May
New camper applications open

Early June
Storage trailer prep

June
Dues and shift spreadsheets open

July 21
RV deadline

Pre-playa orientation
Option 1: July 10, 2023 5:00 PM Pacific (6:00 MT; 7:30 CT; 8:00 ET)

Option 2: July 23, 2023 4:00 PM Pacific (5:00 MT; 6:00 CT; 7:00 ET)

Option 3: Aug 13, 2023 5:00 PM Pacific (6:00 MT; 7:00 CT; 8:00 ET)

July 22
Camp gear sort

August 21-26
Build week

August 27 - September 4
Burning Man

September 4-6
Camp strike

Starting this year, we will require participation by new campers and SL veterans in a pre-playa planning, orientation, and acculturation discussion.

We will offer 2-3 time slots, and each camper can choose the one most convenient. The session will last about an hour and cover topics such as shift requirements, camp culture, arrival/departure planning, basic expectations, and the ten principles. We will send final times for these sessions, but the preliminary dates are below. If you have any questions, just let us know!

For access to Zoom links, email campsoftlanding@gmail.com

Option 1: July 10, 2023 5:00 PM Pacific (6:00 MT; 7:30 CT; 8:00 ET)

Option 2: July 23, 2023 4:00 PM Pacific (5:00 MT; 6:00 CT; 7:00 ET)

Option 3: Aug 13, 2023 5:00 PM Pacific (6:00 MT; 7:00 CT; 8:00 ET)

If you are planning on bringing an RV, camper, or trailer, you must fill out this form by July 21 in order to be accommodated.

Before you set up your camp:
Please see the Camp Mayor of the Day for placement within camp bounds. They'll get you situated in just the right spot. There are more than 100 people camping in Soft Landing this year, and the only way to ensure that everyone has enough space is a little good old-fashioned top-down organization. If you arrive at night and don’t want to look for the Camp Mayor, feel free to park at the edge of camp and sleep in the teahouse until the morning. Please make sure you don’t park in the fire lane.

Pod leader meeting Monday, August 28 @ 12:30 PM in Palenque Norte (before main camp meeting)
If you are a pod lead and are on playa by then, please attend this meeting.

All camp meeting Monday, August 28 @ 1 PM in Palenque Norte
If you’re on the playa by then, please come to the Palenque Norte tent at 1:00 pm on Monday, August 28 for the big camp meeting. All campers are expected to attend. We’ll say hello to each other, talk about camp logistics, and provide an opportunity to ask questions. It will take an hour or less. We’ll also hand out postcards with the Palenque Norte schedule for all of you to share with folks you meet in your first days on playa!

2023 Pods will be announced soon!

If you’d like to lead a pod, please contact us at campsoftlanding@gmail.com. We’ll get you set up with just the right amount of space and the resources you need for a smooth, enjoyable burn. Pod leaders are responsible for placement of their pod members within the space allotted to them by camp, and for mediation of conflicts within their pod.

The Full Circle Teahouse
Palenque Norte
Love Kitchen
Mayor for the Day
Build and Strike
The Full Circle Teahouse

The Full Circle Teahouse offers 24-hour gongfu-inspired tea service Sunday, August 27, through Monday, September 4. Servers share tea and empathy during six-hour shifts. Runners wash cups and teapots, refill jars of herbs and tea, carry water, and tidy. Phaedrus leads this project. The midnight to 6 am tea shift on Saturday and Sunday nights (September 2 and September 3) count as two shifts toward your dues cost! Detailed info about the teahouse here.

Palenque Norte
The Palenque Norte Speaker series will run Tuesday-Friday, featuring a variety of illustrious, weird, and insightful speakers from psychedelia, technology, social justice, community building, politics, and other fields. This year we’ll also be featuring music in the evening. Volunteers for Palenque Norte will help with recording and audio/visual tech, and with fluffing and emceeing for the speakers, DJs, and musicians. This is a wonderful opportunity to catch all the speakers on a particular day if they interest you! Frank leads this project.

Love Kitchen
Collectively, camp is focused on making Soft Landing's modest amenities as awesome as they can be for all our camp members. The Water Protectors will help to ensure that all campers know how to wisely engage with our grey water and shower systems. The Kitchen Keeper will remind people to be tidy and facilitate community interaction in the kitchen and dining areas. Paul and Noodle lead this project. Detailed info about the kitchen here.

