MutantFest Location

Posted to the mailing list:

Hey folks: greenjon here. Let me say first that I just got into town, and I didn't read all the emails about sites. I might but have not yet. If someone already found a dope ass site then great! we have two! So then, instead of going to a ten day meditation thingy, I went to scout in Gilford Pinchot NF in Washington. Let's get oriented (these are not "directions": Going North on the 5 from Portland about 68 miles, one comes to 12 East. Going East on 12 for about 50 miles, one comes to the delightful town of Randle. Randle is kool cuz it's the HQ for the local part of Gilford Pinchot NF. THey got pie, too, and you can smoke inside. They even have "DSL" at the biblioteque... Anyway, from Randle you can enter the Forest and jump on the 23. About 40 miles later you take a little road a mile off the road. This splits at a T. One end of the T ends at The Gravel Pit and the other does not : ) The Gravel Pit is about the largest I have seen; they quarries purpley rock there. There are a few piles of gravel left behind (big ones), and between the size and the existing piles I can easily see 3 soundsystems sharing it (SPAZ/5lower/Oly?). The other part of the T goes a short way and then splits in FOUR! Counterclockwise, these (very short) spurs goto: 1): a cul-de-sac with trees in the middle; difficult to picture a full camp here but Droid or Tea Camp might work. 2)a trail that goes about 1 mile down to a big ass lake (more on the lake follows). 3) a proper clearing. 4) steeply up to a little spot (droid or tea camp?). The path down to the Lake is about a mile, and has one very large meadow off of it. Unless people wanted to hike serious gear, this is not a sound system spot but it'd be fun camping and perhaps a good circus spot. Other camping is not totally obvious, as this is heavily forested, but I think there will be enough camping (I didn't bush whack/explore the woods as much as freaks with tents will...). The Lake is BIG (not as big as some in washington, but big). There is free camping there, and a parking lot, and the spur road it is on also connects with the 23. There is plentiful parking on this road. okay then, the cafe I'm in is closingl, just turned out the lights, so I gotta run. If people are still scouting, power to you, and if you turn up a site that can top a Mt. Adams view and a big lake (etc), then do get the word out and we can decide what to do. I may scout a little more, or not, but I think a good time will be had at the spot down 23. greenjon 510-384-5096.

I’m happy. Randle appears to be roughly 3 hours south of me and weather.com’s 10 day forecast puts it in the low to mid 80F. Plus, there’s trees and a lake, which is a nice improvement over PhoenixFest.