Let's start off by talking about camps who wanted, but did not get placement (if that isn't you, skip this part and go to Gate Day). If you were not placed, it is not the end of the world! Let's not get into the blame game, don't go lynching your camp leader or coordinator, and don't go blasting the placement team. They go through more and more questionnaires each year than in the year before, and because every year almost every camp steps up their game what qualifies for placement is a moving target. It is what it is, so let's work with that. For many of you in this position, travel arrangements may already have been booked. My suggestion - unless you can change them at no cost, don't change them. In many cases, it's cheaper and easier to stick to the plan and just stay in Reno for a couple days. You can find some great hotel deals out there, and the awesome folks at Barbie Death Village have worked out a pretty sweet hotel deal (you can read more about that here). There are plenty of other options out there, with a little web searching you can find something that's right for you and your campmates. Use that extra day or two in Reno to your advantage - explore the Burners Guide To Reno (put together by Reno burners) and see if you can find better places to do your last minute shopping. If your camp has complex logistics, you might even want to consider checking out local storage for after the burn (no links for that, but you can investigate and find something that might work for you). Beyond that, relax for a bit and have fun. Take advantage of the pool or other amenities, spend time catching up with campmates, or go over those setup plans one more time. Soon enough, it'll be gate day.
Gate Day
Everyone should be reading this. The BLM has given Burning Man permission to open the gates at 10AM on Sunday August 30th. Holy crap, that's awesome! The idea is that this will move even more of the heaviest traffic periods to daylight hours. That makes the highway a little safer, and has the added side effect of giving people a few more hours on the playa to get their camps set up. This means you!
If your group is traveling in several different vehicles, you will want to have a plan. Agree on a target neighborhood, and agree on a specific intersection (for example, 4:05 and E) to meet back up at. Click here to check out the 2015 BRC city map, print a copy for each vehicle with your target area clearly marked. Even if you rock the convoy on the way from Reno to BRC, by the time you get through the gate and greeters, your vehicles will probably get separated. Having a plan means less stress. There is a Burning Man Traffic newsfeed on Twitter, if you've got a smartphone you should follow it and check it while you're still in an area that has service.
Do NOT plan to arrive before 10AM. What will happen is that the early arriving cars will wind up being parked in a staging area, and won't get into the city until the people who turned up at 10AM get in ahead of you. Ouch. Don't be that guy or girl, who goes through all that effort and puts in all that time, only to wind up in traffic limbo for several hours because you couldn't wait to get there. Figure that it takes around 2 hours from Reno to Gerlach with no traffic and will probably take around 3 hours once the gates have opened, so plan to leave Reno between 7-8AM (after making sure you've topped off the tanks and iced up all the coolers). Check the Burning Man Traffic feed on Twitter on the day (it might be nice in Reno but raging dust storms...or raining in BRC)! Veterans already know this, but for the benefit of the new folks, WATCH YOUR SPEED LIMIT! Basically, it goes like this: in between the little towns, the speed limit goes up and you can make great time, but when you approach one of those little towns the speed limit will quickly drop from 65+ down to 35 or even 25mph. And of course, there will be police officers on the lookout for people who don't slow down as they approach the tiny little town. Pay attention! It's not that they're jerks trying to get you, it's that they're sleepy little towns with tiny populations that include families with little kids, and the idea of thousands of fully loaded vehicles blasting down their main street at 75mph freaks them out.
Once you get past Gerlach and turn off the paved road and onto the gate road... you're almost there. Turn off the aircon or set it to recycled air so it doesn't suck up a bunch of playa dust. Stick to the posted speed limits! They're important for three very important reasons: first, the usual road safety junk; second, because driving faster contributes to tearing up the road and digging deep nasty ruts (veterans, you know how much they can suck); and third, because the dust you kick up will blow through the traffic ahead of you and also into the city.
With a 10AM gate, that means you'll be in that queue during the day, and probably as the day gets hotter. Holy crap, hydrate! It's worth noting that there are porta-potties on the gate road (several banks, I believe 64 in all),/i], but be sure that when *you* need to use one your vehicle won't be close. Make sure you've got a backup driver who can take over and let the driver high-tail it to the porta-potties. It does not matter what lane you are in - as you approach the gate, let them know if someone in your vehicle has a will call ticket - the gate staff will get you where you need to go safely. These people are awesome, and working hard to make sure people can get in quickly and safely - feel free to tell them you appreciate their hard work.
