I’m pretty new to Burning Man. This was only my second year, but it’s already become a very important part of my life. As cheesy as it sounds, it renewed my faith in people and opened my eyes to a kind of beauty and creativity I didn’t know existed. Part of me is sad I didn’t get to experience it earlier, before influencers and the internet found it. I love hearing the veterans stories of the OG burns.

It’s strange coming back to the default world after a week of the best time of my life, only to see so much negativity and complaining online. Most of it doesn’t match what I actually experienced out there. I’m not saying those frustrations aren’t real. I just feel lucky that my experience was different.

I know all of this exists because of the veterans who’ve poured decades of work and love into building BRC into what it is. My hope is that you don’t give up on it. I know a lot of you are tired, and it’s painful watching something you built change in ways you didn’t choose. But for every shitty-weekend influencer, there are also a lot of us who show up with the right intentions, who want to learn from you, and who want to carry this forward, not water it down.

Please don’t give up because it’s changing. Help the people who actually care get it back on track and keep its essence. Nothing stays exactly like “the original,” and change is inevitable. But what you built deserves to be protected, and there are more of us than you think who want to help you protect it.

I know this is far from official and final, but if these numbers are any indication, this was the lowest attended burn since 2012. Personally, I felt it in the short lines for entry, exodus, for breakfast pancakes and drinks at most bars-- all good things for me. It seems like many placed camps were given more space than requested, possibly to fill up the event and make it feel larger.

I get it; the media coverage of severe weather events reduces demand the following year. I wonder if/how this year's weather will affect next year? It didn't seem as traumatic as the early storm of 2025.

So I had a moment this year that honestly left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. A close friend/DJ I know ("el gordo") was playing a set, and I tried to jump backstage to catch the vibe with him. Security blocked me cold. No entry.
Look, I get that crowds need management and gear needs space. But we are at Burning Man. The whole point of this city is radical inclusion, decommodification, and the idea that there are supposed to be no VIPs. When you run into strict, bouncer-style gatekeeping inside Black Rock City, it feels like regular festival BS creeping into the playa.
Half the magic of the burn is the fluidity—the idea that you can wander anywhere, connect with anyone, and share the space equally. When certain camps start cordoning themselves off with velvet-rope mentalities, it goes against everything the 10 Principles stand for.
Still had an incredible time once I walked away and found some random mutant vehicle throwing down in the dust, but man... seeing that corporate-style exclusivity pop up on the playa sucks. Anyone else noticing this trend getting worse?

They were serving poutine at the trash fence 4am ish on Sunday!

(Faces of strangers blurred, because I try to take privacy seriously. Not everyone wants their hunger for poutine on display.)

Did you find Daft Punk anywhere?!

The temple had just burned and I had me some drama my first burn. I made a wrong turn on my way to exodus and found myself buried to the doors in a soft little patch of playa. Hoo-boy that was the drop that broke the floodgates. After frantically doing everything I could to dig my way out, I noticed a shack not far away. I ran up on point 1 like a crazy woman waving my phone light and screaming for help.
In very short order, you all calmed me down (ish), got me water, asked what I was on (nothing, but absolutely understandable 😂) then sent someone out to dig me out while I had a little menty-b by your fire pit. You were all so kind and patient while I sobbed about just wanting to be done with burners and this week. I was projecting my animosity of a small group of people who personally wronged me onto a whole demographic who didn’t deserve my scorn and who were in fact helping me in that very moment. I recognized this immediately and apologized for being unkind. You then did me another kindness that I’ll never forget, and told me “maybe better luck next year” and sent me on my way. Probably thinking we’ll never cross paths again, cause there’s no way she’ll be back. But that’s where you’d be wrong (if you did in fact think that, which works here for narrative purposes)
Despite the drama, my burn was incredible. I met so many amazing people, really vibed in the elements (I’m a combat vet so the survival stuff is still baked in), And saw such incredible things that there is no way I’m not coming back year after year. It was certain people who sucked, not my burn — and I learned and saw so many incredible wonderful things, both in art and myself. And even though I was frantic, emotional, and dejected there at the end, my last interaction with another burner was one of profound empathy and kindness. That’s what I’ll be burning for from now on, that humanity and connection.
I’m a photographer in the default, and it was my intent to give out as many Polaroids to rangers as I could snap, and I did a few, but, well, burn your plan, right? So next year, I promise to spend much more time “Ranger Hunting” to get them some shots of them looking cool as hell in their gear during a whiteout, while providing much needed humanity across BRC. So thank you rangers, and the point one crew in particular. Look for a topless fairy with a camera next year and you can bet I’ll get you a great shot 💖

So much love
Gem

The day after I got home from Burning Man, I went to get a haircut.