Mayor for the Day
One day as camp mayor counts as three shifts toward your dues cost! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday count as four. In this role, you stick around camp most of the day. You'll be the primary person in charge of the electrical and propane systems. Don’t worry, we'll teach you everything you need to know about how they run. Along with the Love Kitchen crew, you'll ensure that the community kitchen and shower stay clean and organized. You'll answer questions campers might have, receive any fuel or water deliveries scheduled for that day, and other tasks needed for the smooth operation of the camp. You'll also help pod leaders with mediation and dispute resolution, as your experience permits. Detailed task descriptions can be found here. Camp mayors work with the camp leads.

We need lots of help with build and strike!

Build
It takes a lot of work to bring our magical camp together! Build will take place in Black Rock City Monday, August 21 through Saturday, August 26. Da Nectar is our 2023 build lead. If you're interested in helping with build, please contact him at 303-656-5949.

Strike
All campers will help with taking down big structures and de-MOOPing camp, however we need a dedicated strike crew that will stay through the end. All hands on deck! Strike (camp tear down) is essential to return the playa to its natural state and to ready our infrastructure for future years. Strike will be Sunday 9/3 (Temple Burn night — 12pm - 6pm), Monday 9/4 (9am - 8pm), and Tuesday 9/5 (9am - 12pm). We will drop off the trailer near Reno on Tuesday.

Strike crew members who help with the entire strike will be eligible for a refund on camp dues of up to $100, to be issued after the event (upon approval by strike lead). Each single day of strike crew participation counts as one shift toward your dues. John P / Amanita is our 2023 strike lead.

Zendo Project/other harm reduction shifts count towards fulfilling shift duties! We request at least 1 of your total shifts be dedicated to Soft Landing so that our playa home can thrive and we can continue offering our services to the citizens of Black Rock City. If you haven’t received confirmation of your Zendo shifts yet, don’t worry. You are still welcome to join, but please do so in good faith and sign up for Soft Landing shifts if you don’t get approved for Zendo. Questions? Contact your Zendo pod lead.

Before you pay your dues, sign up for shifts.
2023 shift sign ups open in June. You will need to enter your shift information upon payment. Please do not sign up for shifts that begin 24 hours or less before you plan to hit playa. On that note, please do not have everyone in your car sign up for the same shift. Things happen!

We strive to make dues as financially feasible as possible for all members of camp by offering such a DOable fee structure. Your payment is a commitment to the shifts you’ve signed up for. If dues are a significant financial hardship for you, please let us know.

• 1 camp participation shift and $450

• 2 camp participation shifts and $250

• 3 camp participation shifts and $150

• Refund up to $100 for staying through strike

Full refunds will be available upon request until August 10. No refunds will be issued after that date, except for extenuating circumstances.

So what do these dues pay for? Soft Landing has ongoing costs such as:

• Storage, transportation and updates of camp gear

• Food for build and strike crew

• Decor, lighting, and equipment for the teahouse and Palenque Norte

• Water and tea for the teahouse

• Electricity and water for the teahouse, power for Palenque Norte, propane and electricity for the community kitchen

Improvements to infrastructure. This year we’ll be improving:

• Public signage

• Additional stove and kitchen decor

• And more…

Things your dues DON’T pay for (at least this year!):

• Camper grey water (our grey water evaporation system called the Evapotron primarily serves the teahouse)

• Food during the week of the burn

• Money in the pocket of anyone

Grey water is water contaminated with soap, detergent, food scraps, food residue or flakes of human skin. Soft Landing will not be providing any evaporation of camper grey water. If you would like to become our Grey (Water) Lord and take on the job of making our camper grey water cycle more sustainable please let us know. The Evapotron setup is currently for the teahouse only because it functions best that way. We want to make sure you are all prepared to pack out or process your own grey water. This is pretty substantially different from life at home, where water disappears down the drain instantly. We know from our careful data collection that about a third of you are new to Soft Landing this year. Please be prepared! This is a camp that particularly emphasizes radical self-reliance and our gifts to the playa. One of the ways we express this value is by providing minimal amenities and focusing our resources on our community based art projects.

So, there are a few good ways to process or pack out your own grey water. One of the nicest ways to process grey water is to filter it through a piece of cloth like a bandana, then lay a paper towel on top to absorb all the oil. Put the chunks from the cloth and the paper towel in your doubled up trash bag at your own tent. Now, you have “light grey water.” This can be poured onto a towel or moving blanket on top of your cooler to promote evaporative cooling, or poured into a swamp cooler to keep your tent pleasant during the day. Just make sure not a drop touches the playa! Unfiltered grey water can be poured into an empty container in which you brought in water. Just be sure to sanitize (or recycle) the container after you get home!

