Dancing Bones Community

[Old Hillwalker]

Today I ran into a family on the trail who were from the "Dancing Bones Community" who stated that they had 115 thru hikers stay with their group last year. Any one on WB stay with them? If so, comments? I know nothing about them other than that they supposedly are an "alternative lifestyle" group located about a mile off the trail in New Hampshire.

[gromit]

A Google search brought me to this:

http://www.dancingbones.thevardo.net/

Looks interesting.

[Old Hillwalker]

They invited me to drop in. Think I will I Googled them too and found what you did. Hmmmm but dancing?

[Tha Wookie]

I wish I knew about it when I went thru. Very good looking place.

[Smile]

Looks like a very cool place to visit....

[Chickety]

A group of us stayed with them last year, very nice folks.

They have a huge platform for circle dancing, but we hit it on the wrong (or right ) night and there was no dancing to be found.

One of the community members gave us a ride to a local store, as it was a friend's birthday, we bought cake and beer to celebrate.

We were able to set up our tents on the platform, shower (in the outside showers!!), do laundry and use their community stove for cooking. They even had a little log book of the hikers who had stopped by.

It is a unique community and it was fun talking with them. The guidebook said, "meal invitations?" and I think it depends on the community member that is around when you show up.........some invite you to share their meals and others do not. We didn't go looking for a meal, we went just to check it out, the people were nice, so we stayed. (and there were no mosquitos in the wide open platform.........where as back on the trail.............YIKES.....it was almost as bad as Mass!!)

[The Solemates]

neat idea, but kinda weird to me. reminds me of the twelve tribes in VT..

[Mags]

I can smell the patouli oil from here...

Of couse, I live in Boulder and the college kids just got back from Spring break.....

[Mother's Finest]

solemates, I have never been to either the twelve tribes or the dancing bones village, but a ten second perusal of their web sites tell you they are not the same thing. twelve tribes think they have a direct line to our creator, are worried way too much about metaphysics.
Dancing bones village looks more like a sustainable community, not based on religion.
also, as mags said, I hope you can smell the patouli. You know "those kids they dance and shake their bones,and the politicians throwing stones"
big ups to the dancing bones village, I hope to stop their when I thru.
peace
mf

[Seraphim]

The community is not sustainable nor "throwing stones" . They avoid the government, and have no intention as a whole. They all want to live cheaply and ignore the larger community that they are a part of. Things are tense there, and last we heard, they weren't encouraging hikers to come. They complained that 115 hikers had come. Save your energy for trail walking and go to Glencliff where the owner is a hiker, instead of a wannabe. There are nice people at D.B. but its not a place I feel welcome. Its not an "eco-village" as they claim. They don't want any dogs there even though there is a resident dog... If you want a stereotypical commune, this isn't one. No garden, no green energy, just a bunch of normal people living in small houses leading seperate lives. Sounds great right?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

I wasn't able to open the earlier link so went googling:
http://directory.ic.org/records/?act...record_id=5934

According to their website, they welcome thru-hikers: http://users.wildblue.net/thevardo/dancingbones/

[maulotaur]

My partner and I stopped by for a visit a few days ago and would concur with your observations. The few members we encountered seemed to be uninterested in our presence for the most part. There was no dancing going on or any indication of any, but we were told that we had to remove our tent the next day because it was going to damage the grass near a dancing area. That we did not arrange an exact date to come may have been a factor. But I did email a couple weeks in advance, and called on that day to ask if it would be alright. At least the dog was nice...

The community is not sustainable nor "throwing stones" . They avoid the government, and have no intention as a whole. They all want to live cheaply and ignore the larger community that they are a part of. Things are tense there, and last we heard, they weren't encouraging hikers to come. They complained that 115 hikers had come. Save your energy for trail walking and go to Glencliff where the owner is a hiker, instead of a wannabe. There are nice people at D.B. but its not a place I feel welcome. Its not an "eco-village" as they claim. They don't want any dogs there even though there is a resident dog... If you want a stereotypical commune, this isn't one. No garden, no green energy, just a bunch of normal people living in small houses leading seperate lives. Sounds great right?