Climate Activist Roadblocks, ‘Poop Buckets’ and Mud: Burning Man Debacle Leaves Thousands Stranded in the Desert

Heavy rain disrupted this year’s Burning Man festival with muddy conditions rendering the only exit route unusable, leaving 72,000 people stranded in the Nevada desert.

Summary

Heavy rain disrupted this year’s Burning Man festival with muddy conditions rendering the only exit route unusable, leaving 72,000 people stranded in the Nevada desert.

• Storms blew in on Friday and lasted throughout the weekend, transforming the arid Black Rock Desert sand into mucky clay that made it impossible for cars to enter or exit the festival site.
• Burning Man is a world-famous art and culture festival founded in 1986 and held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Tens of thousands of revelers create a temporary city – “Black Rock City” – in the desert.
• The festival began as a hippie gathering but has morphed in recent years into an elite gathering spot for Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy and powerful people. Elon Musk has attended in the past and ex-Obama administration solicitor general and high-powered corporate litigator Neal Katyal was among those stranded at this year’s event.
• Event organizers describe its location as “one of the most strikingly beautiful and utterly ethereal locations in the world that will ever try to kill you.”
• Attendees – called “burners” – are encouraged to bring their own supplies as the week-long festival only provides porta potties, ice, and first responders. In the event of severe weather, burners were told to bring a “poop bucket” in case rain renders the porta potties inoperable.
• The thousands still stranded began their “exodus” on Monday as authorities reopened the lone unpaved dirt road that links the festival site with the nearest highway. The festival site is about 15 miles from the nearest municipality and about 110 miles north of Reno.
• One festivalgoer died on Sunday “during this rain event,” according to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office. The death remains under investigation and the name and cause of death have not yet been released by authorities.
• Several celebrities decided to trek through five miles of mud to escape the festival. Comedian Chris Rock, supermodel Cindy Crawford, actor Austin Butler of “Elvis” fame, DJ Diplo and actress Tessa Thompson were all spotted walking for hours towards the nearest town.
• “A fan offered Chris Rock and I a ride out of Burning Man in the back of a pickup,” Diplo wrote on Instagram, captioning a video of him, Rock and others in the back of a truck. “After walking six miles through the mud… all Chris could think about was a f—ing cold brew.”

• The Independent reported Chris Rock and Diplo were picked up by a fan in a drier part of the desert. Several attendees compared the festival to Fyre Fest, the disastrous 2017 festival that left hundreds stranded in the Bahamas and eventually landed founder Billy McFarland in prison.
• The New York Times noted attendees were instructed to preserve food and water and the festival’s closing event – the burning of the “man,” a towering sculpture – was postponed until Monday night. One event safety professional told the Times that every tow truck, backhoe, and other rescue vehicles within hundreds of miles would be needed to get people out of the mud.
• The road into Burning Man was not only blocked by muddy conditions – climate activists shut down the two-lane highway early last week with a 28-foot trailer to demand festival organizers ban private jets and single-use plastics and limit generator use. According to the Guardian, their roadblock outraged attendees and Nevada rangers clashed with the protesters.

• Fox News reported a Nevada tribal ranger who drove through the climate protesters blockade and pulled his weapon on them is now under investigation by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. The ranger, a law enforcement officer on the tribe’s reservation, handcuffed several demonstrators and has been accused of “police brutality” by the climate activists’ organization.
• The New York Post covered the “Dukes of Hazzard-style” car jump one reveler used to escape the mud pits. Catherine Gacad, a 13-time Burning Man attendee, and a companion had to jump their car over a small river of mud to escape the festival site.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, many attendees said the rainy conditions didn’t ruin their experience and chalked it up as just “another weird chapter” in Burning Man history.

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© Dominic Moore, 2023