Mother Nature is tampering with the spirit of Burning Man campers. Really…the voice of experience here. The year 2023 was “Mudman” not Burning Man, but when one of the events goals is Radical Self Reliance you learn from experience. “Monsoon Man” will be the nickname for 2025.
The big city press is always looking for drama to pin a story on for Burning Man so while 69,900 are adapting and having a perfectly wonderful time the last 100 get all the press coverage. Yes, the wind blew 50mph in gusts and tore down anything not bolted down to Mother Earth, then about an inch of rain dumped on Burners and turned the Black Rock Playa into cement-like muck for a day, but all the regulars pitched in, cleaned up, and enjoyed lovely weather for the rest of the week while enjoying the best party on earth.
My home in Mobility Camp passed out crutches, knee scooters and wheelchairs to folks who disabled themselves in Black Rock City. We take people who cannot bicycle the distances to see art out on our accessible shaded trailer to see the sights. We ranged from ages 8 to 84, some three generational families, and were sure as heck had a good, but sometimes mucky, time. Being experienced Burners we built our camp well and had but a single shade structure collapse during inclement weather.
The monsoon interfered with getting to some events I wanted to attend, but I did get to attend the performance of the 60+ member Black Rock Philharmonic orchestra. Yes, classical music on the playa. An eclectic offering of everything from Beethoven to Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” with a Nirvana number and Star Wars theme music included. I missed “Booze & Bees” where you tasted honey whiskey while learning about native pollinators and “Fossils & Fire” which was a paleontologist’s talk on the rock under our feet on the playa. “Dessert on the Desert” was a trek I would have liked to make to sample hot Thai coconut pancakes with Thai ice tea.
Burning Man is one of the few places I can go and KNOW I’ll lose weight over the two weeks I’m there because I’m so busy I forget to eat. But ohh…the food offering…you can browse through Black Rock City and constantly be offered food. Check this out…start the day with coffee & croissants, naked bacon, avocado toast, blueberry pancakes, the Hash House’s “un-fork-ettable” hash brown potatoes, French crepes, and a Bloody Mary breakfast. Snacks? Cold Pickles, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, Frito pies, Elote, and a camp serving 1,000 slices of lobster pizza.
European cuisine was prevalent with Syrnyky (Ukrainian Cheese Balls), Draniki Bela (Potato pancakes), Borshch (chef’s spelling for beet soup). There was a Ramen cart, someone offering potstickers, Spam musubi, tacos, a quesadilla saloon, and a camp offering indigenous foodstuffs. I could have gotten falling down drunk on Picon Punch, the official Nevada state drink, wine slushies, whiskey and sake tastings, kombucha, hot toddies, Margaritas, and homemade beer and mead.
After all that drinking I could have worked off some of the calories (if I wasn’t a little old lady) at a 13 mile marathon around the perimeter of Black Rock City, or the 31 mile ultra-marathon. These events start at 5 a.m. to beat the heat. Some people run nude. Want to see every variation of every part of the human body that can bounce? Check out a naked marathon. Need more exercise? Play field hockey or rugby. Then when you are all worn out there was a Finnish sauna, Polynesian massage and Bali sound healing.
You could dance the night away to techno-electronic music or join the Partners Dancing Camp for a tango lesson. There was a Lindy Hop party and sing- and dance-alongs to the Beatles, 1980s rock, drunk 1990s tunes, and a viewing of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Then, of course, were the “Only at Burning Man…” gatherings. The Dragon Camp Academy offered a workshop on making tinfoil armor bikinis, pinhole photography was demonstrated, there was a library of banned books to peruse, a class called “Whip-cracking 101” and a “Blinky Things Hospital” if you had an electronic item non-functioning. How about a “Alpine Yodeling” flash mob or a chance to learn some Swahili? Someone brought a life size animatronic dinosaur you could ride if, and only if, you rode it naked..
After a busy day I’d say bless the Canadian camp that was pouring maple syrup on shaved ice to make maple taffy and a family all dressed in orange that called themselves the “Tang Gang” and served tiny cold cups of the ice cold drink. But the very best event in our camp? A dinner Labor Day evening as we tore down camp. Twenty folks, some of whom have camped together more than a decade, sharing a meal and drinks and memories.
Along with the monsoon rains and winds Mother Nature gave us one more thing. I’ve been a Burner since 2012 and NEVER have I seen such spectacular sunsets. Beams of light came over the Granite range to the west and looked like they were 50 miles long, sandwiched in between purple cloud banks above and below. It is tradition on the playa to howl like wolves and coyotes as the last light vanishes over the mountains at sunset…you should have heard us those nights.
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