At the next step, they'll check your tickets and inspect your vehicle - YES, they have to inspect your vehicle! Know that someone is going to have to check through it, so leave some space when packing that cargo van or truck - the easier you make it for the gate crew, the easier you make it for yourself... and everybody else in the line. The best pro-tip I can share about this part is make sure your vehicle is easy to inspect. If it takes 20 minutes to dig through a big load, that's everybody in that line waiting 20 more minutes. If you pack like a champ and gate staff can get through it in 5 minutes, you just got everyone into Burning Man 15 minutes sooner
The veterans already know this, but for the sake of the newbies, know that if a vehicle is found to be carrying a stowaway, tickets for everyone in that vehicle will be confiscated, the vehicle pass canceled (and denied any re-entry to BRC), and the entire vehicle will be turned around and sent back to Reno. Nobody wants that, make sure everyone getting into your vehicle has either a physical ticket or printouts of the info they'll need for will call.Next will come Greeter's, which is another group of awesome people. If you've got a new person in your group (and I hope that you do), make sure they get the full court treatment (whatever that may entail). Holy crap, now you've gotten through greeters let's get to camp as fast as we can! Well, not quite. 5mph, folks! It's MUCH more important here, you are right on top of the city at this point. Leaving greeters is simple, left to go to the 9 side, right to go to the 3 side. If you're aiming for 6, pick either one and then turn back in as you get to the city streets.
You are now in Black Rock City!
Once you've picked a side, stay on the outermost street and keep it at or under 5mph until you get to the time on the dial you're looking for. Remember, keeping it at/under 5 keeps the dust and the ruts down. Do not dive into the inner streets hoping to save a few precious minutes. Rolling a bunch of fully loaded trucks on the inner streets will help tear up the playa and make for more ruts as we get through the week - nobody wants to pedal through ruts or big dust dunes, so avoid that if you can.
Get to that intersection you and your campmates agreed to meet at. If you've appointed someone as your "Glorious Leader And Decider Of Things" have the vehicle that person is in scout the 'hood and find an open spot. Once they find a suitable spot for the camp, pull in! If there are immediate neighbors, go say hi and check to make sure your camp boundaries are fine. This is important! Being neighborly here sets yourself up for having awesome neighbors all week, instead of some kind of playafied Hatfields/McCoys thing where people are grumbling about being in each other's space.
Once that spot's sorted, HOLY CRAP YOU'RE HERE! Send someone back to that intersection other vehicles will be going to and have them let your campmates know exactly where to find you. Pro tip - in addition to whatever camp signage you were thinking of having out in front of your camp, make a smaller sign with a space for you to write the location specifics in - and then put that sign up at the agreed-upon intersection.
Get 'er Done!
If you have campmates traveling with you who are not heavy lifters, send them to Playa Info (near Center Camp) to enter your camp's info into their computer. That way, anyone who might be looking for your awesome camp will know exactly where you landed. Depending on how the timing works out, and how quickly you get through the line, you may find yourselves at your camp site smack dab in the middle of the day. Be careful here - during peak daytime hours it can be easy to get overheated, dehydrated, and find yourselves with heatstroke. Take it easy during peak hours. If you've got a few people in your group who aren't heavy lifters, assign at least one of them to make sure your team is hydrated and taking in electralytes (whether that's through gatorade, pedialyte, emerg-n-c, or electralyte tablets doesn't matter). Try not to call them fluffers or some other name that makes them feel like a second-class campmate, because what they do will save your ass from heatstroke, exhaustion, and other things that can make for a very tough burn. Everyone in your camp is a rock star.
If you planned things right, you've got a map showing the layout of your camp's key structures. Everybody work together to get the first structure put together and secured, and from there you have a base of operations on the playa. Depending on how the size of your crew and what your plans are, you can either all move to the next thing, or split into smaller groups working on various parts of unpacking and unloading.
Weather and energy permitting, late afternoon and into the evening is a great time to set up your camp. If your budget allows for it and your camp has a generator, consider getting something like this:
If it's windy/dusty, don't attempt building at night - dropped bolts/screws/bits/whatever will be lost, and you'll fight a losing battle. If the weather's agreeable, evening and night setups are pretty great - the temps are much less oppressive. If you've got to hold off on setup (because of weather, night, etc), use the time wisely. Rest, hydrate, eat, explore the immediate area and meet the neighbors.
