RENO, Nev. – Burning Man Festival Attendees Face Delays and Challenges as Rain Causes Massive Traffic Jam

The exodus from the iconic Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert has entered its second day, with traffic slowly easing up after days of heavy rain left tens of thousands of partygoers stranded. The mud-caked conditions have posed significant challenges for attendees, delaying their departure and causing frustration.

Phillip Martin, 47, and his brother from Arizona, who brought their 67-year-old mother to Burning Man for the first time, spent an exhausting 11 hours navigating the muddy festival site in order to leave. “It was a perfect, typical Burning Man weather until Friday — then the rain started coming down hard,” Martin explained. “Then it turned into Mud Fest.”

Event organizers began allowing traffic to flow out of the main road on Monday at around 2 p.m. local time, despite urging attendees to delay their departure in order to alleviate congestion.

By Tuesday morning, wait times had decreased from approximately five hours to two to three hours, as reported by the official Burning Man Twitter account.

Since its inception on a San Francisco beach in 1986, the Burning Man festival has grown in size and popularity, attracting nearly 80,000 artists, musicians, and activists each year to the remote Black Rock Desert. The festival is known for its vibrant themed camps, art cars, and ceremonial burnings of a towering effigy and a temple dedicated to the deceased.

While some attendees visit the desert to express themselves through music and art, others come for a psychedelic party filled with hallucinogens and nudity before the symbolic burning of the wooden effigy.

This year’s event began on August 27 and was scheduled to conclude on Monday morning, with attendees dismantling their camps and cleaning up. However, heavy rain on Friday, resulting in over half an inch of precipitation, transformed the playa into knee-deep mud, leading to road closures and leaving burners in need of assistance from one another.

Burning Man emphasizes self-sufficiency, with many participants arriving in the Black Rock Desert with limited supplies, prepared to face challenges such as scorching heat, dust storms, and even torrential rains.

Disruptions have become somewhat common in recent years, with dust storms temporarily shutting down festival entrances in 2018 and the event being canceled twice due to the pandemic.

Mark Fromson, 54, known as “Stuffy” during the festival, initially stayed in an RV but was forced to seek shelter in another camp due to the rain. Fellow burners generously provided him with food and cover, embodying one of Burning Man’s core principles of unconditional gifting.

After sunset on Friday, Fromson embarked on a challenging barefoot journey through the muddy terrain to reach his vehicle. The thick clay-like mud stubbornly clung to his feet and legs, but he considered the ordeal a testament to a “good burn.” Fromson commented, “The old, seasoned burners who have been attending for 40 years would just laugh at us with all the creature comforts we bring to the playa.”

The road closures occurred just before the scheduled ceremonial fires were set to begin on Saturday night. Subsequently, the fires themselves were postponed as authorities worked to reopen exit routes by the end of the Labor Day weekend.

The burning of “The Man” took place on Monday night, but the temple burning was scheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday. As tradition dictates, festival-goers leave behind names of departed loved ones and other remembrances to be burned in the temple. For many, the temple burning represents a more intimate and spiritual event compared to the lively immolation of the effigy.

In addition to causing travel disruptions, the heavy rain also presented challenges for emergency responders. Unfortunately, a man identified as 32-year-old Leon Reece passed away during the festival. Due to the rain, access to the area where Reece was reported unresponsive was delayed. However, authorities do not believe that weather played a role in his death, and the cause of death is pending the results of an autopsy conducted by the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office.

Amid the flooding, festival-goers were urged to conserve their food and water supplies, and most chose to remain at the site. Nevertheless, some attendees managed to travel several miles to the nearest town or catch a ride there.

Many individuals stranded at Burning Man turned to the official Black Rock City radio station, BMIR 94.5 FM, to request rides to Reno, San Francisco, and other nearby cities. DJs provided information about the stranded individuals’ belongings, including crates, bicycles, and supplies, while also facilitating cost-sharing for fuel and food.

Alexander Elmendorf, 36, braved the harsh weather in a campsite with trailers, RVs, and an aerial rig. On Tuesday afternoon, he remained behind to assist with the cleanup efforts, as tens of thousands of festival-goers had already left debris in their wake. Elmendorf anticipated a significant amount of work for everyone involved, emphasizing the need to clear everything from the ground.

According to Elmendorf’s estimates, approximately 15,000 people remained on the playa on Tuesday afternoon, although his friends believed the number to be closer to 20,000. Unlike previous years when staff would hasten the departure of attendees, this year, there is no rush, and individuals are taking their time to leave at their own pace.

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Contributors: Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Michael Casey in Boston, R.J. Rico in Atlanta, Lea Skene in Baltimore, Juan Lozano in Houston, and Julie Walker in New York.