Perdicis Notes

Reflections on Burning Man 2024

publish Opened 2024-09-05. Related to Burning Man (duh). Nested in Musings on everything else.

“Exeunt left, pursued by dust devil”

Hi! Welcome to one of my longer articles.

My impression for a while has been that Burning Man is difficult to understand as an outsider. Even while researching the event with intent to attend, I had a hard time understanding what people actually did in the desert besides party. So I’m writing this article to cover the more mundane aspects of my 2024 burn: pre-planning, camp build and teardown, and all the awesome things I did as a non-party person residing in the second biggest party city in Nevada. I hope this account is as fun to read as it was to write.

Brief table of contents:

  • What Burning Man is
  • Stuff I did day to day
  • Takeaways, reflections, and things I’d do differently
  • Appendix

What is BM?

Elephants in the room

For many, Burning Man does involve hedonism. All week long are nonstop parties that will keep you awake if you don’t sleep with earplugs. There is widespread substance use, crazy outfits, nudity, open bars, orgies… if you can imagine it and it’s fun, it’s probably at the burn, and when all 80,000 attendees pay a ticket fee of nearly $600 to attend it’s actually somewhat fair that the media pokes fun at burners.

The insane line to get in typically gets bashed first (not my pic)

However in doing so, news outlets miss the more substantive, interesting, and frankly representative things worth knowing about Burning Man.

The more interesting elephants

During my brief residence in Black Rock City (the name given to the temporary city erected around the Man in Black Rock Desert), I visited among other things:

  • A movie theatre.
  • A fully functional postal system.
  • A jewelry store, offering hundreds of bracelets, necklaces, earrings for free.
  • A bagel deli, complete with vegan and vegetarian options, coffee, and tea.
  • A build-your-own soda taproom.
  • A figure drawing stage with volunteer models.
  • A Flow arts camp.
  • A library, offering book leases lasting 1 year — until next year’s Burn.
  • A therapist camp, with a licensed therapist(s?) offering drop-in 1-on-1 sessions.
  • A pancake house powered by solar power.
  • A matcha latte cafe.
  • A mathematics-themed camp that serves pi(e) every day at 3:14pm.

A better definition of Burning Man

Given that wholesome content like the above comprises the majority of activity at Burning Man, a more accurate catch-all definition is more like the following, how my camp lead described it:

“Burning Man is a potluck where you can bring literally anything.”

I like this framing. Some people bring loads of alcohol, period-defying fashion, etc. to the potluck; others bring food, workshops, spiritual experiences, etc … all of it is equally cool, and it’s always offered for free. Even those who attend just for the partying are here bringing their genuine self to those parties and contributing positive energy. Which is lovely. Virtually everywhere in Black Rock City has a welcoming atmosphere because everyone has something nice to offer you: personal trinkets, camp amenities, or just a good vibe. Unsurprisingly, the default greeting here is a hug (given with consent), not a handshake.

Stuff I did day to day

What does one do at this potluck? Burn a man? Yes but only on Saturday.

Btw, images can be buggy on this website

If they’re not loading, see the complete list of photos in this Google Photos album. You should read the article first tho

Pre-burn (Late March 2024 - August)

Preparation for Burning Man begins long before the event. For me as a first-timer, I needed to decide who I’d camp with. Camping solo is a thing, but I didn’t want to do that.

So I chose to camp with a themecamp, i.e. a camp that provides a good or service to the potluck of Burning Man. The camp I chose: Infinite Love, which hosts workshops focused on growing and nurturing love for one’s self and others.

2024’s official programming poster. I made this!

I’m unfamiliar with how other camps handle new campers, but joining IL involved (1) a short Google Docs application and (2) vibe check interview. I suspect the interview exists just to vet out the new burners (affectionately called “virgin burners” or “birgins”) who aren’t prepared to contribute effort to the camp relative to what they consume. I had previously volunteered as a pro bono photographer at one of IL’s fundraiser parties in April, which probably nudged my application into the territory of “we don’t have to worry about this guy freeloading.” So I applied 2024-04-25 and was accepted sometime early May.

