I have been participating in Burning Man for seven years and I have always heard horror stories about the rain, mud, and trench feet by the “old burners,” which is what the citizens of Black Rock City usually called themselves.
In 2015, a neighbor of mine who camped next to us fled the desert in the middle of the event after hearing the news that it might rain. My campmates and I have been laughing at him for eight years, but he got the last laugh.
Burning Man is an open-air art festival that was held in a temporary city called Black Rock City, Nevada from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4. It was muddy this year, to say the least, which tested the 70,000 participants struggling against shoe eating mud think on their trench or muddy feet, and make the best of it out of an unexpected situation.
The first four days of the event went on as it has for every year I’ve attended. The weather was hot and dry with occasional dust storms. I expected it to be a pleasant, but uneventful Burning Man. Burn
It began with a drizzle of rain on the fifth day, and the rain didn’t stop for another 14 hours. It was never a harsh storm, but enough to flood the Black Rock Desert Playa, the grounds where the festival took place.
I spent the entire day in my camper listening to Burning Man Information Radio, BMIR 94.5FM, to hear the latest update on the weather and what was happening during this rainstorm. The event leaders urged people to “shelter in place,” and conserve food and water.
I woke up on the sixth day and saw that everywhere was flooded, and I could not take two steps without getting my shoes stuck in the mud.
The Burning Man organizers closed the gate in the morning to prevent the participants from trying to leave and enter the event under these conditions because of the possibility of getting stuck on their way out.
After being stuck in my camper for 24 hours, I ventured to the neighborhood street and city center to check out the damage with double socks on my feet and no shoes, to avoid damaging them. The people around me were all surprisingly unbothered by the rain and the mud.
“I got trapped in the rain last night, but a camp I passed by sheltered and fed me all night. Which is a pretty amazing experience,” Tom Holz said, a volunteer at the Burning Man Post Office.
As I passed by a camp, someone was trying to drive out. They were talked out of it by other participants, who were advised that once the sun came out, the Playa would be dried in no time and then everyone could leave.
The scenery in the open Playa is nothing like I’ve experienced before. Everyone who ventured out was walking instead of bicycling or driving their cars that were decorated for the event.
It was like the place had slowed down, and the public art had blended in with the landscape. The participants on the Playa were treating the mud as a rare opportunity to explore a different type of Burning Man experience.
The biking route, which usually took me 15 minutes, took me two hours in the muddy condition to come back to my camp. Burning Man has always been a difficult place to be, but the communal effort this year was exceptional. People were showing some frustration, for sure, but we were making the best out of a muddy situation.
Since it was difficult to move around, our neighborhood held a block party and invited everyone who was still around to bring leftover food and alcohol for everyone to enjoy that night.
The gate out of Burning Man finally reopened on Sept. 4 in the afternoon. The traffic jam out of Burning Man every year can take about eight hours with this year being no exception, and even longer than usual since everyone was desperately trying to leave.
It was a weird year at Burning Man, the situation inside Burning Man was overblown by media sources. We were stuck in the mud, but not in danger in any shape or form, which is fortunate for everyone. I’m sure whoever experienced Burning Man this year will be back next year as well.
