Camps are set on a muddy desert plain on September 2, 2023, after heavy rains turned the annual Burning Man festival site in Nevada’s Black Rock desert into a mud pit. Tens of thousands of drenched festivalgoers were stranded on September 3, 2023, in deep, sticky mud in the Nevada desert after torrential rain turned the annual Burning Man gathering into a quagmire. All events at the counterculture festival, which drew some 70,000 people, were canceled after rain tore down structures for dance parties, art installations and other eclectic entertainment.
JULIE JAMMOT/AFP via Getty ImagesLATEST Sept. 3, 9:50 p.m. Burning Man organizers announced that people attending will be able to start leaving Black Rock City on Monday morning, and that they would inform festival-goers by 9 a.m. of their decision.
Organizers asked that as Exodus begins, people still avoid Gate Road, which remained unusable due to the mud.
“We have created alternative routes that if used on Monday you will be flagged to the best area to drive across,” the statement said.
Sept. 3, 7:22 p.m. The extremely muddy conditions at Burning Man, which had already trapped around 70,000 festival-goers as it neared a close, took an added toll Sunday night: the “Man Burn” will have to wait another day.
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Despite the disastrous terrain all around Black Rock City, Nev., festival organizers still hoped to commence with the climactic burning of a wooden effigy, which had already been postponed Saturday. But those hopes were dashed Sunday night when officials posted on social media that the Man Burn had been postponed to 9 p.m. on Monday night.
The Burning Man Traffic account on X, formerly known as Twitter, said the postponement was “due to rain & muddy conditions Sunday & an inability to move heavy equipment & fire safety onsite.”
Heavy rain over the weekend turned Black Rock Desert into a mudpit, with only vehicles with four-wheel drive and all-terrain tires able to leave. Meanwhile, festival-goers such as comedian Chris Rock posted that toilets on site couldn’t be emptied. Organizers closed the gate out of the festival with the hopes they could reopen it late Monday.
Rock, along with DJ Diplo, ended up hiking six miles out of the playa, according to an Instagram post by the DJ.
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The Burning Man Traffic account also posted a weather update for Sunday night, forecasting a chance of showers with gusty winds. Clear skies, however, were expected for Monday.