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Your Ultimate Packing List for Burning Man if you Choose Free Camping

One common mistake many repeat Burners make is overpacking and eventually needing extra storage for their Burning Man gear. Our goal for our first Burn was to fit everything in our Subaru Ascent, which is already a spacious vehicle.

It’s crazy to think that when we used to move to a new city every year, we could fit all our belongings in our car. However, on our way to Burning Man, we realized our car was packed solely with our festival gear.

Before you start packing, you need to decide on your camping strategy. There are two main camping options at Burning Man:

1. Joining a Registered Camp

Registered camps offer amenities and perks such as showers, power, and a sense of community in exchange for a fee or volunteer work at the camp.

2. Free Camping or Open Camping

Alternatively, you can choose to free camp. This means you’ll need to bring everything you need to survive for the week. If you’re going with friends, you can share resources, but always be prepared to be self-sufficient.

While going solo might lead you to consider joining a camp, we opted for free camping since we were with friends. This allowed us to be away from the noisy parties, giving us a better chance at getting some good sleep.

Although renting an RV is an option, we wanted to keep our first Burning Man experience simple, so we went with tent camping.

Explore More: 21 Must-Have Car Camping Essentials – Your Complete Packing Guide