What to see and visit in the USA, what you can’t miss: Black Rock “Black Desert” in Nevada

The “Black Desert” in the US state of Nevada is an amazing corner of our planet, heated by an endless number of volcanic formations, geothermal springs and pools - evidence that the earth is still alive and blazing with heat in these places.

In the photo below you can see Trego Hot Springs bubbling in the southern Black Rock Desert.

The length of the black desert is 110 km and its width is 32 km.

The Black Rock Desert is part of the dry prehistoric Lake Lahontan, which existed 18-7 thousand years BC during the last ice age.

Now the black desert has turned into a salt marsh - an endorheic lake in northwestern Nevada.

The sand of the Black Rock Desert is black due to its volcanic origin.

Fly geothermal geyser

Can a miracle be both man-made and natural? Seeing how hot geysers called Fly soar into the clouds, you will understand that sometimes human intervention helps the universe reveal its beauty. The small Fly geothermal geyser in Nevada is a natural-man-made miracle, which by its existence confirms the proverb and saying: “If there was no luck, but misfortune would help” and “Small, but daring.”

Meet the famous geyser called Fly. Minerals, algae and cyanobacteria give it this incredible color.

The flow of hot water from the Fly geyser does not stop for a second. The geyser constantly emits three jets. Currently its height is almost one and a half meters. And if you take into account the surrounding terraces and natural elevation, it will be about 3.6 meters.

Once upon a time, on the site of this geyser there was a Fly ranch. In 1916, a rancher was drilling a well in hopes of turning the desert into fertile wet grassland, but accidentally stumbled upon a geothermal pocket of water. Having failed to achieve the desired goal, the well was closed. Only after several decades (in 1964) boiling water from underground began to make its way through the well to the surface. This created a beautiful little fountain, eventually creating this colorful beauty.

The underground water of this rugged region is full of various minerals and algae. The geyser began to form walls, it grew and became stronger. Minerals painted this miracle in bright colors. But no one knew about it; it was surrounded by swamps and lost among the rest of the landscape.

Everything changed when a certain talented photographer wandered into these parts. He picked a good angle and photographed the geyser as if Fly were a large mountain. The photo created a sensation and, spreading through the media, attracted crowds of tourists to the geyser.

The owners of the lands on which the geyser is located did not like this invasion of the curious, and they surrounded the territory with fences and gates. The ranchers have been offered several times to sell their properties in order to open access to everyone, but so far they have refused. Therefore, to visit this attraction, you must ask the owners for permission to visit these lands in advance.

This place is famous for its paleological features, as well as for the fact that in the 19th century, migration routes to California passed here. In addition, the speed of ground and rocket vehicles is often measured at this place.

The dry surface of the lake bottom in the southern part served as a testing ground for setting a land speed record. The speed record - 1,228 km/h - over a one-mile (1.6 km) distance was set by Andy Treen from Great Britain in the Trust SSC car in the Black Rock Desert in October 1997. The car was powered by two Rolls-Royce jet engines. This is the first car to exceed the speed of sound.

Burning Man Festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada

Since the 1990s, the desert in Black Rock City, NV (photo above) has hosted the annual Burning Man festival, which attracts tens of thousands of people to the desert areas.

Burning Man is an annual eight-day event that begins on the last Monday of August at zero one minute. The climax occurs on Saturday after sunset when a huge wooden statue of a man is burned.

The “Black Desert” in the American state of Nevada is an amazing corner of our planet, where hot geysers soar into the clouds and the sand is painted black. This mystical place with dry black rocks and sparkling geysers attracts with its unearthly atmosphere.
The Black Rock Desert is a salt marsh, endorheic lake in northwestern Nevada. The length of the desert is 110 km and its width is 32 km. It is part of the undrained Great Basin.


Numerous volcanic and geothermal formations are found in this desert.


This famous geyser, called Fly, is actually no taller than a man. But thanks to a good shooting angle and lighting, the photographers were able to create the image that he was the most beautiful giant on the planet, constantly spewing three jets of water:


Minerals, algae and cyanobacteria give it this incredible color:


Once upon a time, the Fly Ranch was located on the site of this geyser, but when the rancher drilled a well in 1916, in the hope of transforming the desert into fertile wet meadows, he accidentally drilled into a geothermal pocket of water. However, it wasn't until 1964 that boiling water began to rush to the surface, creating this geothermal beauty:


The owners of the lands on which the geyser is located have been offered several times to sell them in order to open access to everyone, but so far they have refused. This monument is surrounded by fences and gates, so tourists must ask the owners in advance for permission to visit these lands.