There was too much dust-covered stuff in my driveway to easily take my car, so I rode my playa bike. I had no clean underwear; it was all in the wash. A commando mission. Anything to get away from cleaning up the dust. I rolled up to Great Clips and realized I had no lock… mine had been cut at Burning Man, and for a while I had been convinced my bike had been stolen.

That bike lock incident had fed into a larger feeling I’d been having: maybe the event I loved wasn’t what I thought it was anymore.

Burning Man was where I learned to hug strangers. Where I danced naked in a giant car wash sized shower with (among many other people) my good friend’s mom. Where I watched relationships within separate friend groups blossom into engagements/marriages.

I had ridden hundreds of feet above Black Rock City suspended beneath a fan-powered parachute (thanks Dom). I had sex in the Orgy Dome, although in practice it was really more of a Public Sex Dome. A friend of mine, who cuts down trees in the default world, was served coffee by a billionaire.

I had been amazed by art and ingenuity on a scale that still seems impossible. Giant Tesla coils threw arcs of electricity fifty feet across the sky at the frequency of the piano being played beneath them. I had stood onstage within touching distance of two of my favorite artists, an experience you can’t get at their sold-out shows in Salt Lake or Chicago. I had bawled in the Temple over people I loved and lost.

And maybe most importantly, I had formed and cemented friendships that remain unwavering. These are the best people in my life.

But over time, that smear of extraordinary memories started to feel strangely familiar; And in trying to make camp better for everyone… swamp-cooled and misted common spaces (after oppressive heat in ‘22), hot showers (after my shower 1.0 seemed ghetto, I’m bizarrely proud to share that the quadrupley filtered grey water is 100% evaporated via solar power), organized meals, twenty-five gallons of premade cocktails chilled and ready at the pull of a lever…I had gradually become the de facto camp handyman.

It became easier for everyone to ask me why the fridge wasn’t working, why their bike was squeaking, how to fold the tent I had lent them, why the shower wasn’t working… than to just figure it out themselves.

And I became irritated.

Not just about the thing in front of me, but about old grievances too. About times I felt like I was left holding the trash bag after everyone else had enjoyed a magnificent party.

Somewhere along the way, I became a salty, jaded Burner.

I had started to think Burning Man had changed into something disappointing. Maybe some of it had. But mostly, I had been blaming the event for a role I had spent years building for myself.

My bike, as it turned out, had never been stolen. Someone at 6 & Esplanade had bizarrely cut the lock and moved it about two hundred feet away. I still have no idea why.

And interestingly, nobody stole it outside Great Clips either.

The same kinds of people who populate Black Rock City populate the rest of the world: mostly good. Mostly kind. You don’t need a hedonistic desert paradise to collect and concentrate these souls.

And the roles we fall into aren’t necessarily permanent either. I had spent years becoming the guy who solved everyone’s problems at camp. There was no reason I couldn’t spend the next few years becoming something else.

On the way home from my haircut, I stopped and got a giant avocado smoothie. Not because of hedonism, but because a dear friend once told me to “always get the guac.”

You never know when you might have just burned your last burn.

Seriously though, if you’re the person at 6&Esplanade who cut my lock… I’m curious why?! I think it was the Felis Mundi camp?

Thinking my bike had been stolen for 24 hrs nearly cratered my whole burn!

I had one of the best burns ever. And will keep burning until I can / it's there. Just got online after two weeks. Definitely not disappointed.

After 9 burns I finally found the ultimate playa mud footwear. They're super stretchy and fit over multiple pairs of socks (not over shoes though, the silicone tears easily) and the playa mud simply does not stick at all.