IL is pretty organized. To organize the 65 campers worth of effort, they maintain a massive spreadsheet of roles that need filling:

Sample screenshot. Sheets like this are pretty standard practice for camps

I signed up for my roles ~3-4 months before the burn started.

I also made this sign

I concluded the best way to reach Black Rock City was to take the official, volunteer-run Burner Express bus (BxB) from San Francisco to BRC. Conveniently, the BxB boards at Civic Center, only 3 blocks from my apartment. So I bought a ticket with a bike pass.

T minus ~3 weeks before the burn

You need to bring a lot to survive in the desert. I can’t overstate how involved this step is. Just a sample of the stuff I bought:

  • A used bike I was OK getting annihilated by the desert dust
  • LEDs to affix to my bike and self so I’m visible during dust storms and at night
  • Goggles and dust masks
  • Lots of sunscreen
  • A water backpack
  • A dustproof phone case
  • Dustproof tent
  • Lots of wool socks
  • Warm fuzzy clothes for nighttime, where the temperature can drop below 35° F
  • Breezy linen/cotton material clothes for daytime, where the temperature can rise above 100° F
  • Wet wipes, since you can’t count on having access to a shower
  • 1-ply toilet paper, since you can’t count on porta potties stocking any
  • Head lamp
  • Electrolyte tablets (I found these to be borderline essential after drinking water and still feeling thirsty)
  • Non-perishable food that can withstand heat
  • … many others

Comfy

I’d guesstimate spending north of $1000 just on supplies, on 40 (+/-5) items in total. Most items were purchased via Amazon. I didn’t get fancy with outfits — I just bought the basics using cheap Amazon fashion. So, $1000 is the rough figure of buying the bare minimum amount of supplies required for me to consider myself overprepared.

Water is also worth mentioning — campers are advised to pack roughly 1.5 gallons per day they’ll be at the burn — but I didn’t do this as Infinite Love provides water infrastructure.

T minus ~2 days before the burn

Packing packing packing. So much packing. My room looked like an explosion:

Shown in pic 2: my DIY contact staves!

I packed all my belongings into two 27 gallon HDX boxes, which is the maximum sized luggage you’re allowed to take on the bus. Within these boxes, I stuffed 95% of my things into categorized Ziploc bags or trash bags to shield them from the imminent dust. This proved later to be a great decision.

Upon arrival (2024-08-24 + 1 day or so)

Due to rain conditions in Nevada closing the gates to BRC, my morning bus had been delayed 2 hours till noon. So, at 11am, I brought my bike and 2 HDX boxes over to the bus stop. They were heavy and cumbersome, so this was actually really difficult.

My burdens

I eventually resigned to taking two trips from my apartment. First trip: biking over, leaving my bike with some trustworthy looking strangers. Second trip: walking back to my apartment, then back again carrying the boxes. I was drenched in sweat by the time I arrived at the bus stop, lol.

Another pretty morning in SF

Bus check-in was straightforward and quick. I showed a volunteer my physical ID, physical Burning Man ticket which I’d later need to enter the BRC gate, and digital BxB ticket. The BxB website had said I needed to print out the bus ticket, but I didn’t do that and was fine. Volunteers took my bike from me and loaded it onto a separate truck from the bus I was boarding, and gave me 2 tags to affix to my luggage, which I loaded. We departed San Francisco around 1pm.

… Many hours later…

9:30pm: The sun has set, leaving total darkness outside the bus. A glimmer of light shone in the distance: Black Rock City.

As we approached, we barely discerned lights from vehicles in the non-bus line. In order to save fuel, these vehicles remain parked most of the time and inch forward together in waves.

9:45: The bus stopped, and a moody bus volunteer boarded. She barked orders that boiled down to: stfu (she mentioned this one a few times), get off the bus, no smartphones, and show your physical burning man ticket to reboard.

I didn’t listen to the smartphone order:

Other buses stopped alongside ours

Her system totally worked. 10 minutes later all the passengers on my bus were checked in. “Welcome to Black Rock City,” she shouted as the doors hissed shut.

