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Open camping with no theme camp

If nobody is providing shade, water, a kitchen, power, or a toilet, those are yours to pack. We do not place camps.

8 min read

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Sits beside Questions to ask your Burning Man camp/Shade kit/Water kit/Camp toilet kit/First-timer kit/Camp calculator/Camp gear

Shop the camp cart. Each piece is its own listing. We don't ship a kit as one box.

How we'd spend

Buy once, then the lighter pieces.

The buy-once piece is the one worth a real cart. The lighter spend still does the job. A usual range is a typical price, not today's.

Each card opens the shop. Amazon links are affiliate links. Your price does not change. How the links work.

A pop-up canopy with a solid roof, set up outdoors.

Buy once

Impact Canopy 10 by 10, straight leg

Why this one

Aluminet needs a structure that does not fold up in the wind. The listing we opened is a 10 by 10 straight-leg steel frame, Kelly green, with a roller bag, sold by Canopies Unlimited. That is the frame. The included solid top bakes a camp if you leave it on. The mesh sidewalls are bug netting, not a dust seal, and they become a sail.

Often about $250

Usual range, not today's price.

Impact Canopy 10 by 10, straight leg. Buy on Amazon

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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Open silver shade cloth knitted like a loose fabric, with holes you can see through.

Worth the cart

POYEE reflective shade cloth, 10 by 15

Why this one

A blue tarp makes an oven. We have sat under enough of them to stop recommending one. The listing we opened is an 85 percent reflective knit, sold by Poyee and shipped by Amazon, with grommets. The box includes ball bungees and zip ties. It is mesh. Air can move. A solid tarp and a 99 percent greenhouse cloth cannot say that.

Often about $35

Usual range, not today's price.

POYEE reflective shade cloth, 10 by 15. Buy on Amazon

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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A theme camp is a group of people, not a hotel. If the five questions on ask your camp came back vague, or nobody answered, pack as if the answer is no. Shade, drinking water, a kitchen, power, and a toilet are then yours. The Survival Guide is still the city's must-bring list. This page is the order we would shop it.

A pop-up canopy with a solid roof, set up outdoors.
What the reply is worth

Shade

A clear yes, and it includes you
Sleep under theirs. Bring a tent and a fly.
No camp, or no reply
A straight-leg frame, open knit, and a lag at every foot.

Water

A clear yes, and it includes you
Ask how many gallons have your name on them.
No camp, or no reply
The jugs, the bottle you carry, and the gallon note.

Toilet

A clear yes, and it includes you
Ask what they still want you to carry. 1-ply, usually.
No camp, or no reply
A seat, the bags made for it, and a lid. Pack it out.

Shade, then water

Each card opens the shop. Amazon links are affiliate links. Your price does not change. How the links work.

A pop-up canopy with a solid roof, set up outdoors.

Impact Canopy

Buy once

Impact Canopy 10 by 10, straight leg

Why this one

Aluminet needs a structure that does not fold up in the wind. The listing we opened is a 10 by 10 straight-leg steel frame, Kelly green, with a roller bag, sold by Canopies Unlimited. That is the frame. The included solid top bakes a camp if you leave it on. The mesh sidewalls are bug netting, not a dust seal, and they become a sail.

Often about $250

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

Buy on AmazonOpens in a new tab.
SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
Read the note

Start with the shade kit. The straight-leg frame is the structure. The solid top that comes with it stays in the car. The open knit is the cloth. Lag bolts go in at every foot, and they back out. How to choose the structure, and how the wind version works, stay on the shade note and shade that stays put. We are not adding a wind rating here.

Water is next, and the gallon sentence stays on the water note. We are not reprinting a multiplied total on this page. Drinking water gets its own jugs. Wash water, once it has soap or dust in it, is gray water on the way out.

The water kit is the pack, the jugs, and the bladder. The math is how much water to bring. A headcount belongs in the camp calculator. The calculator's defaults stay the source of any multiplied figure.

A toilet, a kitchen, then a station

Open silver shade cloth knitted like a loose fabric, with holes you can see through.

3 photos

POYEE

Buy once

POYEE reflective shade cloth, 10 by 15

Why this one

A blue tarp makes an oven. We have sat under enough of them to stop recommending one. The listing we opened is an 85 percent reflective knit, sold by Poyee and shipped by Amazon, with grommets. The box includes ball bungees and zip ties. It is mesh. Air can move. A solid tarp and a 99 percent greenhouse cloth cannot say that.

Often about $35

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

Buy on AmazonOpens in a new tab.
SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
Read the note

If nobody is running a toilet you are allowed to use, the camp toilet kit is the seat and the bags. The bucket note is how that system gets packed out. The portos still take human waste and 1-ply. Wipes come home.

