Complete Burning Man packing list

The short first-timer note is the order we wish people had on year one. The pack list is the checklist you can tick. This page is the long version: what to ask before you shop, what lives in the day bag, what can stay in a bin, and what we have watched people haul home unused.

A first burn does not need a perfect camp. It needs a week you can finish. Join a camp if one will have you, and get a direct answer about shade, kitchen, power, and toilets. A stranger's theme camp is not a plan. If the answer is vague, pack as if the answer is no.

We are an independent outfitter. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Burning Man Project. The event name is used so you know which week this gear is for.

Before the cart

Ticket, ID, and the vehicle pass are not gear, and they are the items that end a trip in a parking lot. The Survival Guide is blunt that every vehicle driven in needs a pass displayed ahead of time, and that Will Call has hours. Read the current guide before you treat a screenshot from a forum as the rule. Then look at the car. A cot that does not fit is a cot you will resent on the highway. Measure it.

The city's own 2026 Survival Guide (the booklet is also a PDF) is the document we want in the glove box, not a blog summary of it. Their must-bring list names water, a reusable bottle, food, an extensive first-aid kit, sunscreen and sunglasses, warm clothing, a particle mask, goggles, lights for your bike and your person, rope or tie-downs, garbage bags, and a shelter with warm bedding. Their should-bring list adds shade, a hat with a chin strap, a working bike with balloon tires, a lock, a repair kit, lotion, lip balm, earplugs, and 12-inch tent stakes in rebar or lag bolts. This shop is how we buy the pieces of that list we trust. It is not a replacement for their pages.

Ask camp, then write the gaps

Send one message, and ask for specifics. Do they have shade you can sleep under, or only a lounge? Is there a kitchen, and are you on the cook rota? Is power a phone plug or a generator with a quiet-hours rule? Are toilets camp-built, or are you on the city portos plus your own bucket if the line is the whole night? Who is hauling water? A camp that says "we've got you" and then means a couch is how a first year goes thirsty.

• —Shade: a structure you may sleep under, or only a daytime lounge.
• —Kitchen: shared meals, or bring a stove and a bowl.
• —Power: a plug for a phone, or nothing you should count on.
• —Toilets: camp system, city portos, or your own bucket.
• —Water: hauled for you, or your jugs in your car.
• —Arrival: an address, a camp marker, and a person who will actually be there.

Write the answers down. The pack list gets shorter in the honest places and longer in the quiet ones. If shade is covered, you still bring goggles. If water is covered, you still bring a bottle you will carry, because the Survival Guide says to leave camp with one full.

The body kit, packed where your hands are

The failures we keep seeing are not missing costumes. They are the goggles in a bin at camp while the person is ten minutes away, and the water that was "back at the hex." The day bag is small on purpose. It holds the things that have to be on you when the wind changes.

• Splash goggles that seal, on your face or around your neck, plus a spare pair in a zip bag. Open vents fill. The dust note is the longer version of the hardware.
• A particulate respirator still in its wrap, for the moment you cannot see the person next to you. A cotton shemagh is the sun layer for an ordinary dusty hour. They are different jobs.
• A hydration pack or a reservoir you already own a bag for. Three liters is a few hot hours, which is why the jugs still exist.
• A bottle with a lid and your name on it. The city runs on cups. An open cup on a bike is a splash.
• Lip balm and mineral sunscreen in the bag, not in the toiletry bin you will not open until evening. The Survival Guide says the air is dry enough that you dry out before you feel hot, and that you are near 4,000 feet, so skin burns faster. Reapply.
• A hat with a chin strap. A brim without a hold is a gift to the wind. Their should-bring list says the same thing.

Closed-toe shoes you can bike in. The ground is rough, hot, and full of hardware. Break them in at home. Moleskin goes on the hot spot the hour you feel it. The foot-care guide is the longer version of that dusk routine. A light layer for the ride home lives in the basket, because the Survival Guide says the temperature can drop hard when the sun goes down, with overnight lows in the forties.

Water you can count

Their sentence, which we quote on the how much water to bring and again in the long version: you need 1.5 gallons of water per person per day for drinking, washing, and cleaning. That is one number covering three jobs. We still label drinking jugs so a foot soak never borrows from them. Two 7-gallon Aqua-Tainers are fourteen gallons. For one person that is a serious start. For four people it is a rounding error. A wagon is how the jugs get from the car to the hex. Electrolyte packets help with the sweating. They do not replace the gallons. The long water guide does the multiplication, with their page linked beside it.

