North Coast family shares Burning Man experience after unseasonal rain drenches iconic Nevada, US festival

A Byron Shire family travelled thousands of kilometres to the Nevada desert for Burning Man, enduring unseasonal rain and flooding – but they have few complaints. Here’s their story.

Byron Shire resident Gabrielle Euphoria’s 10-year-old son Hamish traipsing through the mud at Burning Man. The family still loved their visit.

A North Coast family travelled thousands of kilometres to the Nevada desert for Burning Man, enduring unseasonal rain which flooded the area – but say they’ve had a blast anyway.

Burning Man is festival held each year in the Black Rock Desert, Pershing County.

This year’s 35th event from August 27 to September 4, attended by more than 70,000 people, has been struck by heavy downpours, stranding many travellers.

Gabrielle Euphoria says Burning Man was “pretty cool”, despite some issues.

The alternative festival is named after the symbolic torching of a massive wooden effigy.

Upper Main Arm, Byron Shire resident Gabrielle Euphoria said her family was “doing great” and enjoyed the festival despite difficulties.

“It’s pretty cool, even though we are stuck,” she said.

“It’s my first Burning Man. I went with my partner Chad Wilkins, who has been several times and my 10-year-old son Hamish.”

The family was organising flights back to Brisbane, but battling to get out of the site on time.

Gabrielle Euphoria and partner Chad Wilkins at Burning Man.

“We are currently queued trying to leave,” Ms Euphoria said on Monday local time.

“The sun is out, mud is thick, but right now we are moving.”

The festival is held on the dry flats Black Rock Playa, known for its alkali soil.

“We are crossing the playa and are in traffic to the motorway now,” Ms Euphoria said

“It’s a beautiful day and the roads are usable after no rain last night.”

Later, the family provided another update, about 7pm local time on Monday They managed to crawl their vehicle out of the festival and travelled to the neighbouring state of California to line up a flight.

An image from the festival site.

“We took four hours to get out,” Ms Euphoria said.

She said she expected the ‘Man’ would be burnt in coming hours.

“This is the soonest they’ve been able to have the necessary fire safety vehicles access the playa,” she said.

Gabrielle Euphoria at the festival.

Ms Euphoria said her family left before the burn to avoid an even longer wait.

The musician said her family was at the end of a USA “summer tour” and Burning Man was “the cherry on top”.

This year’s Burning Man festival at Nevada was hit by unusually wet weather. Picture: Instagram

Ms Euphoria said the festival was almost indescribable.

“My favourite bits were the art cars and stages and art installations everywhere that were all alight and just so incredibly visually engaging,” she said.

“I also love the way no money changes hands on the playa, but there’s a strong gift culture so anything that’s happening or being offered at any camp is being gifted.

“It’s an incredible experience of generosity in action on a large scale.

Gabrielle Euphoria and her family spent hours leaving the site.

“One of our fave places to go was the organic fruit and vege’ camp that literally chops and hands out fruit and veg all day with awesome live music and DJs, so while you‘re sampling the amazing pickles and fruits you’re also having a boogie.”

Ms Euphoria said her son loved the trampoline parks and skateboard ramps set up with all the gear needed.

“There’s even a roller-skating rink with loads of skates you can use,” she said.

“Everyone gets around on lit up bikes as the (pop-up) city is huge.”

Unseasonal rain flooded the desert, causing drama on site.

Ms Euphoria said the experience was beyond her wildest dreams.

“We got to experience that for the first couple of days and nights and then the rain came,” she said.

“We had to move out of our tents after it rained as all our stuff got wet.

“The dust turned so sticky and we all ended up piled into an RV with people sleeping on every available flat surface … we were lucky to have a friend with an RV.

“The winds were strong and fortunately with the playa being wet there was no dust storm accompanying the winds.”

Australians Mary Sarandon and Richard Brunt at Burning Man.

Australian Mary Sarandon, from Whale Beach, Sydney said the mud at Burning Man was “like clay”, but “no one was trapped” on site.

“We needed to shelter in place over the weekend because the mud was like clay,” she said.

Ms Sarandon said some people who beat the rush managed to get off site in about half an hour, but for others “it is a five-hour wait for an exodus”.