More Saguaro Man

   Saguaro Man is a regional Burning Man gathering. If you’re not familiar with Burning Man, it’s a weeklong celebration of art and self expression where giving is encouraged and the exchange of money is forbidden. It’s held every year at the end of August on a salt playa in northern Nevada. We’d love to go to a Burning Man gathering but the playa is too hot, windy and dusty. 70,000 people attended last year. Saguaro Man with only 800 people is much more manageable.
  So here’s Saguaro Man!




 
 
Things to know:

• The last five miles is very rough dirt road but all types of cars and RVs can make the trip even when the road is wet.

• Quiet hours are from 6:00AM until 11:00AM. Yep, there will be music and noise until the sun comes up but then all the partiers can get a little sleep. Ask about the quieter areas if you don’t want to be really close to amplified music.

• The required mandatory participation can be as simple as wearing a funny hat or as elaborate as creating a large wooden sculpture for the burn.

          

• The camps that have open bars are the most popular. Live entertainment and food are good too. If you want a lot of visitors set up close to the road.

• Your camp structure should be able to withstand high winds. The yurts built from insulation panels held up really well.

•   You won’t want to leave camp until the last day so make sure you have enough supplies.

Things to know if you have mobility problems:

• Saguaro Man is not accessible. The roads are surfaced with large, loose gravel. Going overland is very hard due to soft soil and mounded tufts of vegetation. A strong helper is needed to go anywhere.

• Camp as close to a road as possible. We made the mistake of camping in the middle of the field. We underestimated how hard it would be to roll across the ground and when it rained the silty, sandy dirt became a sticky gumbo. Tony spent a couple of hours cleaning my wheelchair. It was a mess! I should have taken pictures.

The weather changed by the minute. We had sunshine, a cold snap, strong winds, light showers and soaking rain. Thursday was very windy with stinging sand so that most people huddled inside their RVs and tents until evening when everything calmed down. Showers on Friday and Saturday put a damper on the burns. We missed both of the burns because it was too wet to be out. But all in all it was fun and we would go again.
Saguaro Man      34.48756, -109.77264