Since the 1990s, the desert has hosted the annual Burning Man festival, which attracts tens of thousands of people to deserted areas of the desert. During the festival, monetary circulation, as well as movement by car, is completely prohibited on its territory.


This place is famous for its paleological features, as well as for the fact that in the 19th century, migration routes to California passed here. In addition, the speed of ground and rocket vehicles is often measured at this place.


The dry surface of the lake bottom in the southern part served as a testing ground for setting a land speed record. The speed record - 1,228 km/h - over a one-mile (1.6 km) distance was set by Andy Treen from Great Britain in the Trust SSC car in the Black Rock Desert in October 1997. The car was powered by two Rolls-Royce jet engines. This is the first car to exceed the speed of sound.

“Welcome to Nowhere,” says a sign at the entrance to the town of Jerlak, with a population of just 500 people. Jerlak is located in the heart of the Black Rock Desert, which covers an area of ​​2,600 square kilometers in northwestern Nevada. About 20 thousand years ago, these places were the bottom of the ancient Lake Laontan, which finally dried up about 5-7 thousand years ago. In the 19th century, the route of settlers to California lay here, and today races in rocket cars are held, during which land speed records are set. In these same deserted places, enthusiasts launch homemade rockets into space. In August, more than 50 thousand participants come here for the annual Burning Man festival. They organize various installations and shows, play games, sing songs, enjoy life - all this resembles a carnival that lasts more than a week. On the last day of the festival, after sunset, a huge wooden statue of a man is burned.

Dry black rocks, desert storms, sparkling geysers - all this is just a small part of the desert, which is difficult to even describe, but the extraterrestrial atmosphere they create is enough to fall in love with this place once and for all.

FACT

Here in 1997, Briton Andy Green exceeded the speed of sound for the first time at a distance of 1.6 miles.

FOR WHAT

See a unique natural object located approximately 27 km north of Jerlak, on the territory of a private ranch - the Fly Geyser. Water began to gush here in 1916, during the construction of an artesian well, and over many years, salts dissolved in the groundwater formed these amazing multi-colored rocks.

ON THE ROAD

Flight from Moscow to Alliance, Nevada, with two transfers in New York and Denver (Transaero, US Airways, Great Lakes Airlines).

Open air, rave, music or art festival? Cosplay? Organizers refuse any definition and prefer to call Burning Man an “event” in the Black Rock Desert, but for each of the participants it represents something special.

Photographer Jamen Percy, an experienced burner, dedicated the photo project whatisburningman.org to answering this question.

When it comes to Burning Man, people are divided into two camps. Those who sincerely do not understand why climb into the desert with the nearest populated area 300 kilometers away, fall asleep and wake up with dust in their eyes and ears, hide from sandstorms and sudden changes in temperature day and night. And others - let's call them dreamers. They are ready to travel and fly hundreds and thousands of kilometers in order to temporarily become residents of a city that exists only eight days a year and where everyone can realize their wildest creative ideas, and in return they will meet only curiosity and interest - no judgment.

In 2015, 70 thousand people attended Burning Man.

How it all began

It all started in 1986. A group of friends gathered on the beach of San Francisco on the summer solstice to burn an effigy of a wooden man. The party was a success and began to take place every year. In 1990, when the event had about 800 participants, the police for security reasons prohibited burning the effigy on the beach. The Berners teamed up with the Cacophony Society, moved the celebration date to the last weekend of summer (Labor Day) and moved from the beach to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

This desert is part of the dried up prehistoric Lake Lahontan, its bottom is perfectly flat, there are no sand dunes, but there is dust. A lot of dust!

It was in the desert that Burning Man turned from a beach party into a grand festival where people come for emotions and inspiration. This is a place of attraction for independent artists and musicians, hippies and freaks of all stripes, inventors, dreamers and romantics.

Over the past twenty years, BurningMan has been attended by Google founder Sergey Brin, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Elon Musk (Tesla). In addition to the luminaries of Silicon Valley, in the vastness of Black Rock City you can meet the most diverse crowd - from starlets from Los Angeles to hedge fund managers from London or whalers from Alaska.

Writer Chuck Palahniuk said in an interview that Burning Man's older brother, the Cacophiny Society (a cacophonous society that defines itself as an association of free people who want to expand their experience beyond the boundaries of everyday life through senseless madness) is the prototype of the Mayhem project from novel "Fight Club".

What you need to know

Anyone who decides to venture into the Black Rock Desert needs to be aware of the ten core principles of Burning Man, which are designed to preserve the unique atmosphere and warn participants of what they will encounter.

