The "Rainbow Gathering of Living Light" is a weeklong camp-out that's been held on federal lands around the country each year since the early 1970s. Thousands of people typically attend the events, which include music and socializing focused on the group's themes of peaceful living and caring for the earth.

Forest Service officials said scouts from the loosely organized Rainbow Family have been examining possible locations around Pinedale in recent weeks for the annual gathering.

Participants in the event maintain several "unofficial" Web sites, which say this year's gathering will be held somewhere in Wyoming in the first week of July. The group typically announces the exact location of its annual event about two weeks beforehand. A message left at a phone number listed on one of the Web sites was not returned.

Last year's annual gathering, near Fallsville, Ark., drew about 6,000 people to the Ozark National Forest.

Greg Clark, Big Piney district ranger with the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming, said agency offices around the state have recommended to the Rainbow Family possible sites that could accommodate the group's event. He said he doesn't have any word yet where in the state the event will be held.

Clark was working in Big Piney in 1994, the last time the Rainbow Family held its annual gathering in Wyoming. He said an estimated 14,000 people camped in Synder Basin that year, about 30 miles southwest of Big Piney in western Wyoming.

Clark said the group's annual gatherings can draw up to 25,000 people, but it's impossible to predict how many will attend this summer.

"The price of gas is going to affect everybody," he said. "It might have an effect."

Clark said the group didn't cause any major problems during the 1994 event.

"They were on the whole a good group. When they left, they left the area cleaner than they found it," he said.

Clark said the Forest Service intends to develop an operating plan to deal with this year's event and make sure that participants follow all federal laws.

Mary Cernicek, public affairs officer for Bridger-Teton National Forest in Jackson, said that if the event is held on the forest, the agency plans to bring in managers to oversee the operation.

Cernicek said the Rainbow Family typically holds its annual gathering around July 4th. She said that some members usually stay behind and help to restore the sites afterward.