20 minutes later, I stepped off the bus into BRC. I imagine the feeling is somewhat similar to (slight exaggeration) a front line infantry landing in a warzone. The cozy bus environment was suddenly replaced by a loud, cold, dusty, and dark environment with swarms of people walking with no clear direction. A trash and compost bag were thrust into my hands as I left the bus along with instructions I didn’t catch since the line moved so quickly.

The bus landing (feat. my 2 boxes)

Objective #1 was to recover my bike, which I found stowed under the San Francisco arrivals shade structure (not that shade was needed at this time of night).

+1 bike acquired

Next objective was to board the correct tram. I knew from my prior research that none of the trams would bring me directly to Infinite Love. I’d need to walk holding my luggage and bike again… which would suck. I didn’t have a great solution to this.

Now is a good time to explain the address system of Black Rock City. What you’re looking at above is a map. In the dead center of the semicircle is the Man — a useful visual landmark for navigating. North of the Man is the Temple, which gets burned the day after the Man.

Addresses are a tuple of (1) an alphabetical street name, denoting how far from the Man you are and (2) an analog clock distance, denoting where along the dial you are. Infinite Love’s address this year was 8:15 & F. That’s where I’m headed. Maybe you can spot it on the map.

I ran into my campmates Vicky, Daniel, and Luona at this point — and Vicky had a dolly! Luggage transport problem solved (at least in one direction).

A few side quests emerged:

  • Do a dust angel and ring the bell as part of virgin initiation. Daniel, who had burned before, said, “Playa dust gets everywhere. We all try to keep it out in the beginning. But it always gets in. Doing the dust angel stops you from worrying about being perfect. It’s like jumping into a pool instead of wading in.”
    • I jumped in the pool. And slammed the bell and yelled. The bell steward lady gave me a hug and said “welcome home” and “I’m glad you’re here.” “Glad to be here.”
  • Load my stuff onto the tram (the first two trams were full from other people’s luggage, and we needed to hustle to get on the third).

  • Bike alongside the tram, like remora fishes behind a shark, since bikes aren’t allowed on board but we needed to follow our luggage.
    • On the bike ride through partway-constructed Black Rock City, I saw a lot of cool art cars and camps. We stopped at some when the tram did. One camp was throwing a party where a guy dressed as a sunflower was pole dancing to a crowd of 30-40 people. What a vibe.

FLOWER POWER

  • Carry/wheel our heavy luggage from 815 & J to 815 & F.
    • Christie met me here! She had been waiting for a while without me knowing due to zero reception on the playa. It was great to see her.

By midnight we had arrived at camp with our stuff.

Home sweet (not quite built) home

The excitement didn’t end here though. Due to today’s bus delays preventing builders like myself from arriving at camp, camp construction was significantly behind schedule. This was a problem because a slow build can affect where our camp gets placed next year, so the executive order was made to continue building through the night. No one was to set up their tent before 2am.

I worked on the walls and lighting for the communal public space. Others worked on decoration, rugs, platforms, and shade structures to keep the sun off of tents in the morning. The spiderbox for power was partly set up but not enough for me to safely charge my phone without risk of blowing a fuse, so I didn’t charge my phone.

At 3am I finished building, set up my tent, unpacked some of my boxes, and fell asleep around 4:30.

Photo of the camp kitchen and dining hall tents. Not that you can tell in the dark, but they are situated adjacent the personal tent area

During the burn: 2024-08-26 + several days

I helped build more the next day. As the days turned into a week, I found my mornings settling into a comfortable rhythm. Unlike others in my camp who turned their sleep schedule completely upside down, I maintained a predominantly diurnal sleep schedule and didn’t stay out too late partying.

Most days followed a similar pattern. During the daytime, I would meet Christie at 10am and roam around in the sun. It got hot quick. The first 2 hours post-sunrise had pretty agreeable temperatures, but by the time solar noon rolled around, the heat would be pushing high 90s to 100 degrees farenheit. Within 2 days I was fully comfortable going shirtless the entire time the sun was out to combat the heat. My wide-brimmed hat became uncomfortable and I eventually replaced it with a headscarf which had the neat dual property of keeping me cool during the day as a shade structure and warm at night as a scarf.