A kitchen is the cook kit: a Jetboil, a bowl, and a meal you can finish in the shade. Power for a quiet camp is the power kit and the power stations we already compare. The watts live on camp power and on the listing. This page does not add a number. The Jackery we list is the quiet-camp station on the card below.

The personal layer is not the shade

Four hex-head lag bolts and a washer on a white background.

HROMIGRY

Buy once

Lag bolts, 3/8 by 12 inches, 25 with washers

Why this one

The city's securing notes describe lags on the order of 12 inches for the shade people worry about losing. The pack we opened is 3/8 inch by 12 inches, 25 bolts with washers, hex head, sold by Hromigry and shipped by Amazon. Twenty-five is more than one 10 by 10 if you place one at every foot and still keep spares. They are not 18-inch bolts, and they are not rebar.

Often about $35

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
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The first-timer kit is what we would buy before a costume: sealed goggles, water you can carry, bike lights, a lock, and a headlamp. It does not replace the frame or the jugs. The full packing list is still the first-burn list. Goggles that seal are the dust aisle.

  • A written yes that includes you, or the five gaps packed as yours.
  • Straight-leg shade, open knit, a lag at every foot.
  • Drinking water from the water note, in labeled jugs.
  • A seat and bags if the toilet is not yours to use.
  • A stove and a bowl, then a station you have read the watts on.
  • The first-timer kit as the day bag, not as the roof.
  • A headcount in the camp calculator, using its defaults.

The aisles, if you would rather shop by job: shade, water, kitchen, power, and camp. We don't ship any of this as one box.

Two rectangular water jugs with spigots, stacked.

Reliance

Buy once

Reliance Aqua-Tainer, 7 gallon, two pack

Why this one

Bottles are heavy, gone by Wednesday, and the wind takes the empties. We choose jugs that stack in a car and pour from a spigot. Two of them is fourteen gallons, a serious start for one person's drinking water, not a camp's washing water. Do that math before you fall in love with a cute canteen.

Often about $54

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
Read the note
A dusty hydration pack standing in the shade.

CamelBak

Buy once

CamelBak M.U.L.E. hydration pack

Why this one

The bladder is the point. A pack is how it stays on you from noon art to a 2 a.m. ride home. We choose this one because the reservoir is already in it, the belt carries the weight, and there is a pocket for goggles. If a pack you trust already takes a bladder, buy the reservoir alone and leave this on the shelf.

Often about $136

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SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
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A clear hydration reservoir with a bite valve.

CamelBak

Essential

CamelBak Crux 3L reservoir

Why this one

"I'll drink when I get back" is how an afternoon goes wrong. The city is wide, and a friend's cooler is not a plan. We choose a reservoir with a valve that actually shuts, so you drink while you ride. If you already own a pack, this is the whole purchase. Three liters is a few hard hours, which is why the jugs still exist.

Often $30–40

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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SpecSheet
Watts—
Wh—
Weight—
Dust rating—
Read the note
A small power station and a fan in the shade.

Jackery

Buy once

Jackery Explorer 300

Why this one

A bigger phone bank is still a phone bank. About 300 watt-hours is what we hand a quiet camp that needs lights, phones, a fan, and a laptop. Charge it full before the gate and keep it in the shade. A fridge and a sound system at once is the wrong job. Heat ends these faster than the week does.

Often about $200–300

Amazon affiliate link. Your price does not change.

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SpecSheet
Wattsabout 300 W
Whabout 300 Wh
Weight—
Dust rating—
Read the note

Questions

What do I bring to Burning Man if I have no theme camp?
Shade, drinking water, a kitchen, power, and a toilet, unless someone has answered those five in writing and the answer includes you. The questions are on the ask-your-camp note. If the reply is vague, pack as if the answer is no. We do not place camps, and we do not know whether a neighbor will have a spare meal.
Is the first-timer kit enough for open camping?
No. The first-timer kit is the personal layer: goggles, water you can carry, bike lights, a lock, and a headlamp. It is not a shade structure, a week of jugs, or a kitchen. Those are the shade kit, the water kit, the cook kit, and the camp toilet, in that order.
Where is open camping placed at Burning Man?
We do not publish a placement rule. The city's pages are the authority for where a camp sits. This note is the gear you still pack when nobody is providing shade, water, a kitchen, power, or a toilet.

Complete the kit

The rest of the job.

A kit is the shopping list for one job. Each piece is its own listing. We don't ship it as one box.

A dusty folding wagon loaded with water jugs.

01

Camp cart for Burning Man

What we'd put in the car first

Open the list
A small black power bank and a cable on a crate.

Ready to order

Overseas Flyer Kit for Burning Man

Suitcase on you, the bulky box to Reno

Open the kit
Two rectangular water jugs with spigots, stacked.

03

Water kit for Burning Man

One person, one week, drinking first

Open the list