Looking for a camp with showers and electricity

[Sansay]

Hello fellow Burners! Me and my wife (we are from Europe) will be going to Burning Man this year, and we already have tickets and an RV. However, we're currently in search of a camp that offers showers and electricity. I'm not sure where to begin my search, so any contact information or suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I am more than willing to pay for the camp and would also be happy to lend a hand with any work that needs to be done. Thank you so much in advance!

[Lonesomebri]

Well... What are you looking for in the camp culture? What kind of activities are you hoping to support on the playa? Other than the shower and electrical, what are you hoping for, to do, to build to create, to participate in? What do you bring? Some camps bake bread, some camps wash feet, some are sound camps, some hand out popsicles...
https://burningman.org/event/participat ... articipate
On the Burning Man official page you can track down a list of past camps, soon a list of current camps. There is contact info on some. But it will be what the camp does, not so much amenities.
https://burningman.org/about/history/br ... p-archive/
Leading with a request for shower and electrical might be seen in a negative way, as if securing a hotel, and not joining in a great activity. It's an attitude that is hurting the event's spirit.

Doesn't the RV has a generator and bathroom?

Good luck

[Papa Bear]

However, we're currently in search of a camp that offers showers and electricity.

I’m not sure what you actually know of Burning Man, but I think perhaps you’ve been misled, because what you’ve just asked borders on being offensive.

Theme camps are not hotels. They do not exist to help ensure that you have a comfortable camping experience. They are not something you shop around for to find who offers the best amenities for the best price.

Instead, they exist in order to offer some kind of interactivity or service to the rest of the city during the event. You see, everyone who comes to Burning Man is expected to participate in and contribute something to the city. That’s true regardless of whether it is your first time or your 20th, and regardless of how long a distance you travel.

Joining a theme camp is one way of doing that, but if you join a camp, the expectation is that you want to be part of whatever it is they offer to the city, and are going to put significant effort into help making it happen - not just do a few chores. So if you want to join a theme camp, you should be looking first and foremost at whether what the camp offers to the rest of the city.

Additionally, even if you do find a camp that aligns with your interests and promises you things like electricity and showers, you need to show up prepared to take care of yourself even in the case that the camp you paid doesn’t show up at all, or doesn’t provide what they promised. That does happen - even a good camp can have a bad year, for all kinds of reasons.

Also, not all camps are good camps. Camps that cater to overseas guests by promising those kinds of amenities are often run by people who see their theme camp as a way to make money and/or try to skirt other rules about how they obtain and use generators, showers, etcetera. Making money off of a camp isn’t allowed, and both the org and the BLM (government agency that looks after the playa) are serious about shutting that and unlicensed equipment providers down.

So there’s a decent chance such a camp may get shut down before the gate even opens, and you wouldn’t even know about it until you showed up. Even if it does, it might have key equipment confiscated or removed. That’s not theoretical - it happened to people last year.

You have an RV and tickets already. That alone puts you in a far more comfortable setup that the vast majority of other participants. If you really want electricity and showers, there are any number of ways you can plan ahead and arrange what’s needed. But fair warning - if you aren’t going to feel comfortable camping for a week without electricity and showers, Burning Man may not be a pleasant experience for you even if you can arrange them.

[Sansay]

Thank you for your replies and for explaining the true spirit of Burning Man. I feel quite embarrassed about my initial post. I am now fully prepared to embrace the experience, even if it means going without a shower or other amenities during the festival. I will also be more than happy to assist with any work required. Thank you for your understanding and help in this matter. I appreciate your time and effort in maintaining the ePlaya community.

[Token]

Welcome to the party!

Welcome to the culture.

Let’s talk about showers, the cleansing kind.

In the real world, we love our long hot showers. Stand under a stream of water for ten minutes and let yourself be renewed.

That shower head at home puts out ~ 2 gallon (or ~8 liters) every minute. That’s allot of water to be lugging out there for a 10 minute shower, which is what humanity usually does.

What we do on the Playa … gets you clean but can be done in as little as one gallon of water ( ~ 4 liters).