Nighttime was chilly. The cold set in rapidly after sundown. Most people bundled up in fur coats (yes, idk why; the dust totally gets in them and there are other options, but they look cool) when the sun set. Having grown up in New England, I found the nighttime temperature rather pleasant. With all the physical activity I was doing (dancing, biking, etc) I never felt compelled to wear much more than a shirt and only really put on a shirt around midnight each night. As far as I know, I’m the only person who felt this way LOL.

Sleeping arrangements were tough. I would wear earplugs in my tent so passing mutant vehicles (modded cars that most of the time doubled as mobile DJ sets) blasting music wouldn’t disturb me, and an eyemask so the sun wouldn’t wake me.

In general, my days involved only a few categories of activities:

  • Biking around Black Rock City, embracing serendipitous encounters, stepping into neat-looking camps for a bite to eat, fun workshops, or place to rest. Here are the sorts of things you see in the main city:

Black Rock Public Library…

… complete with a chunky library computer

Nonsense signage

Horchata and melon snow cones! Also pictured: our drivers licenses taped to our personal cups. It’s typical at BRC to do this to make it easier on bartenders serving you alcohol

Infinite Love’s camper mailboxes. There’s no reception in BRC, so if a visitor drops by your camp while you’re out roaming, their best bet to connect with you is leaving a note in your mailbox suggesting a meetup time/place

Taco-o-caT, whose sign indicates they’re aware of the palindrome (nice)

One of Serendipitea’s shaded areas. They served iced tea during the hot times of day which made them one of my favorite camps

Sunset in Catmandu’s party dome. There is a DJ set on the table if you look closely

Vibes tbh

After sunset: the view atop a mutant vehicle overlooking Esplanade (the innermost concentric circle around the Man. You’ll notice the Man isn’t in sight because this place is BIG — it is probably obscured by one of the planets

A massive, mutant art car rumbling past Infinite Love

God hung up on me when I tried this

My camp LED backpack and performance staff at 3am after returning from Titanic’s End

  • Biking around playa, which is the area in the center of the dial adjacent the Man in every direction but north. Here are the sorts of things you see in playa…

Take a gift, leave a gift. The coconut water was still cold

Mutant cars lined up to get their safety permits at the BRC DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles)

Interactive art exhibit. The butterfly’s wings are controlled by a swingset

An elevated view of the playa from the Man structure

  • Biking into deep playa, the area north of the Man and adjacent the Temple. Here are the sorts of things you see in deep playa…

Small mutant dragonflies on the prowl

Hyperspace music viz tunnel. A mutant car would park on one end and plug in, causing the rings to pulse with their audio

Titanic’s End (big mutant art car shaped like an iceberg) parked geographically at ~11 o’clock of the dial

It was all lots of fun!

Back at camp, I was in charge of a few jobs. These helped to ground me by keeping me accountable for times I would need to be back at camp. Mundane things you might not think about but were important include:

