Join us April 17–19 in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Dear friends,

We haven’t really shared this here yet. Until now, Everywhen in the Woods has mostly lived on our social channels, in planning conversations, and in that feeling we’ve been carrying around as this thing starts to come alive. So let this be your first real invitation.

On April 17–19, we’re gathering at Camp Loma in the Santa Cruz Mountains for Everywhen in the Woods: a three-day forest camping weekend of music, art, workshops, shared meals, tall tales, and connection beneath the redwoods.

After last summer’s Everywhen in the Black Rock Desert, I found myself sitting with the team and reflecting on the road that got us here, from our earliest campout in 2017 to now. It’s been a great adventure—full of growth, challenges, and the formation of a community that includes some of my very best friends.

One of the most exciting things you can do with your friends is travel together. Go somewhere new together. Build memories together. We’ve done that. We’ve had our Mojave adventures. We’ve held winter retreats in Gerlach around Lunar New Year for years now. And for a long time, there’s been an itch I’ve wanted to scratch: bringing the Everywhen into the woods.

You see, the adventures of this project didn’t begin as a festival. They began as an art project—a way of bringing temples and sacred spaces to gatherings around us. Over time, those builds grew into larger installations, deeper collaborations, and eventually the world we now call the Everywhen. Our temple has been blessed to touch the ocean, the grasses of fairgrounds, the sands of the Mojave, and the playa of the Black Rock Desert—but never the calm of the redwoods.

A tower from the Water Temple in the Pacific Ocean; Monterey Bay, California 2019

Constellation City, Black Rock Desert, 2025: After honoring the passing of our late volunteer coordinator, Sera Storm, we asked ourselves where else could we find the Everywhen?

That’s part of why this feels so special to me.

Recently, we’ve been spending time at the venue, walking the land and getting ready for April. The thing that stays with me is the feeling of the place. The redwoods quiet you. The air changes you. There is water moving through that landscape, and very quickly you remember that you are part of something alive. Camp Loma is up on Highland Way, close to Soquel Creek and its headwaters, and being up there makes the whole invitation feel different—less like a production, more like a field trip with friends into a beautiful biome.

That is really the intent of this grand adventure: to be with and connect with nature.

At its core, I want this weekend to help us build community, nourish the spirit, tell tall tales, leave no trace, and do no harm. That is the goal. To forest bathe. To retreat. To take workshops. Learn how to play the didgeridoo. Dance to some really cool and groovy music. Cool your feet in the fresh water. Have great food. Camp under the stars. Wake up to the morning air. Go for a hike in the woods. Meditate. Sit in ceremony. Drink cacao. And maybe, for a little while, remember what it feels like to step out of the digital world and fully into the present.

And more importantly, to connect with the artist friends we’ve made over the years—and to make new artist friends too. To support them by bringing their works into the majestic woods of the Santa Cruz Mountains. We’re bringing music from Evan Hatfield, Agua Mayyim, Beat Kitty, King Kairos, Avira Pearl, Loveland, Presencia, Vena, and more; installations like Dream • Fold • Fly, DynaMandala, Sculpture Garden, and Sphinxian Riddle Gate; and workshops and guided offerings like Samira Sound Ceremony, Shinrin-yoku, Nature’s Mandala, a didgeridoo workshop, and cacao ceremony.

Saturday night, we’ll gather for the Soirée—one of my favorite Everywhen traditions. We dress from any time “when” we choose, share a feast, and make a beautiful moment together with music, storytelling, candlelight, and genuine human connection beneath the trees.

We’ve been working on bringing Everywhen in the Woods to life since last summer. And whenever I talk to anyone about it, the response is basically the same: “Hell yes. That’s exciting. Count me in.”

So this is your invitation.

Join us April 17–19 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Come breathe in that morning forest air. Come be grounded by the trees and the creek. Come be still long enough to capture a moment and really embrace it.

For life is only a series of moments, and this feels like one of those moments in the Santa Cruz Mountains where we get to be together and celebrate life.

To take a break from the digital world. To form a temporal community with the purpose of bonding, connecting, and lifting each other up.

To make new friends. To strengthen old friendships. To leave with more stories to tell.

Your weekend pass includes camping, shared meals, the Saturday night Dinner Soirée, and on-site amenities like hot showers, lockers, and flushing toilets—so yes, it is a campout, but it is also a very welcoming and luxurious one.

And because you’re on this mailing list, I wanted to offer you a personal invitation:

Use code WOODS15 for 15% off your Weekend Pass.

I’d love to see you there.

Until we see each other again in the Everywhen,
Mathew (aka Bureaucracy)