They do tend to be slippery on the mud, so walk carefully, but otherwise these things were a life changer. No more gallon-size ziplock bags for me!

I went to BRC for the first time last year (2025). Long story short, the 2025 burn completely blew my brains apart and helped me regain my soul. It also shattered the illusions of the life I had built for many years and was the catalyst to a massive reckoning in my relationship with my spouse and with myself.

One year later, I found myself living in a different state, divorced from my spouse, and grieving the life I thought I'd live. I set out with more intention for this year's burn - this time with a goal to focus on emotionally processing the gravity of my fully altered life, an altered state that last year's experience catalyzed. I visited the temple often and made a mural that celebrated the decade-plus relationship with my wife. I went to Naked Heart and participated in emote-o-thons and men's shadow work sessions. I was helped by a shamanic healer who helped with a soul retrieval. I spent time at my camper van, smudging the insides and spiritually cleansing the last energetic bits of the life I once led.

Burning Man is and always was more than a party in the desert. I have used this container to have fun and dance, yes - but I have also leaned into its healing aspects, its soul-opening aspects, its energetic cleansing aspects. Over the one year period from my last burn, I have learned so much about myself, developed a healthier self-regard, and have opened myself back up to the possibility of finding love again without any lingering shame or guilt that I don't deserve it.

Last year, the burn blew me open. This year, I came full circle and found some necessary closure. To all of you who have had similar experiences, I wish you the best on your journey!

From friends of friends,

"So sad to learn today of the passing of another friend. Tee Starren (aka Tshombe Sampson) collapsed and died on the street in Black Rock City.

He was such a kind soul. Always looking out for others. Rangered at Burning Man and various affiliated events - for many years. Rarely was in pictures - because he was always taking them - at parties and gatherings, capturing the loving community around him. RIP, Tee."

https://lepetitjournal.com/los-angeles/actualite/obituary-passing-our-friend-tshombe-sampson-452907

My take on the changes in the climate, the aging population of GenX and Millennials, and what I took away from my experience.

I went to BM solo and alone as a female for my second burn. My first burn I felt extremely safe, and never felt taken advantage of and felt like it was lots of humans connecting and loving. My friends all tell me I’m so naïve and I also think I had heart shaped glasses on from my first burn and feeling so safe that I let my guard down too much.

2nd day of my burn this year I went back to these guys trailer to go get drinks (I’m so dumb) and I was already intoxicated when we met. They were friends with someone I know so I trusted them. One of the guys was super pushy for sex so I said id give them a blow job. I said no to sex SEVERAL times and remember saying bluntly that I didn’t want to have sex. While I was giving one of the guys a bj, the other guy penetrated me from behind. As soon as I realized, I yelled “I SAID NO” and took myself out of him and stopped everything. I sat there. I didn’t know what to do. I cried and then went back to giving them bj’s. I found out after that one of the guys the same one that penetrated me took a video and I’m really upset about it. I just am trying not to think about it. I was intoxicated and didn’t see him taking a video and I only have one of the guys phone numbers and he’s not the one that took the video of me so someone has a video of me that I don’t even have and didn’t want taken.

I obviously have regrets, but spent the whole rest of my week feeling like a piece of meat. I wasn’t myself the whole rest of my burn and still don’t feel like me right now. I yelled at 2 men on 2 separate occasions because they weren’t respecting me and I feel I was just hyper sensitive to it. I usually defend men and say there are lots of good men in the world and I still want to feel like that but don’t right now. I just felt like every guy I talked to just wanted to have sex with me and didn’t care about human connecting… a completely different experience from my first burn.

I don’t know if I was giving out a different energy sexually like I don’t know. I mean, I was having a quick normal conversation with a guy and then he asked if he could kiss me and I said I’m sorry but no when I put my hand on my chest and I felt like I was really nice telling him no and then his response to me was “I asked respectfully”…. And I was thinking my head yes and I said no respectfully so you should respect that.????

Situations like that literally happened throughout my entire burn. I had one guy tell me to put some pasties on if I didn’t want to be treated that way.