  • Ice run. The literal only scenario when currency exchange is allowed is cash for ice. There’s a camp that distributes ice in this way. For ice run duty, I’d lug a small wagon to that camp to pick up ice orders with a campmate, then wheel the blocks back home.
  • Burn barrel. I made our camp signage for this! Basically, we burn paper waste in a barrel to conserve the limited trash space. 65 campers produce a lot of paper napkins, plates, and cardboard containers, so this is essential. I or my fellow burn barrel stewards would typically burn a standard trash barrel’s worth of cardboard 1-2 times per day.
  • Meal prep. What it sounds like. But oh man is it hot cooking on propane grills in an enclosed kitchen in the desert. We angled a box fan into the kitchen to cool the temperature a bit.
  • Kitchen cleanup: Self explanatory. We’d use the mist setting on our faucet to conserve water and wash dishes in a soaking bin to minimize grey water (waste water) production.
  • Mayor of the dawn/dusk. At any point, one person in the camp acts as mayor. That person is in charge of routing people to the right person for help with problems. For example, as mayor, you should know who is on duty for bike repair.
  • Bike repair. I did this too since I know how to fix bikes, but my services were only needed once since a camp specializing in bike repair was situated near us.
  • MOOP sweep. MOOP stands for Matter Out of Place, and is basically an more expansive definition of “trash” that includes hair and any material that didn’t originate in the desert. Because Burning Man takes place on federal land, the place needs to be spotless when we leave. That’s what MOOP sweeping is for — you don a headlamp and comb the dust for things even as tiny as strands of hair — yes, really. How well camps perform at MOOP sweep determines where they’ll be placed in future years, so there’s a strong incentive to sweep well. Oh and a random fun fact about Burning Man being on federal land: weed is illegal federally, making it among the riskiest drugs you can do at Burning Man because the smell is probable cause for law enforcement.

Other miscellaneous highlights from the week:

  • Spinning contact staff before dinner and teaching other folks basic tricks. I brought several staves and got some good use out of them. Also, spinning for 2 hours straight outside Titanic’s End one night.
  • Spinning fire for the first time. My campmate Mitch lent me his fire staff and fuel. This was awesome and I 10/10 will do it again.
  • Sound bath near the trash fence.
  • Penguin Lounge, a camp in a super convenient location on Esplanade serving snow cones 11-5pm.
  • The meditative opening and closing ceremonies for Infinite Love, which acclimated us to feeling close to 64 fellow humans.

Man burn: 2024-08-31

The wooden man effigy in the center of Black Rock City burns on Saturday night after a fire flow + fireworks show. Many burners consider this their final day and depart the following morning. So, to many, the burning of the man represents the last hurrah of Burning Man — and the atmosphere is buzzing as a result.

Prior to man burn, everyone gets in position to watch it. There is method to this madness. Art cars park first, in tight concentric circles around the Man. Individuals park their bikes outside the art cars. The cars all blast music for ambience and give out gifts (my group was near a photobooth and jellybean car… and I ate a lot of candy) so everyone parties in their groups while the Fire Conclave fire dances around the man.

This all occurs as the sun is setting. So there’s a beautiful glimmering rainbow of LEDs everywhere you look.

In this photo: the Mayan Warrior, a huge art car with a stupidly powerful laser

… stupidly powerful. At nighttime you can spot this laser from literally anywhere on playa

OK I’m getting bored of writing and this article is getting insanely long. I’ll be more brief from here on out.

After the man burns, people strip naked and run around the embers. That’s cool and fun.

Almost immediately after the man was reduced to embers, a dust storm rolled in, mixing with the soot and totally trashing our visibility. I double-masked up and explored with Catmandu.

You can only see like 20 feet on front of you. I kind of enjoyed this? Video

Had a great night partying until I had to return home to IL to pack my things. I’m leaving in <2 days.

Temple burn and strike: 2024-09-02

Temple burn is the day after Man burn and has a very different atmosphere. It’s literally tens of thousands of people huddled around a burning building in near-complete silence. Very spiritual. Many people cry. It’s a somber occasion because the temple’s burn honors the memories of loved ones who have passed away. When I visited the temple a few days before it burned, its walls were plastered top to bottom with photos of people and pets accompanied by long messages celebrating their lives. The temple is largely silent as you walk through. I didn’t take any interior photos out of respect. But here’s what the outside looked like at night:

The Temple is much larger than the Man

On the night of temple burn I was juggling meal prep and frantically packing my things since I’d be leaving the following morning. So I left late. A dust storm began brewing right as I left for temple…

Dusty. Video

My campmate Jesse and I left camp around 8pm, to catch temple burn. In the distance we saw it flaring up:

Second sun

Visibility conditions rapidly deteriorated upon approach. The dust storm worsened and again mixed with the soot to create visibility conditions far worse than yesterday’s. I could only see ~10-15 feet on front of me.

