Gather Site Info

How-To-Boss Home • Getting Started • Boss's Role • Meal Bosses • Other Sub-Bosses • Shopping • Sites

This is a collection of information about suitable sites in the Pacific Northwest region. Some are just proposed possibilities. Others are places where we've actually held the Gather in the past, and include observations and collected information that may be helpful to prospective Bosses.

Camp Wooten, WA

A nice remote camp in southeastern Washington which we have scouted out but never yet used. Roughly 15-20 miles SSW of Pomeroy, WA. Some good gravel roads. Very nice commercial kitchen with indoor seating for 100+, kitchen utensils, plates, silverware, coffee makers, etc. Lots of recreational stuff, including an olympic pool (we'd need a lifeguard), a pond with canoes, a river, an archery range, etc. It is often closed in August due to fires, so we haven't used it yet.

Crescent Lake, OR

Popular, well-located site near Crater Lake. Home to Gathers in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003. Friendly and tolerant camp hosts have been the rule. Lots of space; good facilities for campfires. Good central eating/gathering shelter with electricity. Cold water at a "hydrant" only. Men's and Women's restrooms with two stalls each. There are also two almost completely unused pit toilets about a half mile from the campground. Cell phone service is covered for most phones; pretty good signal.
Site rental cost has been approximately $1000, not including Porta-Potties or ice.

Crescent books 360 days in advance of the Sunday before the weekend you want it. The booking process is complicated and inconvenient, requiring us to book "the site" as 4 separate areas. Consult the Finance Minister for details on the arcane formulae and necessary incantations.
Crescent Lake's rated capacity is about 100 people. We have been experiencing attendance around 175 in this location, because of its proximity to everybody and excellent roads in the vicinity. We're nearing capacity even with the porta-potties. There might come a time when an attendence cap is necessary at Cresent. We're hoping that our little secret (gather) remains obscure and we don't exceed the goodwill of the USFS.
Two shower rooms with one showerhead each, leading to some long lines in the morning. However, we have not yet experienced continuous crowding for the showers - afternoons and especially evenings tend to be walk-in, no waiting. There are also unlimited hot showers at nearby facilities. Figure over a day you could sneak in ten or fifteen visitors, It'd have to be an _awfully_ nice motel not to be worth the shower deprived getting together on a room. Crescent Lake has excellent nearby facilities.
Porta-Potties, now necessary at Crescent, significantly increase site costs and require the "blessing" of the governing authority (USFS). The Porta-Pottie vendor requires acknowledgment from USFS before delivery. While this was successfully accomplished at our last visit, it doesn't guarantee future success. This communication between USFS and the BOSS draws attention to our "over-use" situation.
Porta-potty cost has been about $200.
We have hired catered meals in the past at Crescent. This is now viewed as undesirable. Way too much stress when he didn't fulfill his side of the deal. Plus, cooking with friends is fun! It becomes clear when hiring a caterer that the real value is in the people who participate. We should work to enhance that portion of the gather for all.
We should consider renting or purchaseing refrigeration capacity for use at Crescent Lake. Trade show and other industries have rental refrigerators available. Ice chests are a big hassle for the number of people involved, especially with ambitious MealBosses.
Ice cost has run from $100 to $150 per day.
We had some unfortunate problems in 2000 with belongings being stolen, probably by people walking through camp from the beach trail or unmonitored drive-ups. A proposed solution involves closing the B & C loops to only bike traffic (once the rvs are in), and using wristbands. No band, no beer/food/wandering freely among the bikes.
Any plan for using water from a hose at Crescent Lake is problematic. The frostproof faucets have a female pipe-thread fitting, which isn't compatible with hooking up any ordinary "garden" hose - they need to connect to a male hose-thread connection. The bathhouse has a hose-bib with a "tamper-proof" valve handle that can be tampered with a small combination wrench and a scewdriver. In 2003, the "anti-tamper" handle which was nowhere to be had after requests to the camp "hosts". FWIW, that hose-bib HAD a male-male pipe-thread-to-hose-thread adapter installed, but it is the WRONG SIZE pipe-thread fitting for the frostproofs.

Daroga State Park, WA

A river-side site on the Columbia river in Central WA, used once in 2004. Good cooking, power and shower facilities. Alcohol policy is difficult.

Eagle Lake, CA

A nice site in northwestern California, used in 2007 and 2011. Fairly primitive cooking and power facilities. Showers available for coins at the marina about a mile away. Nice weather, but cold at night due to the 5,000' plus elevation.

Kaner Flats Group Camp, WA

Very nice - though "primitive" - site near Mt. Rainier. Home to the Gathers in 1994 and 1995. Lots of folks have fond memories of this group site. It's a camping site - lots of room for tents. No RV space. No electricity or showers or running water. Three (total) pit toilets.

Maryhill State Park, WA

On the WA side of the Columbia River, about in the middle of the WA/OR border. Used in 2008 and again in 2010. Good cooking and power facilities. Showers available for coins onsite. Hot during the day, often quite windy. Draconian policy re: alcohol. We have rented Maryhill Loop Rd nearby several times for our own "track day".

Republic Fairgrounds, WA

Not designed for tenting. Plenty of space, but no shade. No formal RV spaces (no hook-ups), but plenty of room. Renting gave us the use of the snackbar-type kitchen shack, which had commercial grills, but that's about it for cooking/kitchen facilities.

Swiftwater RV Park, ID

A small RV park which we rented for the 2012 Gather, on the Salmon River near the tiny town of White Bird, ID. Film at 11...

Three Meadows Group Camp, Dworshak State Park, ID

Deluxe (and expensive!) site with bunkhouse cabins, multiple restroom and shower houses, and a huge central "lodge" with dining hall and amazing commercial-quality kitchen.
Site rental cost has ranged from $2000 to $2800

Dworshak begins processing reservations on October 1 (I think) by opening the mail and procesing all paperwork received up to that point. Priority for any particular date is first-received, first-priority.
Negotiate for a reduction in the per-night per-tent camping fee. In 2001, they offered and gave us a rate of $7/tent/night. This accounts for most of the wide disparity in site rental cost noted above.
Cleanup, cleanup, cleanup! The beautiful kitchen is a blessing and a curse. Anything fried makes a big mess. Full cleanup, including ovens, grease traps, and floor is required after each meal. Boss needs to remind MealBosses repeatedly to attend to cleanup properly, not leave a mess for the next meal or for the Camp Hosts.
The ~5 miles of gravel road before the grade into the main park entrance is always going to be paved by "next year". There's no practical way to predict it; phone the Rangers and ask about it 2 weeks before the Gather date.
The ~3 miles of 1-lane twisty gravel road inside the park to get to Three Meadows is never going to be paved.
No cell phone coverage. People will see 1 or 2 "bars" of signal strength, but no one has ever completed a cell call from there. Make sure you have an understanding with the Camp Host and Rangers about when and if and how we can use their radios or phones to communicate with the outside world, this will vary with personalities and people from year to year.

Trinity Lake, CA

Site of the 1999 Gather.