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To get to Black Rock City from the Bay Area, you drive to Reno on I-80 East, then you go a little bit farther, and then you head north and east on a two-lane desert highway. It’s my understanding that this is a very typical, very lonely desert highway for roughly fifty-one weeks each year. Then there’s the week of

the Burn… .

See that ribbon of cars? We’re all headed to the Burn. Nevada state road 447 ain’t lonely tonight. The gates of Black Rock City open at midnight. We’ve gotta be there.

We pass through desert towns that are like beacons to me now — Wadsworth, Nixon, the very edge of Empire, and finally, beloved Gerlach. And then, a few miles beyond, our eastern star: SPECIAL EVENT TURN RIGHT 500 FT.

We crawl along. SPECIAL EVENT TURN RIGHT 100 FT.

And then suddenly you turn right onto the dirt road that takes you into Black Rock City, and if this particular year you’re trying to chronicle your arrival (since that’s not really ever been part of the slideshow before, and with six years behind us, ain’t it time to show some new aspects of my beloved city?), you desperately try to snap a photo of the welcome sign as you roll by, but, alas, that one’s not really gonna come out so well.

And then you sit in stop-and-go traffic that is mostly stop. It’s like being at the Bay Bridge on a very bad morning. Only it takes longer, and it’s nothing like being at the Bay Bridge at all.

Strange figures emerge from some of the larger vehicles and begin wandering about in line.

Lanes split. You stare at the back of a different vehicle for a while. You try to figure out what’s atop it. And then things start happening much more quickly; you deal with the gate/perimeter crew and their inspection of your vehicle; you get moved on to the glorious Black Rock City greeters, who just make you bubble over with excitement at having finally arrived ‟Home,” and you forget all about your picture taking as you move on to the mad 2:30am land rush, during which you stake your claim to some prime Black Rock City real estate. You set up camp, and your head hits the pillow maybe an hour before the sun rises… .

… And the next day, the weather gets interesting. I was way too busy during the actual storm to take pictures of what a storm looks like on the Black Rock Desert, but the aftermath sure is pretty.

It is folly to try to zoom in on a rainbow? I can’t say.

The storm cleared as the sun set that night, providing one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen on the playa.

A couple days later, this was the scene in the sky late in the day. I’d never seen one of these setups before: Dude has a gas-powered fan of some sort strapped to him; he uses it to kinda nudge himself upward as he sorta sails around in circles. The rig makes a noise like the plane of M*A*S*H’s 5 o’clock Charlie.

Whatever it’s called, it’s definitely an interesting way to get a very good view of Black Rock City.

Let’s get away from camp and get a daytime look around the playa. Look, something for Burners to climb on!

The Man stood atop a multi-storied tower that evoked a classic skyscraper.

As we visited the Man, I saw this little guy scurrying around; I took this pic to demonstrate something that’s a surprise to some non-Burners: there are children at Burning Man!

The rather low-budget plaque at the base of the Man.

Climing up to see the Man. There were speakers mounted throughout the tower, playing various sounds you’d expect to hear in the middle of a big, crowded metropolis. (Did I mention that the event’s theme was Metropolis this year? Well, now I have.) Sounds like horns honking, a baby crying, a police siren, and so on.

On our way up to see the Man.

Looking towards the ringed roads of Black Rock City, from the Man.

Looking across a different section of the playa, we see the ‟Mant Farm,” an ant farm for Burners. We’ll visit that at night and take a better look.

And looking out from the Man in yet another direction, we see this year’s temple, the Temple of Flux.

The Man’s tower had a gargoyle keeping watch on each corner.

I love gargoyles.

The Man, as seen from the top story of his tower. See all the explosives packed inside him? Yum.

The view is just too good up here; let’s see what else we can see. Ooh, Tetris!

Looking across the playa toward 9:00.

The first time I saw the art in the foreground, it read HARVEYWOOD (after Larry Harvey, the creator and patron saint of Burning Man). But the next day, it read RAVE HOWDY.

Looking toward Center Camp from the Man.

Ahh. Playa.

Okay, Makenna sez it’s time to go.

The picture that proves I was there. Loosen up, kid. Jeez.

Yep, Makenna was there, too.

Happy girl. :)

Again with the uptight pose. What’s wrong, dude? You’re at Burning Man!

We’re out roaming the playa again. This year’s Metropolis theme led to several mutant vehicles aping mass transit.

BRAT: Black Rock Area Transit!

Okay, time to visit the Temple of Flux.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

ALOHA at the Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

A message in MUNI FastPasses at the Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

Mean People Suck!! at the Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux, Black Rock City, 2010.

Out roaming the daytime playa again.

Makenna’s gonna be waiting a while, I think. No buses on the horizon right now.

Snapped this’n to try to show how quickly a dust storm can come upon you. That dust is headed our way. About five seconds after I took this picture, we were in the middle of a white-out.

What’s the deal with this bird? He’s wearing a sign; let’s check it out.

The sign on ‟The Huckster.” Turned out he had all kinds of stuff to offer, from lip balm to condoms to breath mints to duct tape.

Mutant vehicles come in all shapes and sizes.

Loved loved loved the VW macrobus mutant vehicle.

When we got back to camp, Makenna grabbed my camera and my sunglasses and took this picture of James, her pet tribble, who was with us on the playa for his second year in a row.

And now a quick series of the murals at Center Camp this year.

Center Camp murals, Black Rock City, 2010.

Center Camp murals, Black Rock City, 2010.

Center Camp murals, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Hands Can Deceive the Head. The Head Can Enslave the Hands. Heed Your Heart.

McTropolis. Not exactly subtle.

Center Camp murals, Black Rock City, 2010.

