Last year’s Burning Man was a wet and muddy mess.

Apart from the temporary closure of the gates at the beginning, there were no significant weather problems at this year’s party in the desert.

However, for those trying to return home, gusts of wind caused visibility problems.

“During the Temple Fire, it was basically a whiteout. Even if you were 100 feet away from the fire, you couldn’t see the glow or the fire itself, and that was pretty haunting,” said Sean Papile, who attended Burning Man for the first time this year.

“This year it was really quiet until the very last temple fire,” said Aren Page, who has been to Burning Man three times. “On the way out there was white dust, you couldn’t see anything except maybe a foot in front of your nose. Always an adventure out here.”

The Burning Man organization has issued a wind warning and warned all participants of the trip to wait until the dust has settled if visibility is poor.

They expect strong gusts of wind until about 8 p.m., but that could change.

This was the first time in a long time that tickets for Burning Man did not sell out early.

However, some long-time Burning Man veterans said it felt like a trip back in time.

“A lot of people took the year off, so it was really intimate,” said Sam Bloch, who has been to Burning Man 19 times. “It felt like you had gone back in time eight to 10 years.”

Leaving Gerlach, Nixon is about an hour away. Just a minute outside of Nixon, there is a car wash where Burners can clean their cars before heading back to town.

“We enjoy it, we love the people who come by,” said Kent Miller, a car wash employee. “We try to help them as best we can.”

This car wash prides itself on not being a profit-making business, but rather a service provider that helps people.

Miller says the effort involved in running the car wash is so great that they don’t make much money.

Usually, the end of a vacation is met with sadness because the fun is over, but some Burners look forward to returning to reality.

“There are so many elements of it that I want to bring back into my everyday life, like how we can share more with each other, give more and build community and work together, and I feel inspired,” said Mikayla Bogart, who attended Burning Man for the first time.

“Wednesday, Thursday you think, ‘Oh my God, it’s half over already,’ and then on Monday morning everyone says, ‘Yeah, it’s time to go home,'” Bloch said.