Which desert in Nevada is the site of the annual Burning Man event?

The desert in Nevada that hosts the annual Burning Man event is the Black Rock Desert.

The event takes place on the broad Black Rock Desert playa in northwestern Nevada, roughly 100 miles north-northeast of Reno. Each year, participants build Black Rock City, a temporary settlement that disappears after the gathering.

Burning Man began on San Francisco’s Baker Beach in 1986 and moved to the Nevada playa in 1990. Its signature ceremony is the burning of a large wooden effigy called the Man, traditionally held on the Saturday before Labor Day.

A common mix-up is confusing the Black Rock Desert with Nevada’s Mojave Desert. They are separate landscapes: Black Rock lies in the northern Great Basin, while the Mojave occupies a warmer desert region farther south. The playa is also famous for rocket launches, historic emigrant trails, and land-speed attempts.