info finally set up. I know they had a site they wanted and a back up plan, but not sure where they are.

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  6. Thanks Other Karen!! ;-)

    By the way, I've made a nice flyer (in PDF form) from Mama Turtle's awesome Rites of Passage rap.
    I'm having about 100 printed for the kitchens and Info, etc. (I'm a printer, what can I say ;-) (slowprint.com)

    The PDF can be found here:
    http://potogold.slowprint.org/

    by following the link to here:

    http://files.me.com/peterf/f6wuac

    Play for Peace!!

    P

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