Black Rock City 2015, This is Your MOOP Map! (and Your Auntie)

Hello all you moop maniacs and line sweepers extraordinaire, and welcome to the very last installment of Moop Map 2015! That’s right, I’ve got the complete (though not FINAL-final) results for the entire city grid of Burning Man 2015, all mapped for you.

I’ve also got one more person to introduce you to – though there are countless amazing, fascinating people out here working Playa Restoration, I can’t introduce you to each of them. Luckily, miss Auntie Social speaks for many of us.

Auntie Selfie!
Auntie Selfie!

Auntie Social was the Man Base Stage Manager this year, and has been a member of the DPW since 2009. She does many amazing things in the outside world as well, so I’ll be sharing some of her photos of a truly creative, original life. Get inspired!

Thunderdome 2002
Thunderdome 2002

I used to go to Death Guild in San Francisco, and a bunch of the club would disappear at a certain time of the year and go to this thing called Burning Man.I finally started getting interested and asking questions in 2000, and didn’t make it out to the desert in 2003. Because it was a few years until I made it out here, there was lots of time to look at pictures. So it all felt very familiar when I got here.

I was sober my first year, so it wasn’t about the big party or anything like that. I just wanted to come and see these big art projects I’d seen my friends building.

It was a great year. I camped with Thunderdome and it was a lot of fun running the dome and getting to know the DPW. Then there was Camp Carp and Space Cowboys – the Death Carp Cowboys – I was like, ‘I love it here! This is great.’

I didn’t join DPW until 2009. It was incredibly overwhelming at first. I thought I knew a bunch of people, but it was nothing like what I expected – it was so much more.

My first year of DPW, I was working as Assistant Manager for the Commissary, so I got to meet everybody and make a lot of friends really quickly. It made me feel even more comfortable and like I belonged than at Thunderdome. Burning Man is one thing, but this is completely different. So much more tight knit and so much more…just amazing.

I don’t think there are many work sites where you get the opportunity to build such relationships with people. When you’re working together all day, and partying with each other at night, and eating all your meals together, and living in close confines – sometimes it drives you nuts, but it’s also one of the things you miss most when you’re not here.

Just being able to go next door and see somebody that you adore completely and be like, ‘Yo, let’s hang out,’ or ‘I need a shoulder to cry on.’

I definitely consider many people out here as family. I keep in contact with them throughout the year and greatly look forward to seeing them.

The Man Base in full swing
The Man Base in full swing

I was at the Man Base more hours this year than I was there cumulatively in all of my years.

I got to meet a lot of really cool people, and the Man Base this year was amazing. It was so cool to watch people just hang out and do their thing and go to Burning Man. I got to observe and spy a little bit.

But it also made me realize how much I enjoy pre and post event. There were so many people who would just run up to something and post for a picture in front of it, without even looking at it. Whereas there are times when we all just line up and look at the sunset. Sure, you might snap a quick photo, but then you put the camera away. I love the moments when we’re all just hanging out, and taking it in, and being a part of this beautiful place.

Auntie's other passion: suspension!
Auntie’s other passion: suspension!

I find that if you’re in a large gathering with people you have a connection with, it doesn’t matter where on this planet you are.That said, we’re in Gerlach, Nevada, which is one of my favorite places on the planet. There’s something amazing about the prehistoric beauty out here.

So I don’t know if it’s really the community aspect, in this place, or whether you can feel it someplace else. I’ve been doing this since I was 23, and I’m 34 now. How much of it is this place teaching me how to move that feeling to the rest of my life? Or how much of it is really that you can hang out anywhere with the right people and have a grand old time? I don’t know.

For the past couple of years, I continue to think it’s going to be my last year. And then I come out here, and by the end of the season I can’t imagine it not being a part of my world to some extent.

Crocheting, perhaps one of her bags of dicks!
Crocheting, perhaps one of her bags of dicks!

Auntie, you’re one of the steady stars of our community. I can’t imagine this place without you, either.

