Repost This Article
Center Camp: Never mind that man’s bare butt next to the ball of pooh. See those people relaxing in tranquil shade? That’s what you’re after. Photo: Jesse Wagstaff
Burners crash everywhere, so don’t worry about being bothered or deliberately woken up. In 2007, I spent quite a bit of time at the Black Rock City Library and there were people sleeping all over the floor. Other Burners just stepped right over them.
You can also sleep on or around random art on the Playa, but I recommend getting your sleep in the City. You will be closer to the camps that serve food and drink, and you will be more protected from the sun, cold and dust. If you do end up sleeping in random places, bring a small pillow, a blanket or warm coat, and earplugs. According to the Burning Man website, you are not really allowed to show up at the gate without all your own supplies, including your bed.
Center Camp
Pros: Plenty of comfy couches and shade
Cons: A lot of people use Center Camp as their bedroom
As the heart of Black Rock City, Center Camp is the central meeting place for all Burners. Musicians, speakers, acrobats and dancers infiltrate the stages of Center Camp and keep up the lively atmosphere 24 hours a day.
The lines for the coffee and tea are long, the lighting is bright and the vibe is dynamic. You will have to be a deep sleeper to crash here.
Skinny Kitty Teahouse
Pros: Smells like black tea and chai
Cons: Popular place to begin or end a parade
Inside Skinny Kitty Teahouse: j_cavera
The massive, clam-shaped dome of the Skinny Kitty camp is a great place to hide from the dust storms. The Teahouse usually has a plethora of couches (some screened from view) in the back of their beautiful shelter.
You can wake up from your nap with a nice cup of their hot or iced tea. The Teahouse sometimes features singers and low-key musicians who perform on the large stage, so you could be woken up by a melodic guitar or by a woman who sings just like Ella Fitzgerald.
Hammock Hangout
Pros: Easy to string up your own hammock
Cons: Popular and fills up fast
Hammock Hangout complete with drink service
(also used as Feature Photo): SanFranAnnie
It’s amazing how well you can sleep in a hammock when you are dead tired. Catch some shade under Hammock Hangout’s giant parachute tent. Hammocks are available for naps or you can bring your own, but know that the camp is also a karaoke bar at night.
Ashram Galactica
Pros: Opulent atmosphere
Cons: You have to win their “win a room” lottery.
This camp is the epitome of class and elegance in Black Rock City. Each night leading up to the Burn, the organizers of the Ashram Galactica Hotel put on a posh dinner and cocktail party with a British Raj theme.
At the party, guests are entered into a lottery to win a room for their use for 24 hours. The “rooms” are swanky, canvas tents with soft beds, room service and electric fans. This is the place to live it up in Black Rock City.
Heebeegeebee Healers
Pros: Pillows provided
Cons: You may be in the way of a yoga or meditation group.
Inside the HeeBeeGeeBee Healers’ dorm: Zaskoda
Looking to get some sleep and a back massage? Heebeegeebee Healers has one of the biggest tents in Black Rock City. One of the best naps I ever had at Burning Man was under the multi-colored sheets of this camp.
You can sign up for a back massage from their professional healers, join in on a yoga session, or just curl up in a corner of their carpet and pass out.
Community Connection
MatadorNetwork’s Burning Man focus page brings you news from MatadorTV, tips ,and tales from the Playa. Feast your eyes on video to get you geared up or submit your own.
Christina Nellemann
Christina is a world traveler from the Reno/Lake Tahoe area who has been to 20 countries and 14 U.S. states. She is the NileGuide Local Expert for the Reno/Tahoe area and calls Black Rock City her second home.
Connect with Facebook
[...] Without Borders are a group of Burning Man attendees that take their passion beyond the playa to effect real change in the name of charity. [...]
Great article Christina! All i can say to the naysayers is that if you haven’t slept outside your designated camp at Burning Man – you’re seriously missing out. It’s amusing to hear fellow burners express themselves in the territorial language of the default world and not be aware of it. I miss those good old days when i had to step over piles of passed out bodies at Center Camp, slumbering in the heat of the mid-day sun – oh the wondrous collective dreams those siesta burners enjoyed, like the dogs blissfully asleep on the streets of India, oblivious to all the maddening chaos around them. Now that’s what i call deep sleep and it’s that kind of deep sleep that truly heals the wounded souls of the civilized default world.
Yes they will ask you to leave if you fall asleep in center camp.
Is Burning Man just another Rainbow gathering? (Rainbow hippies- The horror!) I’m not surprised they’re pulling the same stunts, but this is now decades later and evidently a new batch.
Truely amazing that in this age of information access you have to make assumptions about Burningman. At the very least there is a website (is that a place where spiders hang out?) Burningman.com where you can find out about the most creative essential world changing event on this planet. Or not, because you may not want your uninformed opinions challenged by fact. So, is Burning Man just another Rainbow gathering? Do a little research, and get back to us. Burningman provides opportunities for learning…please take this opportunity…
Bhaskar…….you are without question the dumbfuckedness that has turned our country into the cesspool that it has become. You will vote for every feel good atrocity that gets ran down the pike. Our country has 20 years ahead of it until it becomes a third world nation and you are ok with that. Fuck you and fuck voters like you.