Whiteout at Burning Man

Thursday morning was fairly pleasant. A thick layer of clouds provided a welcome reprieve from the baking sun. A few hours later the clouds had yet to burn off. Something was up.

Around two in the afternoon Mother Nature let us in on her surprise. The wind started getting stronger and stronger with gusts that strained the sturdiest structures and collapsed the weaker ones. We watched a solid wall of dust sweep silently toward us from several miles away. It didn't take long. I can only compare the mixture of nervousness, fear and anticipation to those last moments before a first kiss.

After some last minute battening of hatches, we took refuge with our neighbors Dav, Tonya, and Nick. We couldn't have asked for better neighbors than these three. Ju-Hui and I benefited from their hospitality all week. Dav was a Burning Man veteran several times over and had things down to a science. We zipped ourselves inside his portable carport as the bright afternoon light muted to barely a glow as the leading edge of the dust storm poured over us. We hunkered down with our goggles and breathing masks, unsure of how long the storm would last. Suddenly Dav dropped to his belly and rolled out the bottom of the carport! What are you doing?!

Dav came back a short time later with an account of how things were going in the neighborhood. Though it seemed preposterous at the time, walking around in a whiteout isn't bad at all if you have well-fitting goggles and a mask. There is some sand blowing around, but primarily the cloud is just very fine alkaline dust. I took my own trip outside the carport to discover that things were business as usual in Black Rock City. People were walking around, riding bikes, and playing frisbee.

Vision was limited but my hearing easily led me to the Deep End, an elaborate Wild West style open-air club. The main plaza was boxed in by buildings on each side including a functioning (and free!) saloon, a water tower, a two story stage/DJ stand and a lounge. And It was packed! People were dancing on the water tower scaffolding and any other surface that seemed likely to support them. I really like techno music but usually feel a bit out of place around the club kids for whom partying is a way of life. The fact that everyone was filthy and anonymized behind goggles and masks allowed me to just relax and enjoy dancing in a dust storm.

After a few hours the storm passed and those who didn't properly erect their tents and shade structures set about trying to do better the second time around. Ju-Hui and I were relieved to find that our tent survived unscathed. Everything inside the tent, however, was covered in a layer of dust even though we secured bedsheets over the mesh windows. Just 100 feet away from our tent, a car was crushed by a flying geodesic dome while its owner took a nap inside. The dome had flown in from two streets over, a tarp apparently acting like a kite. Try explaining that to your insurance agent!