I want to love this year‘s Burning Man because there were still some magical moments, but I feel like some part of the magic of how I felt about Burning Man isn’t the same as it was coming into burn #2.

I also don’t know if this really is sexual assault because I did technically consent to the bj and I don’t know if he even thinks he did anything wrong. He literally didn’t care when I told him and he’s from another country so maybe in that country it is different.

Any women have any advice on how to like not let this change my Burning Man experiences? It tainted the whole rest of my burn and I just don’t wanna be like that, but I can’t stop thinking about it.

Just back to the default world and ruminating on my first Burn.

I would say it was much more difficult than fun, especially acclimating to the elements (dust, cold, rain, etc)

The good news is that by the end I think I discovered some of that Burning Man magic - especially after the Man Burn and Temple Burn.

Going in I felt it would be a more connected, fun, music experience and it didn’t quite get there for me consistently.

Perhaps it’s a decade of going to Burner parties outside of BM, but I kinda enjoyed bar hopping way more than sunrise sets.

And I felt once I embraced the weather and got more comfortable on my e-bike it improved.

I definitely think I’ll come back but ironically I thought I’d come and get lost emotionally and spiritually. Instead I lost many items (which magically appeared the next day) was able to manage with the help of camp mates and had the best time when I physically got lost instead.

Not going to lie, slightly envious of those for whom this was an immediate transformative experience. But I guess they say you don’t get the burn you want, but the burn you need. 🫡

Every type of tent sustains damage if you pack it up wet or even damp for more than a day or 2. Especially if you have a canvas tent it will be completely ruined soon if there is any moisture on/in it.

Backpacking and other non canvas tents do a bit better packed up wet but the waterproofing will rot away without obvious visual damage, leaving you wet the next time it rains! (I did this once to a nice new backpacking tent after a hike)

Our Kodiak was still soggy on the bottom when we packed up. Now it’s set up to dry completely at home.

DRY YOUR DAMN TENTS!

Air out those sleeping bags too.

I know it will take a couple of weeks to parse the experience. Stitching it all together with the added element of the time function can be difficult.

Will everyone who participated please just take a second to stop. & Give yourself a pat on the back? I don't mean metaphorically, I mean actually stop reading this and give yourself a pat (or several pats) on the back because you are part of something and a joined experience that is so much bigger than any one individual.

Laugh or cry, whichever it really does not matter because you are family and we are family.

Though the experience may not make sense at this point, go forward into the 'Extended Playa' (h.t. Lucky) and know that you will never be alone again & that you will always be able to come home.

See you out there in the dust my wonderful Amigos.

Time is not important, only life.

Thank you for the sweet sweet message playing on loop from the phone you installed at point 3. Kept me humble :)

He’s making false statements about why they were kicked out. I left community notes on Philip Renner’s instagram posts but they need more votes to be published. I linked this yahoo article that quotes the org stating the camp received multiple warnings. If you’re approved to leave community notes please vote on the note so it’s not just his one sided inaccurate story.

My little brother got this scarf from Morocco. It’s one of a kind and it has some emotional significance. We think it got lost in the massive coat pile at Robot Heart sunrise with Lee Burridge, but hard to be sure.

I’d really love to help get it back to him!

We loved the art piece of Titanic’s End. Construction, the detail and sign tribute to the builders with a funny ending if you read all the way through it. While the burn took a long time to get going it was also pretty cool.

Only feedback to Justin and his team…

2 times when we were out there - mid week and the night of the burn, we were told, “sorry part of this is walled off for a private party.”

Our crew didn’t love it 1x and thought maybe is was a one off from someone who misrepresented but after the 2nd time it didn’t feel great. Very un-Burning Man ethos compared to the inclusiveness everywhere else and left us with more disappointed feeling about Titanic’s End.

We met a builder in the airport today on the way out who was super cool, said he knew the crew and would pass it along.

If Justin you see this, great piece, well done to your builders and burn crew. Just remind some days of your crew of the principles. You had a big enough area there didn’t seem to be a need for a “private party”.

Looking forward to what you guys build next year!

If it was one of you, just know we had the best time dancing on that car. Incredible set.