The dust made for atmospheric viewing conditions, though:

You can’t even see the flame

In waves, the wind would blow away the dust for a brief glimpse of the embers:

Very quiet

I didn’t stay to watch the embers die out due to the worsening storm. Jesse and I walked back to our bikes. The walk was quiet… the bike ride home less so, as everyone became caught in the storm. Jesse and I became lost almost immediately after leaving the temple crowd, and our heavily skewed route home barely intersected with BRC at the 10 o’clock street. Any further and we’d have careened into deep playa.

This is what the bike ride back looked like. The blue glow is an art car

But we returned to IL safely. We crowded into the kitchen, which was smaller than usual due to being half torn-down, but still insulated against the dust. The slow trickle of dusty people stumbling into the kitchen was funny. We all took photos together.

D u s t y

Late in the evening, mid-dust storm, I packed up all my things and my tent (funny video of this). I loaded my luggage onto the camp truck this time, not the bus, brushed my teeth, and curled up on a mattress pad in the shared air conditioned yurt for bed.

What a week

Oh, and I helped teardown camp today, a lot; that was my whole morning and afternoon.

Final day: 2024-09-02

I slept poorly my last night. Half of it was because I lacked a sleeping bag and warm clothes — both both were packed deep on the truck (bad decision) — so I jolted awake at 5am shivering from the cold. I heard rain patter on the ceiling of the yurt. I felt grateful I’d packed my tent before the rain but dumb for leaving the tent bag outside. It’s like, semi-waterproof. I think. I shut my eyes and half-slept for the next 2 hours.

When I awoke again at 7, I was alone. I laced my boots for the last time, opened the yurt cabin door, and was greeted by a really pretty sunrise peeking through the clouds.

(Happy, relaxed exhale)

The air was clear and crisp — the dust had all been washed away by the rain.

It felt like a peaceful, satisfying end to a chaotic week.

I did my morning ritual of brushing my teeth in the kitchen, eating a modest breakfast of a Kind bar, and refilling my water bladder. I said goodbye to the few who were awake and biked out to the bus depot at 6:15 & J.

I arrived there at 7:45. Despite my bus being slated to leave at 9, the line was quick and we got on the road at 8.

I quietly said one heartfelt goodbye to my bike, my trusty steed throughout all the chaos. I donated him knowing I wouldn’t be able to nurse him back to health in SF. I hope he’s somewhere comfy in Nevada right now.

Goodbye, BRC

My takeaways from 2024’s Burn

Now that we’re on roughly the same page I can cover my takeaways. In no particular order…

Ponderings

On gratefulness (a discussion with Ben, my campmate)

Pure, unadulterated gratefulness was one of the nicest aspects of the burn.

Being grateful to another human being who helped you — and vice versa — is more tangible and intimate than being grateful for the abstract quality-of-life things we have in the default world. An example: the gratefulness of “having cold running water” isn’t the same as gratefulness of “that bartender Sarah who offered me some cold water from behind the bar”. The latter feels more human even if it’s slightly less convenient.

I almost wish the burn had lasted longer so I could suffuse my brain deeper in this feeling and try to seek it more intentionally in my daily life.

Funny happenstance: I need to get my bathroom sink fixed now that I’ve returned from the burn on 2024-09-02). I’m certain I’ll feel more personally grateful for the person who fixes it.

On spending attention (a discussion with Todd, my return bus seat neighbor)

Todd is on his 8th burn. He remarks that a notable aspect of the burn is nothing malicious ever tries to grab your attention. In the default world, plenty of things do this — ads mostly. But at the burn, advertisements are typically shouted via megaphone as you bike past a person, and are universally nice things (e.g. “stop for a snow cone??” , “mist spray yesnoyesno want me to spray you??”).

If I really introspect about this, I don’t think I ever fully let my guard down in 2024. Maybe if I return in 2025 I’ll be able to relax quicker.

Addendum: I can think of one thing burners might want from you, actually: your attendance at their party. But should that really count as malicious attention seeking, given that 90% of these parties will be serving you free drinks?

