What was Burning Man really like? Canadians share what they saw

Every year, Burning Man – a large-scale, off-grid festival – draws thousands of people to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for a unique and experimental experience. However, this year’s gathering had an unexpected twist as torrential rain transformed the dry grounds into a slippery surface, challenging the resilience of revellers.

CTVNews.ca heard from a couple of Canadians who shared their experiences while attending the festival. Although the weather conditions led to significant challenges around mobility, both festivalgoers witnessed an unwavering sense of community.

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Patrick Gravelle and his wife, Elsa, are two of them. The couple is not new to the Burning Man culture. Over the past four years, they have attended different-sized festivals in Sweden, Canada and, this week, in the U.S. state of Nevada.

“If you’re gonna go to Burning Man in the desert, you have to be ready for an adventure,” Patrick Gravelle, who lives in Golden, B.C., told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.

The first five days of the festival, which began on Aug. 27, were “magical” with typical desert conditions including plenty of dust and sun, he said.

In fact, when it was first announced over the festival’s speakers that there would be some rain, he welcomed it with an open mind, expecting it would “keep the dust down,” the avid Burner said.

Kobi Moldavski holding a vacuum in the middle of a dry, dusty day in the desert at Burning Man 2023. (Submitted by Patrick Gravelle)But Friday’s downpour brought major challenges, including thick, sticky mud that made biking and walking extremely difficult.

“You kind of gained like 10 to 15 pounds on your feet... That first day of rain, it was hard walking,” he said.

Slowly, people started coming up with creative ideas to keep the mud out of their shoes, he said, such as wearing socks over their footwear or wrapping their feet with plastic bags.

But not everyone was fond of the muddy situation.

A comment on the Burning Man Project’s Facebook page read, “Everyone referred to it as mud... Mud would be a pleasure compared to the non-removable alkaline paste.”

Many festival attendees — who refer to themselves as burners — arrive with limited supplies and build an elaborate, if temporary, city of themed camps, decorated art cars and guerilla theatrics.

Gravelle and his partner were part of a camp called the Viking Bar, which offered beers to visitors. Gravelle explained that part of the Burning Man culture involves giving gifts to others instead of charging for goods or services.

The bar became a refuge for many festivalgoers, he said. By Saturday morning, there were an additional 38 bikes parked in the bar’s rack as people couldn’t use them in the mud, he said.

“A lot of people got trapped in our bar,” said Gravelle, who continued to give out free beer and hot soup to those staying at their tent.

“So, you’re kind of cooking for people, you’re keeping spirits high.”

In this photo, you can see the Viking Bar's camp set up at Burning Man 2023 before Friday, Sep. 1, 2023. (Submitted by Patrick Gravelle)

The biggest hurdle, according to Gravelle, was accessing the bathroom.

Event organizers had said they “may not be able to pump out portals for a couple of days” and asked campers to keep their urine and feces at camps.

Gravelle said his group thought about turning the shower tents into “makeshift toilets” and asked people to keep a bottle for urine inside their tents.

Despite the challenges, Gravelle said the conditions were ultimately part of the experience.

“[This was] probably one of the best ones yet,” he said.

As the rain subsided and the ground began to dry out on Sunday, the creative spirit of the Burning Man festival prevailed, said Gravelle. Attendees transformed the cement-like mud into a canvas for art installations and sculptures, embracing the unexpected situation, he said.

A mud-made sculpture at Burning Man 2023. (Submitted by Patrick Gravelle)

At least one fatality has been reported, but organizers said the death of a man in his 40s wasn't weather-related.

‘IT FELT LIKE MAD MAX IN THE MUD’

Lawrence Yang is a family doctor in Surrey, B.C. As a first-time Burner, he joined the geology-themed camp where a group of Earth science experts held lectures about rocks and coordinated other activities such as rock painting.

Yang had planned to leave the festival before it ended Monday, as he had to return to work. However, organizers had issued a warning not to leave the grounds until Tuesday for safety, he said.

Yang told CTVNews.ca he heard of a vehicle that tried to leave, but got stuck in the mud and caught on fire.

“I think the driver potentially kept revving the vehicle, and not really certain how it happened, but that particular vehicle caught on fire,” he told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. “So, that became a warning for everybody else to not attempt to leave.”

Yang and his travel partner, Tristan Shire, packed their Toyota Sienna and waited for the rain to stop before carefully navigating the treacherous seven-kilometre drive through the slippery terrain between the campsite and a paved highway on Sunday morning.

“It felt like Mad Max in the mud,” he said.

Lawrence Yang, left, with two festivalgoers at Burning Man 2023. (Submitted by Lawrence Yang)Yang said many of the other campers, who followed the festival’s instructions, were quite upset to see him and what he estimated to be 300 vehicles attempt to leave Yang said he asked event organizers for permission before exiting the grounds.

“Many of them were shouting I would get stuck or ‘You're not going to make it,’ and they were saying things like ‘F*ck you for destroying the road,’” said Yang.

Yang said he took advantage of the dry spots and had to use significant speed on some portions to drive across little ponds.

But some other drivers did not have the same luck, said Yang, who saw 15 to 20 cars stuck on the muddy road.

The drive took Yang approximately 40 minutes, he said. Gravelle said his drive on Tuesday morning took him between three to four hours as most partygoers left that day.

By Tuesday night, the official Burning Man Traffic account on X, formerly known as Twitter, said the wait time to exit the desert was around seven hours “and climbing.”

Three different art installations at Burning Man 2023. (Submitted by Patrick Gravelle)While the rain may have made conditions difficult, Yang’s festival experience was marked by resilience, good humour, and an unwavering sense of community, he said.

“No one seemed anxious, people were having a good time laughing and joking through the rain. As an insider, that's what I experienced,” he said.

Although people departed at different times due to weather conditions, some individuals are returning to clean up the area, read a media update Wednesday evening.

“Individuals who had to leave before their carpools and camps were ready to depart, and camps who needed to leave early due to the storm, are returning to the event site today through Saturday to disassemble their projects, tear down their camps, and remove their possessions,” read the statement.

The temporary closure of the area for Burning Man is in effect for 66 days each year, according to the BLM: 31 to build the makeshift city, nine for the main event and 26 for post-festival cleanup.

With files from The Associated Press.