Here are some examples:

2.5 gallon camping shower bag - good for 2 + showers plus solar heated - very green. - hang that in your RV shower and use the spigot to get wet, soap, lather, rinse.

The partner shower party - great for couples and a ton of fun. - Use a Hudson Sprayer and your partner helps with the wetting and rinsing. This one is also great for folks that don’t have an RV - on a tarp, stand on a towel to catch all the grey water, do it outside and entertain the masses. Super fun if you are a bit of an exhibitionist. one gallon or less is doable.

Classic sponge bath. Many a human are washed this way in hospitals and third world countries.

The favorite baby-wipe, hit the points method. Works great when time is short and you just need that refresher.

Remember, pack it in, pack it out, never let it hit the ground.

BTW, your RV will hold ~ 50 gallons of potable water and will have double that capacity for grey and black storage.

If you master the 1-gallon shower, both of you can take one every day and still have 30 gallons left.

BTW, bring your drinking and cooking water in store bought jugs. Don’t depend on the RV water for that.

[some seeing eye]

Hey, welcome to ePlaya!

For first timers, I always recommend meeting your regional https://regionals.burningman.org/. They have already learned all the things you need to learn! The more in-person face-to-face friends you have in your regional, the happier you will be!

[Elorrum]

Good and well measured answers. Full accommodation for fee camps are not allowed and supposedly do not exist…Shopping for accommodation and camp amenities is a real turnoff. It is a desert camping trip. If you don’t like camping and you don’t like the desert, please don’t go. It sounds like you have a good start on your setup, consider perhaps that a full accommodation camp will be full of people who can’t take care of themselves. Will they on average, be a great group of camp mates?

[RC_MSP]

Maybe there is some misunderstanding about the label "RV". Are you renting an Recreational Vehicle that does not have a shower? Like some sort of towable camper? If you are renting a traditional RV, check the details and see if it has a shower. Then, make sure that black water and grey water tanks are empty and the fresh water tank is full before you get to BRC. Shower in your RV but use as little water as possible.

[Sansay]

Maybe there is some misunderstanding about the label "RV". Are you renting an Recreational Vehicle that does not have a shower? Like some sort of towable camper? If you are renting a traditional RV, check the details and see if it has a shower. Then, make sure that black water and grey water tanks are empty and the fresh water tank is full before you get to BRC. Shower in your RV but use as little water as possible.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. Our RV reservation was canceled due to Burning Man, so we ended up renting a campervan instead. Regardless, I'm genuinely excited to experience slightly less comfortable conditions and embrace the adventure of the trip as well!

[AlakaLazlo]

However, we're currently in search of a camp that offers showers and electricity.

I’m not sure what you actually know of Burning Man, but I think perhaps you’ve been misled, because what you’ve just asked borders on being offensive.
...

This!
Thank you (and hello!) Papa Bear, although the OP is a newbie and clearly didn't understand the cultural nature of the offense.
Here is how we explain our "amenities" to our new campers and others who are curious. I'll use power as an example.
There is a pretty clear line between (on the one hand) running a camp that has a principal focus of providing an interactive gift (and ours is extremely "interactive") that requires a large generator to provide power for the gift - which then also provides power for campmates (at or below cost); and (on the other hand) a camp that provides amenities as its main draw (and charges campers more than it costs for them) and then purports to provide some sort of gift that uses some of that power (say a small DJ booth or a bar) in an effort to justify providing the amenity.
The former is - I believe - well within our ethos as Burners.
The latter is a profit center, violates our principal of Decommodification, and possibly qualifies and a concierge camp.
When we have new campers apply to join us, if their first line of questions is not about how we provide our gift, but rather what comforts we provide, we explain the above. If during the rest of our our onboarding interview, they are clearly still joining because we have a power grid (or some other amenity), their chance of being accepted to join our camp is near zero.
Radical entitlement is not one of our principals...
Lazlo

[Skibum]

Don’t let these people Shane you. You want electricity and showers on the playa, along with about the other 40,000 people in rvs