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Rainbowers
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
lineman21 25-Aug-11
Aspen Ghost 25-Aug-11
dh 25-Aug-11
mrelite 25-Aug-11
lineman21 25-Aug-11
TD 25-Aug-11
SBH 25-Aug-11
NUMB 25-Aug-11
Idabowman 25-Aug-11
lineman21 25-Aug-11
Flincher 25-Aug-11
Jeremiah 25-Aug-11
Big D 26-Aug-11
Flincher 26-Aug-11
arctichill 26-Aug-11
IDWapiti 26-Aug-11
arctichill 26-Aug-11
Mauifire 26-Aug-11
boothill 26-Aug-11
Dreaming Big 26-Aug-11
Flincher 26-Aug-11
heartshot 26-Aug-11
lareva 26-Aug-11
IDWapiti 26-Aug-11
NM_alazan 26-Aug-11
The Old Sarge 26-Aug-11
T43 26-Aug-11
Chip T. 26-Aug-11
Brotsky 26-Aug-11
Hot Rod 26-Aug-11
trkytrack 26-Aug-11
johnny 26-Aug-11
>>>---WW----> 26-Aug-11
hunting1 27-Aug-11
blg 27-Aug-11
Hogleg 28-Aug-11
Adventurewriter 28-Aug-11
From: lineman21
25-Aug-11
I have heard that a large group of these scum bags have set up camp in the unit we are on our way to. Does anyone have any experience around these people? Should we worry about things getting stolen? I have heard there could be up to 600 of them in our area. I just hope they don't cause us problems while we are hunting.

From: Aspen Ghost
25-Aug-11
I've never even heard of them. What unit and what state are they suppose to be in?

From: dh
25-Aug-11
what or who is rainbower? Scum bags I would concerned about.

From: mrelite
25-Aug-11
It's bad news!!! It was a circus in the Jemez mountains 2 or 3 years ago, they were everywhere and trampled the crap out of a whole 8 mile long canyon. Weird people were driving around all over the place, there is no way I would park anywhere remotely close to them.

From: lineman21
25-Aug-11
Hardcore hippies. I have heard from 2 people that they are making a temp coloney in unit 62 in colorado. They are big time tree hugging, naturalists. I have heard they can have sticky fingers. Just wondering if anyone has any first hand knowledge of these turds.

From: TD
25-Aug-11
I thought you were talking about my bow's trajectory....

Not sure who/what they are? Hippies? Granola crunchers? Burning Man rejects? Neked fuzzy girls?

From: SBH
25-Aug-11
Avoid them at all cost. The had a "gathering" in MT a few years back.....from what I read in the paper you would not want anything to do with these folks. They just showed up and partied in the woods, left all kinds of trash, and required tons of police to be up there. Scum and Turds? Yes that would be correct. Sorry to hear they are in your unit, that is ridiculous that they are allowed to do that.

From: NUMB
25-Aug-11
We had some in Southern IL a few years back and we was riding horses. We had some things stolen out of the back of the pickup. And yes some of them (both guys and gals) will walk around in broad daylight stark naked. Dont leave anything out that you want to keep

From: Idabowman
25-Aug-11
Hey lineman, If you run into any of them, just mention something about a new smoke shop in Denver, that is offering 50%off all water bongs, and giving out free granola and hash brownies. LOL It sucks that you cannot go into the woods every day with the peace of mind, your stuff will not be messed with....good luck to you. Maybe a big snow storm will blow in for a day or two and drive them all out, that will at least cure the nekedness.

From: lineman21
25-Aug-11
I just hope they aren't in our general area.

From: Flincher
25-Aug-11
As I posted on another thread, I was told today by my friends in the Forest Service that they are expecting a group of Rainbows to be camping this weekend and for an unknown length of time afterward in Unit 62 in Colorado west of Delta and Montrose in area on or near the Cottonwood Road. This roads takes off from the Delta/Nucla (25 Mesa) Road within a half mile of the Forest boundary. It is rumored that this is a small scouting party of up to 400 people looking for a potential campsite for their annual gathering in 2012 that numbers a couple of thousand. The majority of them are scum. They will steal anything not bolted or chained down. They had their big gathering east of Delta about 12+ years ago at Overland Reservoir. It was a sight to behold.

From: Jeremiah
25-Aug-11
Anyone know where to get a bunch of used arrows and some rubber thumper heads! Might be time to go hide in the bushes near a fully loaded hunting rig and see what the colors of the rainbow look like with some well places thumpers in their backsides!

