Burning Man Pictures

[eric2186]

Lest I be accused of posting off-topic (or attending such a vainglorious affair), I should say this is more properly labeled "Black Rock Desert during the tail end of Burning Man cleanup pictures." I've always wanted to see the Black Rock Desert, high temple to speed, the only place on Earth the sound barrier was broken on land. I was able to slot in a visit in near the end of a nine-day trip along the Pacific Coast, up the Columbia River to Hells Canyon, and back down to San Diego. It turned out to be a highlight among highlights during the trip, although the raging sandstorm and zero visibility was a little terrifying at times.


A rare view of the sky.


That's like, a big bug, man.


Mad Max ain't got anything on my ride.


Visibility was honestly worse at most times than even in this picture. There were trucks, including 18-wheelers, crisscrossing the playa doing cleanup and I was half expecting headlights materializing from ten feet away to be the last thing I remember (before hopefully waking up in a rural Nevada hospital). I spent a lot of the time staying still, hunched against the wind, breathing into a wet t-shirt dust mask, and thinking I had somehow landed on Mars.


Left my gloves on the ground for ten minutes and they straight up got Tatooine'd.


More pictures to come soon, surely (of the motorcycle trip, not of people playing dress-up with dyed-green hair and LEDs).

[brlawson]

Cool stuff. You may want to check that air filter when you get home.

[Cross-tie Walker]

Where's the chicks?

[Penderic]

I heard it got ugly this year. The rich guys, with their fancy ways, pissed off the lower classes and angry protests were made.

Next years theme: Eat the Rich!



 

[Testarossa]

Great pix.

Change the air filter now -- don't wait.

When I went, the playa dust got into everything. The truck was junk to begin with, which was the point of taking it there. Cleaning was hopeless. I don't plan to go again, but if I do, I won't take a vehicle I own.

My Burning Man adventure: http://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=189787&p=20

[ITSec]

Never rent a motor home in Las Vegas after Labor Day, at least not till the next spring. They were all taken to Burning Man, and it will take months before they're clean and reliable, or removed from the fleet.

Back in 2003, the Ironbutt Rally involved finding a checkpoint out on the playa near Gerlach. A buddy of mine was entered on a sidecar rig; he got out there and got stuck, since a summer thunderstorm had been through a few days before. Last I heard, he's still pulling lumps of clay out of that machine's crevices...

[Xlratr]

Amazing pictures!! Thanks for that. 

[Pisano]

I just set my work computer screen background to one of your pics.

Nice

[not-fishing]

Sacrilegious!

To treat a Griso that way!

Your penance will be to give Him a good cleaning why playing Italian Opera and take him on more rides.  just can't bring myself to thinking of a Griso as she -----unless it's a "Lola-she"

[scra99tch]

I just set my work computer screen background to one of your pics.

Nice

Same here, better start collecting your royalties.

[LowRyter]

the more I see of burning man, I think of hell on earth.

All those silicon valley guys and their high $$$$$$ BS and everyone else suffering for water and no gas allowed.  Do their helicopters count for "gas"?

Ayn Rand indeed.

[donn]

When we went some years back, a nice guy who wanted in on the fun took the whole group of us in his converted Trailways bus motor home.  But he did it on condition that we paid for a complete strip down overhaul afterwards.  I don't think the bus really took much of a beating, the weather was clear the night we rolled in and the day we rolled out.  There may be some elements of myth about that playa dust - I'm sure it's bad, but I still ride a bicycle I used down there, haven't noticed any corrosion issues.

[Testarossa]

The issue for things mechanical is the dust. It's incredibly fine, gets into everything, is nearly impossible to clean out thoroughly, and is horribly abrasive. Also alkaline with a pH of about 10. If not thoroughly cleaned up with a mildly acidic wash (dilute vinegar) I'm pretty sure it will etch aluminum, and maybe other metal. It's death on drive chains and especially the coaster brakes on a lot of the clunker burner bikes. I would never bring a motorcycle -- rules are pretty strict that you can't ride the bike around Black Rock City, just arrive and depart on it -- but riding through the huge dust cloud kicked up by arrival/departure traffic would be miserable.

[Chuck in Indiana]

The issue for things mechanical is the dust. It's incredibly fine, gets into everything, is nearly impossible to clean out thoroughly, and is horribly abrasive. Also alkaline with a pH of about 10. If not thoroughly cleaned up with a mildly acidic wash (dilute vinegar) I'm pretty sure it will etch aluminum, and maybe other metal. It's death on drive chains and especially the coaster brakes on a lot of the clunker burner bikes. I would never bring a motorcycle -- rules are pretty strict that you can't ride the bike around Black Rock City, just arrive and depart on it -- but riding through the huge dust cloud kicked up by arrival/departure traffic would be miserable.

Seth, your report on Burning Man was outstanding..
Edit: No offense to Eric at all, of course.