Tips on Traveling Light to Burning Man

[Jay the Unicorn]

Tips to Traveling Light to Burning Man

My buddy best described Burning Man as recreational moving. I would fill up a Uhaul, tow a trailer, and build a compound when I got there. So much time was spent in set up, break down, and post playa cleaning. I tried going light last year and it was one of my best burns ever. If you are considering less encumbered burn, I have the following tips for you.

Tip #1 – Take the Burner Express (the burner bus). The bus limits what you can bring (two luggage items and a piece of carry-on). It has an onboard bathroom, it makes at least one stop where you can make that one purchase you forget, it bypasses the line when you get there. You can make arrangements to buy water when you arrive on playa and they even have a camp area you can use when you get there. They also have shuttle buses to cart you around the city. If you pay a little extra, you can bring your bike.




Tip # 2 – Simplify your food. For your main meals bring dried backpacking food, a backpacker’s stove, and mess kit. These are the meals you keep at your camp. You will likely find some yummy food gifted to you but the backpacking food is your staple and it magically tastes better on playa. Buy yummy snack foods like trail mix, bars, dried fruit, cookies and so on. Separate the snacks a one gallon zip lock bag for each day. Whatever snacks you did not eat from one bag, pour them into the next day’s bag. You keep this food on you in your backpack (I carry a small backpack everywhere I go that keeps water, food, gifts, anti-darkwad lights, and warm stuff in case I don’t make it to camp before night fall).



Tip # 3 – Buy an affordable two man tent and sew fabric over the netting. Most tents have some netting that cannot be zipped closed. You can buy some tent fabric or find that canopy from that shade structure that broke years ago and use its cloth. A two man tent is perfect for single person because there’s room to place your stuff next to you. I was very happy with this Coleman two man tent and it was inexpensive.



Tip #4- Join a camp. My camp has a reasonable camp due and it included water, a shade structure to put my tent inside, and a nice shady hangout area supplied with friends to eat with or go off on adventures with. It also has a shower area for solar bag use. A shared space communally built proven far more luxurious than whatever I built on my own.

It was so wonderful to arrive at my camp (I cheated by coming late to camp was already set up), set up my tent, and turn around to find a camp mate standing there holding a cold beer and lime for me.

[Captain Goddammit]

These are instructions for How To Be A Spectator At Burning Man.
Ride the bus. Bring nothing. Join a camp like it’s a hotel. If everyone did this you’d have no reason to go at all.
Someone has to bring it all. “Do-ocracy” and all that shit.

[Ratty]

Jay you might tell us which department you volunteered for. You've been burning since 2010. I bet you've run across some of us as a greeter, working in Ice, Center Camp cafe, DMV, emergency services, ranger, Gate. Do tell. I'm sure we know you.

[Aurelia]

I think you're a little bit dependent :////ll