1. Radical inclusion

Everyone can be a part of Burning Man. Here they treat strangers with joy and respect. There are no special conditions for participation in this society. (There is still one condition - a ticket is required!)

2. Donation

Gifts are presented disinterestedly, and not in exchange for something.

No deals, no consumerism, no sponsorship, no advertising. Any logos are prohibited.

4. Radical self-sufficiency

You can only count on yourself. They can tell you something, but guided tours are not practiced.

5. Radical self-expression

Here it is customary to demonstrate your talents and express yourself: there is no censorship, everyone sets their own limits.

6. Community Effort

Creative collaboration and interaction are valued here. Emphasis is placed on the commitment to create, promote and protect works of art and modes of communication that support creative interaction.

7. Responsibility

Each participant bears responsibility for themselves and the public welfare. Local, state and federal laws, however, have not been repealed in the desert.

8. Leave no trace

The organizers demand respect for the environment. Everything should remain as clean as before you arrived: for this it is enough that everyone cleans up after themselves.

9. Participation

It is not possible to observe from the outside; everyone has the right to work for the common good, so that later they can rest properly.

10. Here and now

Personal experience is invaluable; theory will never replace practice.

The administration strongly advises everyone to adhere to these principles.

How does Black Rock City work?

It’s easier to understand what Burning Man is like using a map of the city.

Black Rock City is a city in the desert with residential “streets” and infrastructure, around which art objects, stages, and entertainment areas are being built. The tent and car camp is built in a semicircle. In the very center is the symbol of the festival, the giant figure of the “Burning Man”.

Since the mid-90s, when the number of participants exceeded several thousand, Black Rock City has taken the shape of a multi-layered horseshoe turned upside down. In the middle of this horseshoe there is a playa (something like the central square of the city), a place where art objects are located, art cars ply - cars of the most bizarre shapes and sizes, something like discos on wheels.

In the very center of the playa is a stuffed wooden man. For the convenience of participants, it is customary to count down the streets of Black Rock City from him, which is laid out like a giant clock dial. So a typical Burning Man venue address might look like this: 4.15 D.

How to plan a trip

You should start organizing your trip by purchasing tickets to the festival: about 60,000 tickets are sold out in a matter of minutes. The face value of one ticket is $450. You can follow the sales calendar at tickets.burningman.org.

It’s better to go to Burning Man for the first time in the company of friends who have already “swimmed and know.” They will tell you how much food and water to take with you, and share a pack of wet wipes. Newcomers who find themselves in the desert for the first time are called virgin burners.

Where to live

The choice of accommodation in the Black Rock Desert is limited: it is either a car camper that you use to get to your destination, or a tent. If the choice fell on a tent, then you can give up comfort. However, this option is much cheaper than camping, where rental prices can reach $10,000 per week.

After choosing housing, you should think about the parking location. As a rule, fellow Berners gather in the so-called camp (from the English camp - “camp”). The camp management agrees with the administration on the number of parking spaces and the location of the camp.

When choosing a parking place, it is worth keeping in mind: the closer the camp is to the playa, the less opportunity there will be to sleep - the parties here smoothly flow into one another. Parking in the city center does not guarantee peace of mind, but it does guarantee the greatest protection from the wind. And parking on the outskirts, on the outside of the “horseshoe,” will provide an opportunity to rest and recuperate in silence (the journey to the nearest party can take about half an hour on foot or 10 minutes by bike).

Where to buy everything you need

Must have: To protect from wind and sand dust, you will need pilot glasses and a face scarf. For night movements - a reliable and powerful flashlight. For photo and video cameras it is necessary to provide protection from sand.

You can find a list of things you need to take with you and buy everything you need for your trip in special stores ().

It's Tuesday in Black Rock City, the city of Black Rock. The Burning Man festival is just gaining momentum, and yesterday we finally finished building the camp. It's time to look around a little and understand what's what here.

Today I offer you a very condensed tour of the most important sites of the festival.

All week I've been publishing, which takes place every year in the desert of Nevada in the USA. In order not to be distracted by writing these posts, I prepared their text and photographs in advance. So here there will be a hodgepodge of different previous years (I was at every BM in 2006-2014).

By the way, I almost forgot! Today on our playa we have “Tutu Tuesday”, or “Tuesday in Tutu”. I don’t know where this tradition came from, but the participants unanimously picked it up, and now it’s customary to dress up in ballet tutus on Tuesdays.

Moreover, this tradition extends not only to girls. For example, Tonya and I:

Okay, let's not get too distracted. I promised you a tour!

