Look: What it's like to wade through the mud at Burning Man 2023

A man walks through mud at the Burning Man festival site in Black Rock, Nevada, on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Revelers saw their festival grounds turn into a swamp after a heavy storm left them stranded in the Nevada desert. Tens of thousands of festivalgoers were stranded in deep mud in the Nevada desert after rain turned the annual gathering into a quagmire, with police investigating one death.

Hundreds of Burning Man attendees who planned to leave on buses wait for information about when they will be able to leave, after a rainstorm turned the site into mud. Organisers reopened the road leading out of the remote Nevada desert festival on Monday, allowing tens of thousands of attendees to escape after they had been trapped for days by mud.

The sun sets at the Burning Man festival. Every year Burning Man brings tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert to dance, make art and enjoy being part of a self-sufficient, temporary community of like-minded spirits.

Attendees look at a double rainbow over flooding on a desert plain after heavy rains turned the annual festival site into a mud pit. Originating in 1986 as a small gathering on a San Francisco beach, the week-long festival is now attended by celebrities and social media influencers. A regular ticket costs $575.

Vehicles are seen departing the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City. The festival typically has a penultimate night send-off with the burning of a giant wooden effigy of a man, along with a fireworks show. Originally set for Sunday night, it was rescheduled for Monday night at 9pm PDT (0400 GMT on Tuesday). Here's a look inside Burning Man 2023.

A Burning Man participant makes their way through the mud in Black Rock City, in the Nevada desert, after a rainstorm turned the site into mud.

A 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.

Dub Kitty and Ben Joos, of Idaho and Nevada, walk through the mud at Burning Man after a night of dancing with friends in Black Rock City, in the Nevada desert.

A person with his feet covered in mud walks during the Burning Man event, at the temporary desert settlement of Black Rock City.

The Man structure, which is normally burned on Saturday night, looms over the Burning Man encampment after a severe rainstorm left tens of thousands of revelers attending the annual festival stranded in mud in Black Rock City.

People walk along a muddy path at the Burning Man festival site in Black Rock.

Two people embrace while standing amid mud during the Burning Man event, at the temporary desert settlement of Black Rock City.

View of tents amid the mud after heavy rain, during the Burning Man event, at the temporary desert settlement of Black Rock City.