Shade, or a true invitation

If camp shade is real and you are allowed to sleep under it, do not buy a second structure to feel prepared. If it is not, a dome in the open is an oven by morning. The tent note is the short version: a full fly, under shade. The shade note is the cloth and the anchors. The wind guide is how the lags, the rebar, and the straps actually get used, including the city's own securing page.

A first year that is joining a camp can skip the frame and still pack work gloves, a headlamp, and the willingness to pull stakes at the end. The person who said you could share the shade is the person you help strike. Bring the cup either way.

The bike, if the bike is the bus

Black Rock City is built for walking and biking. The Survival Guide says to light the bike, lock it every time you get off, and not to lock it to guy wires. A front light and a red rear flasher, charged before you arrive, and a U-lock through the frame. A tall flag so you exist above handlebar height. A pump, a spare tube, and levers that match the valve you actually have. If you are renting, the bike page is the pickup, and the lights and the lock are still yours. The bike prep guide is the work we do before the car is loaded.

A headlamp with a red mode lives in one box by the tent door, with spare cells. White light through a neighbor's wall is how you become the lighthouse. Take the bike lights with you when you lock up. Nice lights migrate.

Sleep, and the morning you still want

Nights in the forties and neighbors who do not sleep are the same problem. A bag rated near 30 to 40°F, socks, and a layer. Off the ground, on a cot or a thick air bed, never on bare playa. Earplugs in the tent and a second pair in the day bag. The cold-nights note is the short version. The heat guide is how you also survive the afternoon nap, because the same desert does both.

A mask if you are sleeping after the sun is up. Shade over the tent is still the first cooling. A cheap dome with no shade is the mistake the tent note exists to stop.

The dull kit that gets you home

• White vinegar in a labeled spray bottle, for the alkali on skin, the bike, and the car. The gallon stays separate from the drinking jugs.
• Thick contractor bags, a headlamp for the low-angle sweep, and side cutters so zip-tie tails go in a pocket. The MOOP note is the ethic. The after-the-burn guide is what you do to the gear once the hex is clean.
• A first-aid kit you can find in the dark, plus the prescriptions you already take, in their bottles. Their guide asks for a real kit. A pouch with two bandages is how a small cut becomes a long walk.
• Wipes, a way to wash hands before you eat, and a sanitation plan if camp has not taken toilets on. A bucket and a seat plus the bags made for it. Double-bag. Pack it out. Nothing goes in a porto except human waste and 1-ply tissue. That sentence is theirs.
• A sealed set of clothes for the drive home, in a bag you do not open until the dust is done with you.
• A rain layer. The week is famous for dust. It has also turned to mud. Walk, do not bike, if the playa is wet. Their rain section says the mud clogs wheels.

What we leave in the store

Glitter is on their do-not-bring list. So are loose feathers, confetti, and anything that breaks up in the wind. Sequins and fringe fail the same test the first time a gust tests a corner. A costume you love can still be a costume that stays in one piece. If you want rave-floor clothes for a different night, that sibling shop is Raverr. This list stays on what keeps you out here.

Leave the extra bin. Every pound is something to dust, pack, and possibly lose. The playa is more interesting when you can see, drink, sleep, and still have the attention to be useful. Name a meeting place before the group splits. Lights make you visible. They do not tell you which way your friends went. The night guide is that plan, including a compass if each person is wearing one.

How we load the car

Water low and strapped, so a hard stop in Gerlach does not put a jug through the back seat. Shade and the tent where you can reach them in the first hour, not under the costumes. Lights and the headlamp in the cabin, already charged, so gate road at night is not the moment you discover the battery. Vinegar upright, cap tight, labeled. The clean clothes and the blower for the way out in a bag you will not have to excavate. A paper copy of the camp address in a pocket, because a dead phone at Greeters is a poor navigation system.

• —Goggles and a respirator in the day bag, not in a bin.
• —Drinking water labeled, and a full bottle for the walk away from camp.
• —Bike lights charged, lock on the bike, flag tall enough to see.
• —Sleep rated for a cold night, earplugs in two places.
• —Shade confirmed, or anchors if the shade is yours.
• —Trash bags, vinegar, and a sanitation plan.
• —Names on the bike, the lamp, the bottle, and the basket.
• —Clean clothes sealed for the drive home.

When you are home, run the same list before you buy anything decorative. If a thing does not answer sun, dust, water, dark, cold, or the trip home, it can wait until next year. The first-year crate is the short shopping version of this page. The camp cart is the version for people who are building the shade themselves.