Black Rock City is usually abbreviated as "BRC". This is a real city, designed for 70,000 people. It is created for the week of the festival, although much more time is included in its creation - the first “builders” come here a month in advance. At its peak of population (around Friday), it is one of the ten largest cities in Nevada.

Let's take a look at the map of Black Rock City:

It can be seen that it is located in the shape of an incomplete circle. Its streets are concentric circles of avenues and radial rays of streets. The streets are named after the hours on the dial, from 2:00 to 10:00. The avenues are named each year in accordance with the theme of the festival, but these names are always in alphabetical order. If you are too lazy to remember, you can simply call them A, B, C, etc. The most important avenue that runs along the inner edge of the city is called the Esplanade. So the addresses in the city sound something like this: "3:15 and C", "7:45 and B", "8:30 and Esplanade". (By the way, our camp was located in all these places in the past.)

From above it all looks extremely impressive (here is 2009, since then BRC has become 40% larger):

This place is extremely flat, without any hills (or dunes), but surrounded on all sides by mountains in the distance. Remember - a multi-meter wooden statue of a man, Maine, stands in the very center of a large circle. Until Saturday evening he is our main reference point.

Well, let's go look at it all from below!

Actually, the best avenue to show yourself and look at others is the Esplanade. You can meet anyone there!

But we will not go to the Esplanade, but will start with the simple streets of the city. They look like this:

Quite wide, if desired, two cars can pass each other, but not at speed, of course. In general, you can only drive here at a speed of 5 miles per hour, and only in specially licensed cars. There are camps on the sides. Some have luxurious, beautiful tents, others have simple tents. Cars are also parked right here.

When you walk along the BRC, you constantly come across some kind of delays on your way. Most often these are bars or trampolines. We'll talk about bars later, but with trampolines everything is clear. How can you not stop to jump?

Yes, many things can delay a person going on important business. For example table football.

Or trampolines. Have I already mentioned trampolines?

Because there is so much to do here, Black Rock City has a concept of "playa time" - festival time. That is, we agree on 12:00, but in reality this can mean at 12:30, and at 14:00, and even the day after tomorrow.

Here they are. This is the Central Camp, Center Camp. It is located on the Esplanade and six o'clock (the map shows a small circle inside the big city). The camp is a huge round tent. There are rumors that this is the largest stretch building in the world, I don’t know how true this is.

There are a ton of bicycles parked around Center Camp - it's important to remember where you leave yours so you can find it later. And the bright flags installed on the roof are visible far from the beach. This is the second reliable benchmark after Maine, and has the advantage of not burning out at the end of the week.

Inside, under the shadow of the ceiling, it is spacious and not hot (since the structure is blown by the wind from all sides). Here you can sit and relax from the hot day. Moreover, there is the only cafe at the entire festival where you can buy coffee, tea, lemonade and other drinks. There is no alcohol here, and asking them for just water is also not very decent.

In the very center of the building there is a stage on which some kind of performances are constantly taking place. Acrobats, jugglers, capoeristas - you can meet them here around the clock!

There is another stage on the side for musicians and other performances. In 2009, the troupe of the world famous clown Slava Polunin performed their famous show here in the version of “Slava’s Dust Show”.

There are also a bunch of different artistic works on display here. Every year there is, of course, something new.

And in general, it is in the Central Camp that you can meet the most sophisticatedly dressed characters. People who have worked hard on their costumes will definitely stop by Center Camp to show off the results of their labor.

A lot of people come here just to take a nap in the shade.

Every year they put some beautiful gate or arch in front of the main entrance to Center Camp.

At night they are always illuminated to show the way for the participants.

There are years when they are illuminated very brightly! (Here 2012.)

By the way, I don’t know if you noticed, but Center Camp was completely copied in the seventh episode of Star Wars. It appears there as a settlement on the desert planet Jakku. Anyone who has ever been to Burning Man immediately recognized him. He even has the same gate at the entrance (and is purely decorative).

Look: the outside looks like Central Camp.

And inside too! Let's leave this to the conscience of Lucas and Disney. I do not mind.

If you ever visit BM, it is important to remember that Center Camp is a place where you can always meet friends, or friendly strangers. Performances and cafes are open 24 hours a day, so if you ever get bored in Burning Man, feel free to head here to 6:00 and the Esplanade.

Let's head from Center Camp along the six o'clock boulevard straight to the Maine figure. The boulevard crosses the inner playa; there are four such boulevards in total: along three o'clock, six, nine and twelve. The latter leads from the Maine statue to the temple, because there is no city there. We will still get to the temple.