To all my DPW and Restoration and Burning Man brethren – whatever it is, we found it. And once you find it, you have it forever.

A Map For You

In the greatness of the universe, our city is but a speck. And in the expanse of the site that was once Black Rock City, nary a speck remains.

Playa Restoration’s line sweepers had quite the adventure in bringing you this final map. They forded rivers, sloshed through the mud, and even changed their plans to stay an extra couple of days so they could complete the epic task of mooping the city of Black Rock.

Resto, we salute you! Black Rock City, we salute you too! Here’s a hurrah for the one-two punch: a city full of people who really did their best to Leave No Trace, and a dedicated crew who did whatever it took to restore the playa.

This is what it takes to pass the inspection and ensure that Burning Man keeps happening. And so it shall. Onward to 2016.

Click to see it big. Hope you like big maps.
Click to see it big. Hope you like big maps.

One last word: This is NOT the final map. The final is still being created, and will be released in a few months, along with detailed information about what was found where. If you’re wondering about what happened, and you’re a placed camp, you will hear from your Placement representative in a few months with more information. For now, celebrate the close of a truly successful season, despite the odds and the weather, and give your Burning Man representatives a few weeks to breathe. We love ya!

About the author: The Hun

The Hun

The Hun, also known as J.H. Fearless, has been blogging for Burning Man (and many other outlets) since 2005, which is also the year she joined the BRC DPW on a whim that turned out to be a ten-year commitment. Since then she's won some awards for blogging, built her own creative business, and produced some of the Burning Blog's most popular stories and series. She co-created a grant-funded art piece, "Refoliation," in 2007, and stood next to it watching the Man burn on Monday night during a full lunar eclipse. She considers that, in many ways, to have been the symbolic end of Burning Man that was. The Hun lives in Reno with DPW Shade King, Quiet Earp. You may address her as "The Hun" or "Hun". If you call her "Honey" she reserves the right to cut you.

24 Comments on “Black Rock City 2015, This is Your MOOP Map! (and Your Auntie)

  • hey says:

    You have to be kidding me. Can you please release it in PNG or PDF so that we can actually read it!?

    Jpeg is terrible when mixing text and graphics.

    Report comment

    • The Hun says:

      hey, you’re so welcome! Yes, it was a lot of work and late nights to create this map on a tight schedule.

      The final will be released in its full glory and hopefully to your precise specifications in a few months. Thanks for being so supportive in the meantime & between time.

      Report comment

      • Just Joe says:

        As I’m not red/green/yellow colorblind, I can interpret the map just fine.
        Thanks for your all your hard work, Hun. It’s much appreciated by the community.

        Report comment

      • The Hun says:

        Aww Joe, you’re totally welcome, and I should specify that DA creates the digital map by hand in the evenings, after working all day leading the crew. I too appreciate it greatly, and fiercely support his work! ;)

        Report comment

    • Blackjack says:

      Personally, I think the MOOP map should be smaller and harder to read, ideally posted in a legacy file format. That would make reading it more closely approximate the actual experience of MOOPing.

      But even though the map is way too readable, thanks DA and The Hun, and the whole Resto crew for all your hard work :)

      Every year I love seeing your Resto posts, amazed and thankful that there are still people on the playa, and also seeing photos of the resto helps with my decompression.

      I noticed BLM/Pershing County Law Enforcement seems to have left a bit of a mess this year. Will that affect their placement next year?

      Report comment

    • OMNI says:

      You have to be kidding me! This is a great and very readable jpeg. THANKS for all your hard work!

      Report comment

  • dustbunnie says:

    Thank you guys so so much for everything you do! Looking forward to hearing the final final results and reading about what was left behind. Moop Snoop is my second favorite time of year ;)

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  • Anon says:

    Is there a moop sweep of the deep playa? There’s no color there. Does BLM check the deep playa, or does that not count for the permit renewal?

