The Port-a-Potties at Burning Man

I don’t mind not showering for days or having to survive without electrical devices. In fact, I love not having to worry about where my phone is or how much battery life I have before finding and outlet to plug-in.  I don’t mind being out of email contact nor do I mind eating cold meals most of the time. But I do mind not being able to sit on my own toilet when I have to do the business.

Last year was my first go at Burning Man and the truth is, it changed my life. There is something about the desert at 5am when the sun is rising over the Sierra’s that absolutely changed the way I think about life. Burning Man opened my eyes to how lonely the prior year had been and I came back to the default world knowing exactly what to do and, more importantly, who I wanted. Two weeks later, I was started dating my girlfriend and we show no signs of slowing down. I owe Burning Man a lot and I almost didn’t go because I didn’t want to crap in a port-a-potty for 6 days.

You just have to get over it, everybody poops and if you want to live in the desert for 1 week then you either have to bring your own toilet (which is not a bad idea but you probably won’t drag it around the playa with you) or just deal with port-a-potties.

My advice is simple, bring hand sanitizer (they provide but it often runs out), bring a headlamp (it’s darker in there than you think), bring your own single ply TP, but most importantly, figure out the cleaning schedule and work your business around the guys coming to clean the place! You have to use a port-a-potty at Burning Man eventually so you might as well use it when it’s going to be the cleanest. The cleaners use very high pressure hoses to clean the place and honestly there is no detectable smell after they clean (maybe they use an air freshener). I found that last year they cleaned the one’s by my camp twice, once in the morning and once in the evening, perfectly timed to my schedule. So bring your supplies and hit that port-a-john at the right time. Good lucky!