Black Rock Desert

"The Black Rock Desert is home to the 4th largest city in Nevada, Black Rock City. The city is unique in that it only exists for 2 weeks out of the year. Voted number 1 for creative self-expression and hedonistic extremism rivaling and surmounting Las Vegas in visual stimulation it is markley less luxurious due to the temporary nature of the infrastructure. The city was unintentionally founded by Larry Harvey when his San Francisco bonfire party's were shut down by the San Francisco police for being UN-permitted gatherings and he joined forces with a group called the Cacophony Society to bring a large wooden structure shaped like a man to the desert to burn. As the population grows at a almost exponential rate with 80,000 temporary residents as of 2019, so do the questions of commodification, gentrification, and overall direction of the city. Like many small artsy community's in western united states, the fear of long-term residents of having their individualistic bohemian aesthetic compromised is fully epitomized by the invasion of a bland uniform army of Rental recreational vehicles. While one of the principals of self-reliance is exemplified by this invasion, many residences lack adhering to the principal of participation choosing instead to isolate themselves from the other residents and the admittedly harsh elements of the desert. Instead, they choose to enjoy the luxury of a self-contained rectangle on wheels with the occasional 10-minute excursion out for a photo shoot. What will the future hold for Black rock city one can only speculate. Will the wealthy residences eventually push out the artistic expressionistic population like we see modeled in San Francisco, or will the city managers attempt to control the weed of gentrification? Only time will tell. There is more to this desert than just a week-long non festival festival however. Once covered in water the fish emulsions and sediment make for a fine white dust that gets swept up into dirt devils and penetrates ones every senses. There are hot springs hidden on the edges and sweeping views into the event horizon. This was a route used by the emigrants heading west thru Great Basin tribes lands to California, and undoubtedly, they rested at the meadow surrounding the hot springs. The world's first, and so far, the only supersonic car was driven across the dry lake bed, reaching 763.035 mph I have often visited here and found it to be a transformative extreme place full of life, death, and a reminder of the only constant thing.......change. -From Local sol -3 google guide @ Black Rock City"

"It's a dry toxic lakebed in the Nevada desert until it's a wet toxic lakebed. Best place to buy ecstasy or LSD in Aug/September if you're in the area."

"This place is in my heart forever, the home of the playa of Burning Man... in dust we trust... a city that exists for only two weeks, full of magic, wonder like you will not see anywhere else, explosions of art, sculpture, beautiful people, kind hearts and everything else to set the senses alight."

"Magic place pre/post burn for a overland mountain bike excursion. Don’t get stuck in the mud!"