From: Big D
26-Aug-11
We've run into them twice. Once in Washington,..The local law asked that non rainbowers leave the ar4a. They claim they clean up after themselves. Washington state the Forest Services came in with front end loaders pushed trash in poles and burned it. We camped a number of weeks on both ends of their celebration, in Utah Not really a problem but heavy traffic on the roads,.. follow the trails of broken down cars.. Big piles of trash, tarps, plastic, pallets

Consider yourself luck only 600 are expected,.. Utah about 3000 showed

From: Flincher
26-Aug-11
Oops, I was wrong on the annual gathering place and number of people. According to their website the Rainbows are heading to the southeast US for 2012 (Kentucky or Tennesse or Georgia or North Carolina) and not western Colorado. I was way wrong on the number of people. There are from 5,000 to 30,000 Rainbows at an annual gathering. Just Google "Rainbow Gathering" and you will find lots of information.

From: arctichill
26-Aug-11
They've gathered in NM at least twice that I know of. That was two more times than they were welcome as far as I'm concerned. I'm not opposed to people being hippies or being naked or being pot-heads or whatever else they want to be. In fact, I could care less what someone else does with themselves. To each his/her own as far as I'm concerned....

BUT, when those people trample, degrade, destroy and litter on my public lands they become criminals...and my opinion of them and their activities quickly changes. Furthermore, their gatherings typically require a HUGE investment of tax-payer dollars in the form of police and forest service etc. to keep things under control.

From: IDWapiti
26-Aug-11
Substitute "Hunters" for "Rainbows" in some of these ignorant posts then think about how often those of us that live the outdoor lifestyle responsibly b#*ch when others generalize about gun-totin, arrow-slingin', atv-drivin' wildlife-destroying yahoos. We CAN'T WAIT to stereotype people. No wonder why our society is so polarized.

From: arctichill
26-Aug-11
IDWapiti,

Some people who would call themselves "hunters" are also criminals in my book. Gun-totin, arrow-slingin and atv-drivin are all just fine with me.

Wildlife destroying is fine also, when done ethically and within the confines of the law. I have destroyed my share of wildlife over the years. I also hope to "destroy" a nice muley buck next month.

When hunters break the law though, (illegal use of ATV's, illegal use of guns or bows, destroying wildlife outside the confines of the law, stealing property from others etc.) then those individuals forefeit their title of hunters and become criminals...no better than Rainbows or anybody else who engages in such activity. The key here is to address the activity and not the individual.

I have no issue with Rainbow people (in fact, I generously gave one hitch-hiking Rainbow a 200+ mile lift not too long ago). I do have an issue with Rainbow people who believe that their strength in numbers (tens of thousands at most gatherings)overrides their accountability for the law. It was interesting to see how different the behavior was with a single individual, opposed to when they are surrounded by the whole clan. It actually reminded me of the behavioral tendencies of an inner-city gang member.

PS - For the record, I likely would not have "picked-up" an individual appearing to be an inner-city gang member simply because I get extremely annoyed with the way most talk and I can't tolerate their choice of road-trip music...how's that for a bona-fide stereotype??

From: Mauifire
26-Aug-11
TD, I opened the thread because I thought rainbowers were referring to us Hawaii guys.

From: boothill
26-Aug-11
Pat have you ever had a star taken away? That was a good one though. I think you are referring to the Rainbow Coalition aren't you. Some west coast folks bought an old hotel in Meade,KS some years ago and flew the rainbow flag out front. That little town ran them off pretty quick.

From: Dreaming Big
26-Aug-11
Late night tent tipping fun! They ruined an area in Washington St. this summer. How the forest service lets them do what they do is beyond me. It is 1000x the damage that an outfitter camp causes and they get no flack.

From: Flincher
26-Aug-11
They get away with their destruction with their huge gatherings because no one claims leadership. Thus no special use permits can be issued or more importantly denied thus all the FS can do is write as many tickets as they can for whatever they can find wrong.

From: heartshot
26-Aug-11
yeah, no leadership like "tribal" man........

From: lareva
26-Aug-11
Had personal experience with them while I was a CO in Missouri. They are the masters of confusion and refuse to obey any laws they don't approve of. They are something else to deal with. Lineman21 is right on with his evaluation. lareva

From: IDWapiti
26-Aug-11
Arctic - YES - you said it much better than I. Illegal behavior IS the root of the issue, not an individual's disposition or how they choose to spend their time in the woods.

From: NM_alazan
26-Aug-11
When they were here in NM two years ago in our hunting unit, I was worried they were going to scare all the elk out of the entire unit. That was not the case, but there was a heck of alot of vehicle traffic througout the summer, and they started moving into the area two months before the event and it took until the first freeze before most were gone.