On being introverted at an extrovert’s event (a discussion with my own brain)

I avoid identifying with groups, so I found it tough to let my guard down during the Burn — an event where everyone seems to feel a close sense of connection to the event itself and/or their group of campmates keeping them literally alive in the desert. In the end, I felt like 80% comfortable letting my guard down to my 64 campmates and was glad I did. If I attend again I suspect I can perform this process like 2-3x faster. It’s a real learning experience.

The insanely hostile conditions definitely helped with guard-lowering, too. It is magical to inhabit a brutal environment with other humans. Trauma bonding works!

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts I had and jotted down

Not well organized since most of these come from my desert journal

At the event:

  • Longer beard (unable to shave) isn’t much of an issue
  • Potholes suck. My palms are bruised from biking the potholes
  • The infinity scarf I brought is incredible. It’s my favorite piece of clothing. During the day it is a shade structure and at night a scarf
  • only struck me later in the week but it’s nice to have faith in others and to give genuinely without expecting anything. Like filling the water or doing the burn battle feels good even though I’m not doing it for any particular person. Same with putting a surplus of fruit cups in the fridge knowing someone will appreciate a cold one. And other people reciprocate by making eggs out chia pudding in the morning.
  • can’t wait to get rid of all the stuff under my fingernails
  • being shirtless is great. Started feeling natural almost immediately
  • n100 and 95 masks are goated but the clippy one would be better
  • I can hold my poop and bladder insanely long without discomfort lol
  • wearing mask scarf goggles at night during a dust storm gives me the ambience of being master chief
  • mayan warrior is so cool the vertical laser lets you find it anywhere on the playa

Reflections afterwards

  • Feet indeed swollen since my normal trainers are tight
  • having everything in bags made it way easier to unpack
  • I planned out so many things to do… and did almost none of them
    • I think this is what people mean when they say everyone’s burn is different.
  • People don’t care what you look like and I got away with only really 1.5 outfits lol, one pants and two shirts

Things I would do differently

  • Get the cool Japanese velcro workboots instead of normal boots.
    • Palladium Baggy boots + Superfeet insoles were heavenly (never changed these boots)
    • But holy crap was it a pain having to loosen the laces and take them off every. Single. Time. I wanted to enter a shoeless area.
  • Commit to some simpler battery powered stuff.
    • I had a mix of:
      • AA battery-powered
      • AAA battery-powered
      • Micro USB chargeable
      • USB-C chargeable
    • I mitigated some of the pain by bringing cheap rechargeable batteries and a power bank, but it would be best to eliminate some of these categories altogether so I can pack lighter.
  • Get a frickin dolly with wheels. Or pack via duffels.
    • I packed all my shit in 2 HDX 27 gallon boxes. Everything about that was lovely except needing to bring them places. I was drenched in sweat before I even boarded the bus to Black Rock City. Get a dolly next time.
  • Buy a water backpack with more space inside.
    • I got a cheap Amazon water backpack which I adore.
    • But get one that’s larger. Lots of gifts to give and receive and LEDs to attach.
  • Bring more dried apricots next time. They are tasty.
  • Also, pack Progresso creamy chicken noodle soup to eat cold. Literally the best non-perishable meal I ate all week.
  • Bring sunglasses! Not just goggles
  • Fuck what other people say adjust your bike seat early
    • You’ll be biking a lot
    • Many people don’t bike much so they aren’t comfortable with a high seat
    • If you are comfortable with one, do it, because you can extend your knee all the way straight and get a ton more torque out of your pedaling. You will tire less quickly.
  • Re: bike locks: if you choose a password with many repeating digits like 123333, it’s a lot easier to move one of the middle repeated digits (123343) so you can enter the password at a glance from any view of the lock (for example, from the side you could be seeing 456676 and intuit exactly which digit to change).
    • Not a secure life hack though lol
  • Decide before purchasing a bike ticket back on the BxB whether you want to donate your bike. Saves $50.

Appendix

Photos??

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zMc8dnKfAimNidHg8

Warren survival guide where??

Burning Man prep guide

Graph View

Backlinks