Scouting 101

Until the snow melts, people interested in finding a site for the gathering, spend their time reading maps and doing other research.  As we enter May, snow levels are climbing and areas we couldn't access a month ago may be open for people with vehicles that can handle mud and substandard roads. I have included two sets of thoughts on scouting. Neither is right nor wrong, just different perspectives.

Image by Francesco Foti from Pixabay

If you have sites that you think may work for this year's annual gathering, I strongly encourage you to get on the Sunday evening Zoom/Conference call and get plugged in with others walking the land.  Do not discuss the site specifics on the call, just say you have a potential site and share your contact details. Zoom/Conference call info at  Plugging In.  Do not expect to show up with your site at Spring Council and have it be seriously considered. Get more experienced folks to check out your site towards the end of May if you want the family to consider your site at Spring Council.

Karin's 2 cents on Scouting

• Visit the map library or use a reputable online mapping tool (not Google Maps) first and find a minimum of ten potential sites (if you’re lucky one will be doable).
• Research past gatherings. Look up gatherings you have attended on these map resources and see if you can correlate the maps to what you saw on the ground.
  
• Visit the sites. Get out of your car and walk. See if you can find a spot for Main Meadow, medical, parking, Info, a semi-private location for Kiddie Village, spots for multiple kitchens, Handicamp access. Have three people walk the site to get three different perspectives on the site.
• Document what you found. Bring a camera and take pictures of the site, parking, springs, roads around the site, the nearby towns, the main meadow.
• Research the land – is it scheduled for logging, home to endangered species, recently a toxic mine, leased for cattle/sheep grazing? Are there two roads in and out?
• Location, location, location – put the gathering on top of the local town and we’re just creating problems.  Put the gathering at the end of a treacherous mountain road and cars are bound to roll off. Put the gathering in a critical habitat for endangered species, and we risk hurting our animal and plant friends as well as creating horribly publicity for the gathering.
• Good Parking - Good parking is also important. Bus Village and Handicamp will be on the fringe of the closest parking lot, so a good water source nearby is helpful. General parking a few miles away is an option, and in that case shuttles are pseudo-arranged, although in that case, it can take a while to make it from the lot to the trail head. Good parking should ideally be close to the trail head, (or at a minimum have a good drop off spot at the trail head). Parking lots are pretty simple, it's mostly making sure they're large enough and not sensitive habitat.
• A nice hike in - A hike of 2-3 miles is perfect especially if it’s an existing trail so it’s easy to use wheelbarrows and carts to haul stuff in. A hike in means that when people get to the gathering they are more likely to stay there and not make town runs or spend all their time with the vehicles. Keep in mind that dirt ROADS into a gathering means the USFS law enforcement will drive into and through the gathering on these dirt roads. I consider that a huge negative.
  
• Main Meadow - A meadow that is large enough for ten thousand people to circle in on the 4^th of July. Hopefully in one big circle, but a few concentric circles works as well. Because this space gets a lot of use, a meadow without endangered species of plants or slow-moving animals is preferred. In the west, many meadows are wet meadows and won't work.
  
• Handicamp Issues -  No matter if the parking lot is ten miles from the trailhead or two miles, we need to have a way to get people into the site who can’t walk or who can only walk short distances. This is where the trail in can help or hinder our less mobile family.
• Firewood - We burn lots of wood at a gathering. As wood is the main fuel for cooking, we need a lot. We only burn down wood. It's a big job keeping the fires going for a big kitchen unless there is plenty of wood handy. A long walk for firewood makes it hard to replenish supplies. We try to discourage individual fires and encourage group fires for two reasons. Group fires are more safe, and easier to keep an eye on. They are also more social. After all, we gather to be with Family. Individual fires are prone to being left. Most of the small forest fires we get are from unattended individual fires. Anyone that was in Wyoming saw how overwhelming a larger forest fire can be. h.
• Other stuff - Other important stuff is access. Access in this case means a an emergency back door road where the medical crew can use to transport injured folks to the hospital. A road with good ingress and egress that can handle long school buses and RVs with at least passing points if not full two way traffic.
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Butterfly Bill had this Scouting Primer on his website 

Scouting is a process that includes spirituality, magic, and science. Among the sciences that apply are hydrology, geology, botany, biology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, archeology, topography, scatology, and unfortunately, political science. No experience is necessary to participate, and new blood is always needed.

Historically, the July 1-7 annual gathering and most regional gatherings have been held on public land in the US National Forest system, and never in National Parks or State Parks, due to legal issues. US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land is also public land and could be an option for gatherings.

Be self-sufficient: Have a dependable vehicle and/or gas money to donate to someone who does. Be ready for harsh conditions. Be ready to hike in the rain uphill for hours. And (disclaimer) this is not the only way to do scouting!

Do some map work: but remember that things aren’t always as they appear on the maps.

What type of maps?: Topographical maps of the entire state (aka Gazetteers), Forest Service maps that show all the 15 Minute Series Quadrangles (quads) in a specific National Forest, USGS quads for each potential site.

Where do you get maps?: Copy them at libraries. On the internet use AcmeMapper (it uses Google Earth and USGS maps together). Purchase quads at hiking/outdoor stores, Forest Service offices, or online.

Site Criteria:
A good site will meet most of these:

Elevation: below 8,000 feet

Water: enough for drinking, cooking, and washing needs of thousands of people. The best drinking water comes from a spring that can be tapped and piped, then it can filtered or boiled. It should be away from the main gathering area with nothing to contaminate it from above, like runoff from livestock , mining, buildings, roads, etc. A rule of thumb: One gallon a minute per 1,000 people.

Open meadows: One large and open enough for daily Dinner Circle, away from parking, vehicle access, and camp/tent sites. Other smaller meadows for councils, pageants, tipis, etc.

Camping areas: Plenty of flat spaces, preferably shaded by trees, for setting up camps. They should be least 100 feet away from surface water.

Plenty of wood: for fires and for building kitchens. Only dead and down firewood may be used; there will be no cutting of green vegetation.

Roads: Look for safety issues: room to pass, clearance, parking for thousands, safe for busses, etc. Ideally there are two roads into the site, a front and a back entrance. Desirable: no road access into the main gathering area, which cannot be seen from the roads.

Parking: Large open spaces with safe access and egress for thousands of cars. If such space are not available, vehicles may be parked along the side of roads, where parking is allowed by the forest rangers. They must be pulled off of the road as far as possible. At a minimum, there must be one and half car widths (approx. 10-12 feet) of clearance on the road itself.

Accessibility: Walk into the site from the parking lot, considering how it will be for the youngers and the olders, and the alter-able people. Look for a way for everyone to get into the gathering easily.

Other issues:

A Spring council site (to be found by those who go scouting!)

A good spot for Bus Village

Other activities nearby, like livestock grazing, logging, off-road vehicles

Buildings/structures that could be damaged, fragile wildlife, archeological issues, private lands embedded in public land.

Beyond the site: nearby hospitals, local farmers markets, cheap gasoline, closest grocer, etc. Just notice and remember things and be ready to share what you have seen.