Spring Council

Updated June 18 @ 5:30 PM  California Time 

Spring Council is over.  Click here for directions to the gathering.

A sister has passed on at spring council. Awaiting positive identification, but information indicates  she died at spring council in the nighttime of what they think was a heart attack

Spring Council is when all potential sites for the gathering are brought to any people who want to be involved in selecting a site. The council usually takes one to seven days and normally ends with either a consensus by silence among people at the council or an exodus of the majority of people heading to the preferred site. The council starts Saturday, June 14 @ rainbow noon.

Anyone who is planning on heading to spring council or to the gathering on or before the solstice should be prepared for snow. In 2003 in Utah, the night of the solstice it started snowing and did so for 3 days. Beautiful and magical but not fun for the folks who don't have the gear or don't know how to pitch a tent to it doesn't suffer snow related collapse. TIP: don't put your tent under a branch that will pile up with snow and at some point come crashing down on your tent. String a tarp at a steep diagonal so the snow slides off the tarp and away from your tent.

~~~ DIRECTIONS  ~~~

N 40.35783 W 111.13902  Coordinates for spring council/counsel!

Directions to spring council/counsel:

Uinta National Forest – All roads are of good quality, wide and gravel but very busy - BE AWARE. There are many other recreational users such as trucks pulling heavy trailers, many off road vehicles and local traffic.  The gravel roads are very, very DUSTY making visibility difficult.  Please be safe, take it slow, watch for traffic and wildlife. 

From Heber City, Utah via Route 40 and Center Street/Lake Creek Road:

Head east at intersection of Main St. (State Road 40) and Center Street/Lake Creek Road. Travel east for 15 miles on a paved road until you reach the Uinta Forest Service boundary.  At the FS boundary, the road turns to gravel and becomes Forest Service Road 083 (FS 83).  Follow FS 83 about 5 miles to an intersection (the T) where FS 83 and FS 54 meet.  Stay on FS 83 (bear right) and go approx. 8 miles (LOOK FOR ROCKS!!) to a sharp right hand turn into the council/counsel location.  This unnumbered road is short and the first bit is rocky. (If you come to the intersection of FS 82 and FS 83, you have gone too far, go back six tenths of a mile.) Welcome to Spring Council/Counsel!

From Salt Lake City via Interstate 80 and State Road 32 (Kamas, UT) and State Road 35 (Hanna, UT) – less congestion:

Route 35 comes in from the north and is good for drivers that don‘t need to shop and want to avoid traffic.  

From 80: Head towards Kamas on SR 32.  Pick up SR 35 in Frances, UT and go about 14 miles on SR 35 East. Look for Forest Service Road 054 (FS 54) on the right towards Mill Hollow Reservoir. This gravel road around the reservoir and campground can be congested and dusty.  Drive about 10.5 miles to the intersection of FS 54 and FS 83, bear left onto FS 83 continue on FS 83 and go approx. 8 miles (LOOK FOR ROCKS!!) to a sharp right hand turn into the council/counsel location.  This unnumbered road is short and the first bit is rocky. (If you come to the intersection of FS 82 and FS 83, you have gone too far, go back just about six tenths of a mile.) Welcome to Spring Council/Counsel!

From Fruitland, UT (just west of Fruitland 4 miles or so) via State Road 40 -probably most congested route into gathering:

At mile marker 58 on Route 40, head north onto Currant Creek Road.  Be aware of this road, it is a sharp turn and there is often heavy traffic and it is known for wrecks. Follow Currant Creek Road through state wildlife and private land to the Uinta National Forest boundary about 8 miles where it becomes Forest Service Road 471 (FS 471).  

BE AWARE can be very dusty. Stay on FS 471 about 14 miles around the Currant Creek Reservoir but not into the campground pass by the campground fork and bear right onto FS 82.  Go up the hill to the intersection, bear right at the “T” and take a right onto FS 83; go six tenths of a miles (LOOK FOR ROCKS!) to a left hand turn. This unnumbered road is short and the first bit is rocky. Welcome to Spring Council/Counsel!

TIP!  Provo is having a marathon on June 14 - details here.

Once a decision is reached by foot or by consensus, people who are involved with Spring Council usually make the information freely available. Word of warning:  Sometimes the first set of directions and/or other information is incomplete, so check your sources  before you head out to make sure you have the "updated directions." 

If you have not already connected up with the scouting process, the time has passed to do so. But please connect up with the spring council process.

TIP!  Usually, but not always, Spring Council is within 100 miles of the best available sites.  However, I've seen it be further away.

If you plan on coming to Spring Council, be prepared for cold weather and rough conditions. Have your own methods to boil or filter water. Bring food. This is not a gathering so all the support systems normally in place won't be up until sometime during seed camp.

That being said, people generally help each other out, seeing the gathering start from nothing and turn into a small town is an amazing experience, and the friendships you make with other people can be long lasting.