Burning Man Revelers Begin Exodus After Flooding Left Tens of Thousands Stranded in Nevada Desert

A Burning Man participant walks their bike through the mud near the exit, after a severe rainstorm left tens of thousands of revelers attending the annual festival stranded in mud in Black Rock City, in the Nevada desert on Sept. 3, 2023. Trevor Hughes/USA Today Network via Reuters

BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nev.—Muddy roads that left tens of thousands of partygoers stranded for days at a counterculture festival had dried up enough by Monday afternoon to allow them to begin their exodus from the northern Nevada desert.

Burning Man organizers said they started to let traffic flow out of the main road around 2 p.m. local time—even as they continued to ask revelers to delay their exit to Tuesday to ease traffic. As of Monday afternoon, they said about 64,000 people remained at the festival site.