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    • Bless says:

      As long as you drop off your moop in deep playa, it doesn’t count against placement ;)

      Report comment

      • anon says:

        Bless, I think you’re being snarky with me :) Otherwise, why the trash fence? Is there a real answer (and thank you Hun for answering my questions on the other posts. This former virgin appreciates your work and late nights to create this map. My camp was mainly green with some yellow caused by the camp next door, which that other camp freely and candidly admitted in its comments to one of your posts). I’ve really enjoyed reading the BM Blog and learning how the sausage gets made and then cleaned up afterwards. I’d suggest compiling this stuff in an easily readable format as part of the virgin burner required reading, but you’ve already had a lot of work and late nights, so thank you again.

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    • The Hun says:

      We have a different technique for deep/open playa, because it’s not as heavily trafficked as the city streets, and therefore is much less moopy. We have somebody checking each and every art site to find out whether it needs special attention. And we visit all known party zones. Time permitting, we’ll sweep every inch of the city – but it is not usually necessary in deep playa.

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  • Chips says:

    Excellent work. And thank you, for moop and map..!
    Love you ;)

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  • The Hun says:

    You guys are a bunch of jokesters :)

    Thank you for the support!!!

    Report comment

  • amapanda says:

    I am curious, what does it take to finalize the moop map? I imagine that it includes tying evidential photos to the red areas on the map, but what else is there to do? Can I help?

    I am also unable to find much information on what happens to those who are tied to red areas on the final moop map. Are they given a more detailed report than is released to the general public?

    Report comment

  • epiphanystarlight says:

    Love and appreciation to the dedicated Resto team for such a Herculean effort this year. I hope the epic dust storms were the cause of so much red and yellow on the map and not disregard for our principles.
    @ Bill Esss, hahaha

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  • Phrancky says:

    Awesome,..so much dedication and effort.. bravo.xx

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  • Greg Watson says:

    I’m a bit curious about this. Our whole block is yellow, but two of us, the last to leave, spent three plus hours walking our area on Tuesday morning, practically with tweezers. The only way we would have been cleaner is if we sifted the whole block with pantyhose. What’s up with that?

    Report comment

    • LakesideJ says:

      Greg – hopefully the final report will help clear up these kind of things – our neighborhood turned up a couple of red blobs that we have no explanation for in an otherwise green block. Thanks for the care you put into yours!

      Report comment

  • Jelaine McCamish says:

    Did anyone there happen to meet a Becca Lynn Kivi? She could also be using her birth name of Jessica Dawn Calaski.

    Becca is missing and has been missing since Sept.26, 2016.

    Becca is 5’1″, about 170 pounds, with blond to strawberry blond hair.

    If you have seen or met or heard from Becca, would you please contact me at jmccam@roadrunner.com or contact Sheri McDaniel, 911 operator in the Burning Man region.
    https://app.doj.mt.gov/enforcement/missingpersons/searchdetail.aspx?RecordKey=25456

    Report comment

  • Jackie says:

    The Saskatchewan Burners Camp is listed in the wrong spot on the moop map – we were actually located on the opposite side of the street next door to “Camp I want to Learn” in the spot listed as “Play-Create”. I hope not too many camps as listed incorrectly on the moop map as reputations can be at stake.

    Report comment

  • Braveheart&Artemisia says:

    Just to add to what Greg Watson Oct 15 and Jackie Oct 27 stated re reputations at stake and being “a bit curious”.
    Half the block from 5:30 to 5:15 on “”C”” is in yellow with spots of red bordering CAMP NUDE and Frogma.
    We had heavy duty tarps on 3/4 of our 50×50 location. RV was on the tarps. There was no oil/water that even touched the tarps let alone on the playa. After tarps removed and we packed up
    we “”MOOPED”” every inch with a small hand held rake.We left the playa better than we found it.No water damage/no metal/no moop, just playa.We left Tuesday Morning.and left our area GREEN. This our 10th year at Burning Man and we have always been in the green on the moop map.
    As Greg stated. ‘Whats up with that”

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