Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Prineville, Ore.

One look at this year's Rainbow Gathering and even the crustiest skeptic
will agree that the '60s didn't die in 1970.

It's all here: the tiedyed clothes, the reek of patchouli and pot, the
body paint, the mud wallows, the shouts of ``peace'' and ``love,'' the
mongrel dogs with bandannas around their necks, the blissed out smiles,
the drug ODs, the dysentery and the macrobiotic grub.

No wonder it looks like so much fun.

A city of tepees, backpacking tents and log leantos is rising here on this
sub alpine meadow in the middle of the Ochoco National Forest. It is
expected to reach a peak population of 20,000 citizens in the next couple
of days.

This is the annual gathering of the Rainbow Family a looseknit
confederation of aging relics from the '60s, young neohippies and
unorthodox religious adherents ranging from the Hare Krishnas to
treeworshipping pagans. The event runs until July 10.

SPECIAL POIGNANCY

The gathering is invested with special poignancy for participants, falling
on the 30th anniversary of San Francisco's Summer of Love generally
regarded as the period when the counterculture really took off.

The first Rainbow Gathering was held in 1972 in Colorado. Since then, the
family has staged celebrations each year in national forests.

For the past several years, gathering sites have been in the South or East.
That has kept West Coast members from attending in force.

``For some reason, western brothers and sisters don't like to travel east,
but eastern brothers and sisters love going west,'' said one participant as
he tested various rhythms on a drum.

The Rainbow Family is ecumenical in its approach. Criteria for membership
are minimal.

``All that's required is a belly button,'' said one Rainbow ``brother.''

HORROR OF `BABYLON'

It also helps, of course, if you esteem marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms
and express a horror of ``Babylon'' the outside world of 40hour
workweeks, strip malls and food products derived from animals.

News of the events is disseminated by wordofmouth and in the past
couple of years, on the Internet.

``Just think of this as a finishing school for hippies,'' said Tim
Freebird, a Rainbow veteran from Arkansas who serves as a liaison between
the family and outsiders.

Freebird, a tall, rawboned man with a craggy face and bristling beard,
said that Babylon persists in its efforts to derail Rainbow gatherings.

``The Forest Service has been trying to stop us for years, though there's
not much they can do when 10,000 people decide to show up someplace,'' he
said. ``And we've been hassled pretty bad by the cops at times,
particularly in New Mexico and Florida.''

About 35 miles away in Prineville, locals seem more bemused than frightened
by the hordes of Rainbow members trooping through town on their way to the
gathering.

``Other than being dirty and stinky, I guess they're not too bad,'' drawled
Ron Loyd, manager of the Prineville Pizza Hut.

``We had a few problems,'' said Loyd. ``Nine of them came in here and tried
to feed everybody off two allyoucan eat salad bar dinners. And some other
guys were bathing in my restroom sink. I had to put a stop to that.''

Oregon State Police and Forest Service special agents are monitoring the
event.

``It's been pretty quiet for us,'' said state police captain Dennis
Dougherty. ``Nothing in the way of major incidents.''

REMOTE SITE

Pulling off a successful gathering is hardly a cinch. Everything from food
to tepees has to be hauled to this remote site, which is only partly
accessible by road.

Many of the younger hangerson who come to scarf free food, smoke free dope
and sit naked in the sun strumming their guitars are nonplussed when they
find themselves drafted for hard labor such as splitting firewood and
digging slit latrines.

``They find out pretty quick that participating in the crucial work of the
gathering is what it's all about,'' said Thumper, the prime mover behind
Morningstar, one of the many kitchens set up around the site.

The kitchens are the focal points of the gathering. They churn out an
impressive quantity of vegetarian pizzas, beans, soup, fried rice and fruit
cobblers, all cooked on stoves built on the spot with dirt, rocks,
55gallon drums and other found materials. The food isn't exactly
superabundant mealtimes are fairly fixed, and a lot of people wander
around looking holloweyed and hungry. Still, everybody gets fed.

``This is what I was born to do,'' said Thumper, as he supervised a crew
sawing firewood with a formidably sharp crosscut whipsaw. ``Ten years ago,
I was a civil engineer with a suit and tie and a livein girlfriend. I was
dying of boredom. So one day I quit it all and never looked back. I have my
bus, my friends and about $5,000 a year from some investments. That's all I
need.''

Covered head to toe with a thin layer of meadow loam, Thumper freely
admitted that life as a Rainbow road warrior can be tough.

``Let's face it, sometimes it sucks,'' he said. ``I like a shower every
day. Right now, that's not possible. But I'm an engineer. I'll have
something rigged up that will give me a hot shower before the gathering
ends.''

TENT CITY STRATIFICATION

While Rainbow members are extremely cordial to each other, they still
stratify when it comes to pitching tents. Hardcore street alcoholics have
their own camp, as do gays, Hare Krishnas and various regional clans.
Teenagers cluster in the appropriately named Barbarian Camp.

The most meticulously maintained camp is Kid's Village, where families with
young children camp. The kids kitchen serves the best and most plenteous
food, and the hygienic standards are of the highest order. A wide meadow is
reserved for the use by youngsters, where they romp under the watchful eyes
of monitors.

Of course, conflict occurs in even the most loving of families. One woman
took umbrage when her friend's dog defecated in her ``power circle'' a
consecrated spot believed by some to harness the beneficent energy of
Mother Earth.

``Bunny,'' she carped to her friend, who was wandering nearby looking at
the wildflowers, ``My circle is desecrated. You've got to clean it up.''

Bunny, focusing resolutely on the blooms, seemed disinclined to undertake
such a task. Grumbling, the woman marched off to find a place for a new
power circle.

HIGH POINT

The high point of the gathering occurs at noon today, when members will
hold hands in a huge circle around the site's central meadow and chant
`Om.' Family members believe such rituals help heal the pollutionravaged
earth.

After that comes more dancing and drumbeating and cleanup. Family
members pride themselves on leaving their sites in immaculate condition.

``The ovens will be torn down, the meadows will be reseeded

you won't find a single cigarette butt lying around,'' said Freebird.

Everyone will then return with varying degrees of reluctance to their old
lives.

``Dude, the only thing I miss about Babylon is the movies,'' said one kid
to his friend as they smoked a fat joint. ``I'm going to watch a lot of 'em
when I get back down there.''

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