Center Camp murals, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Black Rock City post office, 2010. Note their slogan (the same every year): ‟THERE’S NO TEAM IN FUCK YOU” (a play on the organizational favorite ‟There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’”)

The BRC post office had this excellent mutant vehicle parked outside.

Inside Center Camp, Black Rock City, 2010.

On the road home from Center Camp was this outpost where someone was always tearing it up on a shot-out piano.

The piano at 6:00 and Detroit, Black Rock City, 2010.

All right, you’ve seen my daytime pictures. The best stuff is always at night; let’s see what I was able to get encoded in bits. First up is the butterfly mutant vehicle.

Like many nighttime playa creations, the butterfly vehicle changed color more or less constantly.

I promised a visit to the Mant Farm earlier. Now I deliver.

A glimpse inside the Mant Farm. It’s sorta maze-like, though mostly in the vertical dimension… .

… definitely a lot of fun clambering around inside …

And then you get to the top, and you’ve got nighttime playa views like this one.

This is the exact same shot as the previous one, only a couple of seconds later. See how dark everything gets when nothing’s belching fire?

Still holding the same shot, my playa-side white whale appears: the Golden Gate Bridge mutant vehicle — often spotted, but always difficult to get a decent picture of. That pattern will hold.

The Golden Gate Bridge (blue tonight, it seems) marches across the playa, Black Rock City, 2010.

Whoosh! Suddenly there’s fire all over the place.

Perhaps this year’s best pic of the open playa at night.

This was a fire-breathing art piece called Ein Hammer. It an interactive bit of performance art that would take me paragraphs and paragraphs to describe. I’m mentioning it and including this picture only to provide context for the next …

… which shows you the most creative thing I saw out there this year: one tiny little piece of the whole Ein Hammer installation was this screen, embedded in the surface of the playa itself, displaying a carefully-constructed video that made it look like there were folks working down below in fictional sub-levels of the Ein Hammer complex. My photograph does nothing to convey how terrifically awesome this little detail was.

This was an installation called Megalopolis.

Megalopolis was not very impressive to visit, but as it changed colors, it was pretty to look at from a distance.

They burned Megalopolis the night before the Man burned. (I wasn’t there.)

And now for a late night visit to the Temple of Flux.

The Temple of Flux by night, Black Rock City, 2010.

I DREAM OF LOVE.

The Temple of Flux by night, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux by night, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux by night, Black Rock City, 2010.

A live performance at the Temple of Flux.

The Temple of Flux by night, Black Rock City, 2010.

Another returning favorite, the Soul Train mutant vehicle.

A dome tent mutant vehicle. This was more impressive than my picture indicates.

The Dust City Diner. I am not sure this place was ever really open for business. When I visited, several waitresses with very thick New York accents barked that they weren’t open yet. That may have been the entire schtick; I don’t know.

The Man at night, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Man at night, Black Rock City, 2010.

The Man at night, Black Rock City, 2010.

Kitty kar!

A nighttime gathering on the playa, Black Rock City, 2010.

Not sure what to call it, but it was purty.

Poor photo. Neat art car (being ‟pulled” by plastic reindeer).

This is Dr. Megavolt. He is insane. I’m too lazy to see if I’ve taken pictures of him in previous years; might have, as he’s a perennial favorite. Dude has this huge tesla coil up on top of his rig. He dons a suit that looks like the bastard offspring of a spacesuit and a chicken coop. Then he fucks with the tesla coil. And the crowd goes wild.

Dr. Megavolt cheats death, Black Rock City, 2010.

Bad shot, but I was desperate to show: DEATH STAR MUTANT VEHICLE. Freakin’ awesome.

Spooooky art car. Loved it.

Boom: Just like that, it’s Saturday night. Time to do what we come here to do: Burn the Man!

The Man just before his inevitable demise, 2010.

The fire dancers do their thing before the main event.

They move fast. :)

Fire dancers at the burning of the Man, 2010.

Fire dancers at the burning of the Man, 2010.

Fire dancers at the burning of the Man, 2010.

Fire dancers at the burning of the Man, 2010.

One very dusty, very tired, very happy couple.

T minus three seconds. And counting.

First, fireworks.

And sparklers.

And fireworks.

And more fireworks.

And more fireworks. The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

I always take too many pictures of the Man burning. I cut out the bad ones. Then I cut out boring ones. Then I cut out anything frightfully repetitive. And still I end up with dozens more pictures than seem necessary.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

See? They’re not all the same! The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

BOOM!

That oughta get something burning!

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The fireworks subside as the fire gets going.

The Burning of the Man, 2010.

The Burning of the Man, 2010. Not long after I took this shot, the tower collapsed straight down. Nice job!

The following night, as we walked out to watch the Temple of Flux burn, we looked up to see nighttime skydivers coming down with pyrotechnics on their feet. I’d never seen this before. It makes for a beautiful, shooting-star-like effect.

We await the burning of the Temple of Flux, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010. I can’t tell you anything about the large humanoid statue near the blaze. I don’t know its story.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

The Temple of Flux (alight), Black Rock City, 2010.

We were directly downwind from the fire, and the wind started picking up. Also, the fire started exhibiting firestormish behavior. Little fire tornadoes and such.

And pretty soon, not just ash, and not just embers, but BIG CHUNKS OF BURNING WOOD and such started falling on our part of the crowd.

It nearly became a stampede to get outta there, but calm heads prevailed, and as far as I know, nobody was hurt. Makenna and I needed to hit the road anyway, so we walked away as the Temple continued to burn.

And shortly thereafter, we found ourselves on the road out of Black Rock City. Full circle, eh?

The rear-view mirror on my way out of Black Rock City.

10:54pm, sez the car stereo. I’ll be back in Oakland by 6am. Another trip to Black Rock City is over and done with, and in a few weeks time, there won’t be anything left out here but the dust. See you next year, playa.