Renegade Burn 2021
Renegade Burn was awesome.
The week leading up to the main weekend r/burningman was full of FUD of gun toting rednecks, feces everywhere, and rogue police confiscating your property under civil asset forfeiture laws. Literally no one knew what 2021 was going to be like and my roommate and I still decided to head out that Friday morning and go experience it.
Friday morning driving onto the playa was great, you could see the mass of tents and people from a distance as you drove in at 60mph across the playa.
We picked a spot next to a single nissan van that was close to the insanity but far enough out we were confident we could get our cars out if needed without being trapped. Our neighbor, Huck, was cool and came alone so he was happy to have people nearby to build a bigger “fort” of cars to protect us in case anyone drove into our campground. Remember it was still morning #1 so we still didn’t have a grasp on what to prepare for.
Notice the tents between the cars as a way to prevent people running over us.
Day 1 evening was great, there was a camp about 100 yards from us with a massive 30ft pole in the air. We walked over and noticed they put an off roading winch at the base with a pulley at the top attached to a harness. They offered us a ride to the top to check out the view and had a complimentary whipped cream can to do whip-its at the top. I turned down both offers but watched others go to the top and have a great time. This is one such example of the absurdity of burningman, I will refrain from writing some of the other events I witnessed.
After the sun goes down at Burning Man the lights come on and it becomes a massive party. Its difficult to describe the experience when the sun goes down but it was truly something else. I had packed an astronaut outfit to wear at night and it was the best decision I made. The visor protected me from covid in dance circles as well as shielded my identity. This meant I could put the visor down and dance my way anywhere I wanted. No matter where I went people wanted photos of me and took polaroids of me and let me get onto any art car I wanted. I think the anonymity and absurdity combined to open doors for me all weekend.
Day 2 started with a top speed check in my 4runner. Usually Burning man has a trash fence that surrounds the perimeter so you cannot leave the main area and you cannot drive more than 5mph. This year there was no fence so I hit 92 mph according to my GPS with about 95mph on the dashboard. Turns out 4runners are electronically limited to 96mph and with the larger tires I was likely hitting the 96mph limit on the speedometer but my real speed was actually 92. We drove to the far side of the playa and experienced an eerie quiet that I cannot quite describe. It was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat and the crunching of the ground underneath you was very loud. I swear I was not on drugs; the dust, wildfire smoke, lack of wind, and distance from anyone else muted all noise and combined to be a bizarre experience.
My roommate and I returned to camp with the help of my GPS (garmin etrex 20 and I will not go to BurningMan without it) and had time for a chess game or two before our friends joined us. There is no cell service in the Black Rock Desert so I sent our gps coordinates using a SPOT device and Jill and Amy where able to get within about 30 feet of us which isn’t bad for the technology.
I didn’t take many photos on Day 2 after the ride to the far side and back, but the day was spent riding bikes, drinking, and dancing. Same ‘ol same ‘ol.
The “burning” part of burning man did not happen due to BLM (Bureau of Land Management) rules. However, in its place was a drone show that “burned” the man. It was awesome. Go look it up on youtube if you want to see it.
Don’t fall for the FUD. See you all in 2022.
