A brutal dust storm with 52 mph gusts struck Burning Man, damaging shade structures, yurts, and artwork, letting fine dust into closed RVs and injuring several people. The storm was immediately followed by about an hour and a half of rain after gates opened, leaving many attendees without shelter. I rode in on a bus without a tent or backup plan, exposing the limits of first-time attendees' preparedness amid the event's radical self-reliance expectation. Fine alkaline playa dust turned into thick, stodgy clay that caked sneakers, clogged bicycle components, rendered many bikes unusable, and could trap cars, freezing traffic.
Where do I start? How do I explain what it was like at Burning Man this weekend? Maybe you've heard bits and pieces. Here's the TL;DR: Saturday night a brutal dust storm hit the festival, with gusts of wind measured at 52 mph. Shade structures, yurts and artwork were damaged, and fine dust slipped through the closed windows of RVs; several people were injured.
Backing up, let me offer a disclaimer. A veteran Burner might classify my experience as a skill issue. And sure, it was. After all, I had opted to part with my belongings in order to ride into Burning Man on a bus. (Burning Man offers buses into the festival from Reno and San Francisco.) I hadn't had a backup plan, and I didn't keep a tent on my person. All of this flies in the face of radical self-reliance, a key principle of the event.
Rain happens at Burning Man. Sunday's rains weren't that extreme or long-lasting, and wouldn't have been particularly notable aside from the fact that they coincided with the start of the festival. (The infamous 2023 rainstorm hit several days in.) But when rain hits the surface of the playa, its fine, alkaline dust clumps into a thick, stodgy clay. Cars' wheels can get stuck, and most bicycles' wheels get clumped with mud and become unusable.
Collection
[
|
...
]