The quest

At a gathering called "Dunlun Village," Michael Hunter, a Seattle drummer, was leading a group of about a dozen men and women in elaborate dance steps from Guinea, western Africa. Beneath a green canopy, five men were drumming on large bass drums that lay horizontally on the ground and smaller drums they carried on slings.

"I love this music," Hunter said. He feels that, just as a poem is not full until it is read and heard, the music isn't complete until it has dancing.

"I was teaching only because I suck the least," he said. This particular dance is a ceremony to give the young men of a village prowess.

The dancing is a good way to "focus your energy, ground yourself into your body. . . . Above all, this is fun."

Next to "Krishna Village" is "Jesus Village," a collection of tents and a homegrown kitchen, with free Bibles and "free prayers."

"You've got a different culture of people," said "Jeremiah," who came from Hendersonville, N.C., to provide Christian ministry to anyone who would listen. "Maybe almost like a third-generation kind of hippie culture."

Resting under trees beside his tent, he said many of the Rainbow people "seem to be on a quest to find something that satisfies them . . . (in) many different varieties, forms and fashions."

Most "want to be like a loving group of people that, you know, show much more kindness and brotherhood than we see in our modern society. That's pretty commendable."

Drugs are how they are trying to find it, sometimes. But those are "empty holes," he said. His objective is to love and understand people and value them as humans.

Wayne, who came from Minneapolis to work in the camp's Jesus Kitchen, noted this is the ninth year for his group to attend the gathering.

"We cook everything here and feed people all day long and have a worship and community service at night," he said.

In the background, drumming and Hare Krishna chants wafted through the mountain air.

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