People Seeking Camps 2026
Posted: Mon May 04, 2026 11:27 am
For those who are new to the community and not sure how to proceed, I strongly suggest that you take the initiative and try to find your own camp. We all understand that getting to Burning Man, especially in that very first year, can be really hard. When you read about Burning Man and the Ten Principles, one of them is radical self reliance. Sure, there are lots of ways to read or interpret that, but in a nutshell you will call upon yourself to figure out a lot of ridiculous stuff ("the rainbow tutu, or the bee costume?") and do more than you might have ever thought you could. You might have already hit that milestone - but out of all the crazy stuff you have to figure out for Burning Man, figuring out your camp isn't that hard. You have three basic options:
If you're looking at joining a camp, there are two main ways to go about it. The radically self reliant approach would be to take a look at the camps out there and find something that resonates with you, and then reach out to that group. You're going to find information about camps in two main places. First is the message board you're on right now... ePlaya. Early in the season the pickings may seem pretty slim, but as camps start to figure out what they're planning for 2026 they'll start posting about it. Look through the threads, and if something jumps out at you as cool, exciting, or fun... then post a reply. Or better yet, click on the PM button next to the thread starter's message to send them a private message. As it gets later into the season, many camps and camp leaders aren't checking the boards that regularly, so sending a private message to express your interest sends them a notification, and typically gets a faster response. The other place to find a list of camps is the partial list of 2026 theme camps. It has a list of all the camps who filled out placement questionnaires and chose to make their information public. Holy crap, that list is huge, and it's exhaustive to read it all, but it's also a lot of fun to see what people build and bring to Burning Man. Find something interesting, then fire up an internet search engine and find that camp. Many have web sites, or Facebook pages or some kind of internet presence. Speaking personally as a person who organizes a camp, a camp leader is more likely to be moved by someone with a genuine interest rather than a generic post or form letter response.
Failing the above, yeah you can post a 'Seeking Camp' post as a reply in this thread, To some it suggest that you may be lacking in initiative or radical self reliance... which is probably not your intention. It is understandable though - you may be new, or your plans may have fallen through, or it all just seems too overwhelming. It will be okay. Take a moment, maybe even two, a couple deep breaths, and go. You can do this.
Mod Note: anyone feeling the need to post their own plea in hopes of a camp seeking them out and adopting them... should post it here. Camps that would like to respond to posters in this board should do so by using the private message or email button under the poster's name - don't post camp adverts or responses here as they will be removed.
- You can camp by yourself! You all by yourself, or you and your group of however many friends, can go camping and survive and have a great Burning Man experience. Thousands of burners do just that every year, and they have an amazing burn.
- You can start your own camp! It doesn't have to be a theme camp, or your theme could be any shared interest ("Hot Sauce Camp" is just one of a billion ideas to choose from). Sure, some camps work all year to build their stuff, but you can come up with an idea in no time and invite other like-minded people to join you.
- You can join somebody else's camp! The best reason to join another camp is because 'holy crap they sound awesome and I want to be a part of that!' but you may also have reservations about doing #1 or #2. If it's your first time out there, one of the best ways to learn about doing things is to join another camp and get involved and learn from them...or any number of other totally valid reasons. So don't feel bad about having a strong desire to be part of a larger group.
If you're looking at joining a camp, there are two main ways to go about it. The radically self reliant approach would be to take a look at the camps out there and find something that resonates with you, and then reach out to that group. You're going to find information about camps in two main places. First is the message board you're on right now... ePlaya. Early in the season the pickings may seem pretty slim, but as camps start to figure out what they're planning for 2026 they'll start posting about it. Look through the threads, and if something jumps out at you as cool, exciting, or fun... then post a reply. Or better yet, click on the PM button next to the thread starter's message to send them a private message. As it gets later into the season, many camps and camp leaders aren't checking the boards that regularly, so sending a private message to express your interest sends them a notification, and typically gets a faster response. The other place to find a list of camps is the partial list of 2026 theme camps. It has a list of all the camps who filled out placement questionnaires and chose to make their information public. Holy crap, that list is huge, and it's exhaustive to read it all, but it's also a lot of fun to see what people build and bring to Burning Man. Find something interesting, then fire up an internet search engine and find that camp. Many have web sites, or Facebook pages or some kind of internet presence. Speaking personally as a person who organizes a camp, a camp leader is more likely to be moved by someone with a genuine interest rather than a generic post or form letter response.
Failing the above, yeah you can post a 'Seeking Camp' post as a reply in this thread, To some it suggest that you may be lacking in initiative or radical self reliance... which is probably not your intention. It is understandable though - you may be new, or your plans may have fallen through, or it all just seems too overwhelming. It will be okay. Take a moment, maybe even two, a couple deep breaths, and go. You can do this.
Mod Note: anyone feeling the need to post their own plea in hopes of a camp seeking them out and adopting them... should post it here. Camps that would like to respond to posters in this board should do so by using the private message or email button under the poster's name - don't post camp adverts or responses here as they will be removed.