Dragons Sphere Recreation Park
Dragons Sphere Recreation Park
Located in Randle, Washington, this 300 acre site is surrounded by the Cowlitz River, a forest, stunning mountain views, and is five miles from the nearest neighbor.
The site was first used for SCA events in May of 2006, its first event being the 40th Year Celebration.
Description
(A "keeper" posting from the Steps, Nov 2005.)
Saturday Morning I took the "direct" route to the site, or shall we say as the crow flies the shortest route. From Des Moines it was 99.3 miles, so figure + 16 from downtown Seattle. The less scenic route via I-5 to hwy 12 to the site is probably 35 more miles. Both ways take about the same amount of time, but there are rest stops on I-5. One turns off the highway onto a rural road that becomes a county gravel road, then a mostly gravel drive way. Eventually one arrives at the site, a hay farm. One wonders instantly, "how did they get the hay out?" The road is being improved and should be 100% better by next May. The site is divided into a number of fields; I believe 4 of 60 acres and perhaps 3 more that are about 40 acres each. Only a small amount of the site is wooded, 40-50 acres, but then again the Orting site is half wooded and is only 55 acres. One of the fields of 60 acres is to be left in production and the rest are to be used for re-enactment activities. The site is surrounded by trees, forest service land, probably 12-15 years from being harvested. It is sort of shaped like a mushroom with the cap pointing north. At the widest point it is slightly more than a mile east to west, and a mile north to south. The Woods that are part of the site are located to the North and to the South East. A picture can be found of the site on Google Maps, type in the "Randle-Kiona Airpark" and look east by south east about 2.5 miles, where there is an un-named air field (a dark line). Then switch from map to Satellite to see the picture. The "river" that runs from east to west on the North of the site is part of the back up of a nearby dam, and as such has no current. During the site tour we saw some people in a boat catch a salmon. The nearest neighbor is a farm to the NE, about half a mile over the river and through the woods. It seemed like a reasonable sound barrier to me. To the south is a mountain, as I said previously, forest service land with logging roads on it. The land is flat with a slight roll to the east, the highest point being at the south end that is on the base of the hill. The woods are typical of low land rain forest that can be found all over western Washington. I saw a bald eagle and a blue heron early in the morning, and evidence of coyotes. Several other people commented on seeing deer. I did not see any deer, but I did see a lot of hunters.
Of the questions that people wanted me to ask,
- A ground firing for pottery? "Yes";
- A stone or clay oven for baking bread? "Yes"
- Ground fires? "No ground fires, raised fires in metal containers only."
- Structures? "Willing to consider such on a case by case basis."
- Since this is your property are you planning to let people use it for camping/re-enactment throughout the year? "Yes, on a per person per day fee basis."
- Could I build and store a full sized trebuchet on the site? (He’ll think about it.) (I believe he was concerned about having small car carcasses hurled about).
The owner indicated that he has a contract with the local sanitation people about porta-potties, and has purchased 40 of them. Small groups would be able to use the site without worrying about having a separate contract for sanitation. He also said he has contracted for dumpsters on the site so there will be no need for groups to haul their trash off the site. Currently there is no potable water on the site, but I would be surprised if the owner did not have a couple of wells put in. The ground water table is quite high in the area.
One of my thoughts is if a small group was going to spend a weekend out in one of the fields, which are mowed with an agricultural mower, they might want to bring in a gas powered lawn mower to get a lower finer cut of the camp area a day or so before the event. If two events were using the site, one in the East field and one in the West field I doubt the two groups would be able to see or hear much of each other.
On the way home I drove the 12 to I-5 to Seattle route; it is longer drive but has rest stops.
Gordon Ellis
SCA: Gordon Redthorn