A number of anonymous burners are under heavy fire after this year’s Burning Man event in Black Rock City, Nevada after several photos surfaced online showing a sea of dusty bicycles that were left behind as the event came to a close.
These abandoned bicycles on the playa – which has a “leave no trace” policy that asks you to pick up after yourself and leave the land as you found it when you arrived – have been a hot topic of discussion among burners, festivalgoers and spectators alike.
One of the eye-opening photos shared on Instagram gives us a snapshot of some of the estimated 5,000 bicycles left by burners who were too lazy to take their week-long sand cruisers home. One commenter went so far as to say the Instagram upload looks like “Amsterdam Central in a dust storm.”
The mass littering of bikes was condemned by many burners that reminded their fellow eventgoers of the Burning Man credo “leave no trace.” One good samaritan named Jeffrey Pankey posted on Facebook with a call for help asking – “If you left your bike @ Burning Man…. you are a {insert foul name here}!! Come on folks, we can do better!”
Apparently his social media cries were heard, as we received word that several trucks began rolling in to collect the left behind bicycles.
At the end of the day it is disappointing to see so many Burning Man attendees fail to live by the “leave no trace” concept, but we’re hoping to see this number of bikes lighten up next year.