The Maine statue itself looks a little different every year. The size and pedestal change, although the general features remain, especially his characteristic head. In 2014 there was no pedestal at all, and Maine himself was taller than usual (header photo in this post). Be that as it may, the top of its head is usually located at an altitude of about 30 meters.

There's always something interesting going on at Maine's pedestal. For example, in the photo above, in 2013, there was a multi-story flying saucer with different installations inside. And in 2009, near Maine there was this strange structure made of boards piled up seemingly in random order.

You can visit the Maine pedestal until Friday, then it is closed to prepare for burning on Saturday. Yes, every year all these beautiful pedestals burn down along with Maine itself. .

To very simple ones. Door to Nowhere - maybe a little cliché, but still not bad.

As I already said, it is very difficult to see them all, and it is simply impossible to show everything that I saw during 9 previous trips, so I will put photos of only a few.

We continue to move from Maine towards 12:00 (there is a straight boulevard), and finally come to the Temple. Center-Camp - Maine - Temple, this is the main axis of Black Rock City. They are located along one straight line and are the most important objects of the Burning Man festival.

And if Maine gave this event its name, then the Temple ends the festival every year. It is his burning on Sunday that serves as the closing ceremony of the BM.

The fact that such beautiful buildings are burned every year sometimes seems blasphemous, but this is the whole idea - nothing lasts forever, and next year you can build a new one, just as beautiful, but at the same time completely different.

While Maine is more or less the same from year to year, the temples are very different. It is from the Temple that it is easiest to understand what year is captured in the photograph of Burning Maine.

The temple is a place of peace and reflection. Here, as in Center Camp, there are always people, but here it is not customary to raise your voice. If people talk, it is in a whisper. Visitors come here to think about their lives, meditate, or remember deceased relatives and friends.

There is no religion in this Temple, but there is spirituality. Everyone comes here for their own reasons. Some pray to God, others do not believe in him. People write wishes and names of the dead on the walls, and paste their photographs. For example, in 2013, Yandex employees brought here a photo of the head of the company, Ilya Segalovich, who died that summer.

Behind the Temple begins the open playa (outer playa). There are also installations here, but they are rarer. But those who finally reach them are rewarded with a sense of achievement.

From the end of the festival territory to the central camp is about three kilometers. .

And just at the other end of the playa, just outside the outer BRC ring (around 5:00) is Black Rock Airport. Of course, a city of 70,000 people should have its own airport!

Moreover, many wealthy festival visitors fly here on their own small planes.

Parachutists also take off from here. Burning Man is considered among them as one of the more rounded places where you can jump. Beginners are not allowed to jump here; due to the strong winds, they need a lot of experience. In clear weather, you can always see several skydivers in the sky above the festival.

The coolest thing here is the night jumps. They are allowed extremely rarely, and only to the most experienced. Such parachutists sometimes light fireworks on the way down, and in doing so they look like slowly falling stars.

If you have a skydiver friend who is part of this elite club, you may be lucky enough to get the opportunity to fly with the skydivers.

Of course, no one will allow you to jump out of a plane, but this is a great way to look at the entire desert from above and Black Rock City from above!

The surprising thing is that as soon as all the paratroopers jumped out, the plane dropped in altitude so sharply that sometimes it seemed like something was wrong with it! It turns out they do this to save time. The couple of times that I did tandem jumps myself, I was still afraid, I thought, “Well, screw it! I’ll stay on the plane!” In the end, of course, I jumped. But then I learned that if I had chickened out and didn’t jump out, the road down would have been almost even worse!

While we are walking and flying here, evening is approaching. Its most photogenic inhabitants appear in the city - teams of lamp-lighters. In fact, these are ordinary volunteers who have undergone special instructions and received uniform white coats with a firing edge.

Some walk through the city with long poles on their shoulders and carry lit oil lamps. Others attach these lamps with hooks and hang them on poles that line the boulevards through the inner playa and along the Esplanade. These lights will burn all night, illuminating the road, although they will most likely dissolve in the total amount of light that will illuminate the playa in the dark.

Lamp makers are a favorite subject for photographers.

And every year I promise myself that I will go and volunteer a shift in their ranks, but every time I never get around to it. Playa time and trampolines are a terrible distraction.

At sunset, the entire playa, and especially the mountains around it, acquire a golden hue.

There are generally very beautiful sunsets here, due to the slight cloudiness but high dust content in the air, everything is hidden in a beautiful fiery haze.

When the sun has already gone behind the mountains, it continues to illuminate the sky and clouds with golden rays for some time. That's very beautiful!

It's time for me to go back to