Burning Man is held in the Nevada desert on a dried lake bed. Normally it is very dusty, a fine alkaline talcum powder like dust that gets everywhere. When it rains the surface turns into a thick clay mud, which makes driving a vehicle or riding a bike impossible. The clay builds up on your feet creating large platform like shoes. So when you're told to shelter in place it is best to listen! For the rest of Friday we rested in the RV, occasionally opening the door and looking out at the rain and strong winds. We were treated to a magnificent double rainbow Friday afternoon and hoped the rain was over and the normal winds and heat would dry out the playa surface and our fun could resume.
Burning Man 2023 will be known as the Mud apocalypse which hit the international news with dire reports of 70,000 people trapped and running out of food and water. The more outrageous reports included an Ebola outbreak, an active shooter, cannibalism and anarchy. In reality the majority of people made the best of the situation, shared supplies with people who had planned to leave earlier, took care of each other and made mud sculptures. It did rain off and on for three days which prevented the playa from drying out fully until Monday. Some people walked out the six miles to the tarmac road and Burning Man had buses available to take people the 100 miles to Reno. Traffic into and out of Burning Man was officially closed since vehicles were quickly getting stuck.
Saturday we needed to get out of the RV, so we fashioned booties out of the plastic and tape we'd taken to protect the inside of the RV. We had a lovely afternoon sitting under the now rain shade and chatting with our neighbor Margot and enjoying pancakes Sara made for everyone. It was Margot's first Burn and she was part of a group of fire dancers who were going to dance at the now delayed Man burn, she was really fun to hang with. We took a walk to the porta potties and were amazed to find the pump trucks had managed to get out to service the potties. Everyone we spoke to was positive and embracing the experience, even if they were flooded out in areas of their camps.
Sunday was more of the same and we continued hanging out, reading and listening to the radio. Three emergency cell towers had been delivered in the city and some limited internet was available. We were all touched about how many people reached out to check on us. The weather resulted in some magnificent skies and sunsets and the music continued nonstop. Burning Man did an excellent job dealing with an ever-changing situation, here's an interesting update of how they were addressing the situation: Burning Man Wet Playa News. We enjoyed a short firework show Sunday night as a preview for Monday - maybe the pyrotechnics folks were getting bored and needed something to do!
The radio kept us up to date and entertained with some very funny public service announcements. The one that amused us the most was how the message about road closures changed. Starting with gate road is closed and no in or out is allowed, changing to no one is preventing you from leaving, however be aware you will likely get stuck and will impede emergency vehicle access. The final statement was if you do get stuck leaving against our advice you will be towed out last - always consequences for poor decisions.
Finally the weather cleared and the sun and wind started to dry out the playa. The Burn was back on for Monday night now that the ground was dry enough for the fire trucks to move. Although Burning Man is portrayed as a free for all there are a lot of rules and regulations needed to keep a city of 70,000 safe, one of these is fire trucks when you are setting off large explosions and fires around people!
We had always planned to stay through Monday morning, so our main disappointment had been missing three nights of exploring and seeing the art. Sara said "I'm not leaving until I see something Burn", so we agreed we would leave early Tuesday. Exodus officially started Monday afternoon, this is the term given to the official departure process and many people started to leave. We packed up camp and then prepared for the night event.
Tha Man burn is always magnificent, and this year is was particularly spectacular. The fireworks were the best we've ever seen and the overall atmosphere was festive and joyous. All the mutant vehicles circled the Man, inside people were walking around and dancing. Check out the videos in the album - the show went on for much longer than the videos!
We left at 4am Tuesday morning, it only took four hours to get from our camp to the road which isn't bad at all. There were eight lanes of vehicles on gate road that had to be funneled on to a small 2 lane road. We were treated to an amazing sun rise and spectacular views of the mountains. As we left we checked in on our friend Matt who wisely said "We get the Burn we need". This must have been the universe telling everyone to slow down and enjoy the moment and catch up on sleep!
We've been home three weeks now, the dust is cleaned off most items and the plastic bins are back in the attic. We found a cool aerial view of the city taken with 600 drone shots and were able to find our camp. Check it out and be sure to zoom in: BRC Aerial View. There are still people on the playa ending their month of MOOP removal (matter out of place), a requirement of the special permit granted by the Bureau of Land Management. This is an interesting read about how Burning Man's principle of Leave not Trace is handled: Playa Restoration
Overall our fourth Burning Man experience was amazing, and we are talking about when we will go back again - The Man Burns in 335 days!
Click here to see the photos and videos