Other than that, no real problems that I had personally (though I certainly was not super excited to hear they were moving in to our area).

If on forest land, they typically are required to have a permit from the FS which will include beefed up law enforcement, but also a mitigation/rehabilitation plan for restoring the area after they leave (for the larger events anyway, don't know what the threshold is). They certainly impact the land they camp on, but at least for the event here in NM, about 50 to 100 of them stayed behind for several months to rehabilitate the area (the improvements of which had to be approved by the FS prior to them releasing the permit).

Oh yeah, be prepared to hear bongos to all hours of the night. No joke. Also, try to avoid getting downwind of the camps!

26-Aug-11
The last time the Rainbow people were in Idaho for a gatering (2001), they squatted on Boise National Forest land around Idaho City (Boise County). They were spread all over God's creation and could be found almost anywhere over a few hundred square miles, but the vast majority were in or just outside Idaho City.

Local merchants had lots of problems with shoplifting and people tying up restrooms, etc. Many would gas up their vehicles at the self-serv pumps and then take off without paying. Many businesses put up signs saying no more than one Rainbow could be inside at one time.

My only personal experience with them was limited the small groups out on "nature walks" on FS roads, often miles from nowhere. They'd stop you like they needed a ride then ask you for money. If you offered the ride but refused the cash, they'd turn down the ride and wait for the next "sucker".

There were the usual reports of the massive cleanup operation after they finally cleared out. Everything from broke down cars to abandoned "tents" to large piles of human feces in and around public camp grounds.

If they never come here again, it'll be too damn soon.

The Old Sarge

From: T43
26-Aug-11
I had the misfortune of having to deal with them when they had their annual gathering in the sawtooths a few years ago. Picture a guy in a wheel chair claiming to be a veteran wearing a cast begging for money. When he got what he figured he needed he took off the cast and walked into the store he was begging in front of. Then there were his friends, two guys and a girl. They would walk into a store the girl would take her to off and start dancing and singing while the two guys would fill their coats. Multiply that by a few hundred and you get the idea. I didn't have to go into where they camped but the aftermath is what has been described, piles of trash, trampled meadows etc.

From: Chip T.
26-Aug-11
Just did a quick Google search...talk about garbage!!

From: Brotsky
26-Aug-11

Brotsky's Link
If you want some funny propaganda, read this little tid-bit they did about how they clean up after themselves. Anyone else notice anything interesting about the pictures?

From: Hot Rod
26-Aug-11
These people come to Alegeny National Forest. Here in NW Pa. I wouldn't trust them for a minute. they leave tons of trash behind....

From: trkytrack
26-Aug-11
The only run-in I ever had with them was back in the late eighties. The held their gathering during Colorado's September bow season in the Roosevelt Nation Forest in the Long Draw area off of Hwy. 14. Thousands of them camped in one large area. Cars parked everywhere; traffic non-stop, day and night. Noise all night long. They were there for about two weeks and totally destroyed the entire area and then left. They chopped down hundreds of trees for firewood. Junk cars; tents; trash; human waste; you name it left behind. Real scumbags. All the elk went back into Rocky Mountain NP and stayed there. Worst elk season I ever had.

From: johnny
26-Aug-11
im wierd

26-Aug-11
I heard a rumor once that the FS had to dump a load of fire retardent on them to get them to move out of one area.

They are not the type of people you would want to be around. Stay clear of them.

From: hunting1
27-Aug-11
They were all over in NM 2-years ago and were begging, stinky, dirty slobs laying around the McDonalds parking lot in Cuba. They were littering all over the NF in that area. These are the same poor soles who needed free health care I bet.

From: blg
27-Aug-11
I had a home in southern oregon for a while and on the land next to me these types would have what they called a barter fair every year.

This was the grubbiest bunch of pot heads you could imagine. The drug use was rampant, they strayed on to everyones property and were basically a nucence to all the locals.

I had an irrigation pond directly in front of the house with a patio and diving board for the kids. I came out one evening after hearing splashing and found half a dozen naked hippies in our pond.

They told me to be cool man they only needed to take a dip and they would be gone.I let the dogs out and only wish I would of been able to video the bare asses with 3 barking dogs in tow running across the pasture.

From: Hogleg
28-Aug-11
They had their gathering near me in CO a few years back and it was a mess. There were a few thousand of them and they absolutey trashed the woods. I'm sure they're not all bad but they caused a lot of problems with shoplifting, begging, stealing food at the supermarket, etc.

If I were you I would avoid them at any cost and keep you stuff locked up real good. They're a bunch of scambag thieves operating under the guise of peace/love/happiness. You're lucky it's only 600 of them.

28-Aug-11
They taste like chicken

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