Personal grey water is any water you have used that is not leaving your body as urine or sweat. This includes water from brushing your teeth, cleaning your dishes in the community kitchen, showering in the camp shower, cooking pasta for 20 people, etc. It must not touch the playa, and you are responsible for all of your own grey water. Please be mindful of this in your packing, and consider bringing resealable water containers to make it easier to pack your water back out — those single-use “suitcase” style water containers don’t reseal well, nor do one-gallon jugs with a pop top instead of a twist cap.

This may seem like a lot of explanation about a simple topic, but in a recent year someone dumped their grey water in the fuel containment system in the camp’s fuel depot! Don’t be that person!

Soft Landing is centered around our service to the broader community and runs smoothly behind-the-scenes thanks to the self-reliance of our members. We want you to have a comfortable and rewarding experience on playa. Here are our shared camp resources:

Love Kitchen
Our community kitchen has prep tables, burners, pots/pans, utensils, dishwares, coolers, and a variety of spices for your cooking pleasure, as well as a chill area to relax, eat, and recharge. We also provide a modest dishwashing area. Please remember to clean up anything you touch! Pack your own trash and grey water OUT of the kitchen before you leave.

Shower
What is more luxurious than a shower on playa? Bring your own water and shower bag (or borrow one from a friend). You’ll be able to funnel your used shower water back into the your jug once you’re squeaky clean and ready to play. Remember, you will have to bring all your grey water back out to the default world.

Shade
Some members will be able to camp under our big shade structures. This is on a first-come, first-serve / special needs basis. You are encouraged to bring any shade structure you can because we will not be able to accommodate everyone!

Teahouse sleep space
If you need to sleep after a long day of packing up before heading off-playa, please use the teahouse space rather than driving while exhausted.

For the past few years, the Love Kitchen pod has coordinated an optional Supper Club for Soft Landing members. Members rotate cooking dinner so that the group enjoys a lovingly prepared dinner every night of burn week. Cook once, eat every night! You are responsible for purchasing, transporting, cooking, and cleaning for your designated meal. You’re welcome to share responsibilities with a friend, as long as each group size stays limited. Once the first Supper Club reaches capacity, a second one will be formed (with staggered meal times). The default Supper Club focuses on healthy, vegetarian dinners. You’re welcome to form other groups that cater to different dietary needs or meals, and we’re happy to help coordinate this if you’d like. For more info, click here or email lovekitchencsl@gmail.com.

Here’s a helpful packing list that I’ve assembled over the years <3 (from Jae)

• ticket

• tent

• rebar

• tennis balls (for marking rebar)

• shade structure

• bedding

• plate, bowl and utensils

• cups

• ziplocks

• zip ties

• soap

• trash bags

• water bottles

• backpack

• water - 1 gal/day

• resealable water jugs

• glowy shit

• ear plugs

• single-ply TP

• hand sanitizer

• baby wipes - 5-10 per day

• towel

• coconut oil for skin

• sunscreen

• chapstick with sunscreen

• sunglasses

• goggles (make sure they have foam so no dust gets in)

• dust mask (a particulate-grade cotton face mask works best)

• time piece

• warm clothes

• good shoes or boots

• sharpies

• pen and small notebook

• ticket or confirmation number

• cash

• ID - and photocopies for bars

• scissors

• toiletries

• batteries

• first aid

• camp chair

• sheet or tapestry to put over bed to keep the dust off

• duct tape

• vinegar (to counter playa alkalinity)

• knife

• liquid aloe to add to baby wipes

• sunhat

• bungee cords

• nasal saline spray

• eye drops

• pillows

• extra snacky food

Food

• cereal and soy/almond milk

• protein powder

• just-add-hot-water soups

• canned soup

• dried fruit

• trail mix

• chips

• salsa

• canned beans

• jerky

• electrolyte beverage

• salami

• crackers

• food bars

• ready to eat Indian packets

Please take a moment to pre-de-moop your items! Remove any extra packaging from your items so that you don’t have to worry about mooping it or hauling it off playa. Recycle Camp will take your crushed aluminum cans, but don’t wait until the last day to bring them over!

Speaker series TBA!

For now, check out some past videos.

Please note that Soft Landing does not allow personal generators. If you have a medical need, please contact us at campsoftlanding@gmail.com.

In case you still need to figure out how to get to the playa, you can use the rideshare provided at burningman.org to get yourself a ride buddy.

Have you checked out our public Facebook page and our private Facebook group (for members only)?