Eight hours west from San Francisco, past Berkeley and Sacramento, past Lake Tahoe and 120 miles North of Reno, deep into Nevada, you'll find Gerlach and Black Rock Desert. This flat, hostile and dry desert is just another desert more than three hundred days a year. In September '98 though, twelve thousand visitors came in motorbikes, cars, vans or RVs, set up their booths, arenas, tents and camps, and transformed this place instantly and massively into Black Rock City, the most uncommon of worlds. In everyone's mind traveled two words: Burning Man. What is it, everyone wonders The answer will vary from one person to the other. The organizers call it an "experiment in temporary community". Some people think it's the truth, others an ideal society, some call it freedom. But most people say that Burning Man is really what you make it. Participating in this general craziness was certainly a new experience for me. Our neighbors call us up to join their face painting.
