"A quick mental exercise: Imagine a bowl of oatmeal. Now, imagine that same bowl of oatmeal if it were 7 miles wide - so wide that, if you stood on the rim of the bowl, you'd just barely be able to make out the opposite rim hovering over the horizon. Finally, imagine trying to walk across the surface of mushy, wet oats, crossing your fingers that no oat water soaks through your shoes."
"Mud is everywhere. Mud cakes the floors of the portable toilets, the tarps under shade structures, the bottoms of boots and the insides of tents. Splatters of mud cling to bare legs, and the dried dust stays on the skin until it's sprayed with water or vinegar. (Spray bottles of vinegar are highly valuable. Playa dust is alkaline, and vinegar's acidity helps break it down.)"
"For the second time this week, a rainstorm turned the Black Rock Desert into the world's largest bowl of oatmeal. With the desert's surface softened into clay, Burning Man's gates closed again on Tuesday night, and at the time of writing, they had only just reopened. Some Burning Man attendees opted to hunker down in their RVs and wait out hostile weather patterns."
Heavy rainstorms repeatedly soaked the Black Rock Desert, turning the playa into thick, clay-like mud that impeded movement and forced Burning Man gates to close temporarily. Attendees faced widespread mud caking portable toilets, tarps, boots, tents, and skin, with playa dust remaining until washed with water or vinegar. Some participants sheltered in RVs to wait out the weather while others continued partying despite the conditions, evident in muddy bare feet at pop-up bars. Lightning and on-and-off showers persisted into the night, intensifying challenges. Spray bottles of vinegar became valuable for breaking down alkaline dust and cleaning skin.
Read at SFGATE
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