Burning Man: Yes, we've noticed the water on the playa

Jenny Kane , Jenny Kane | Reno Gazette Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: Black Rock Desert playa covered in water RGJ writer Jenny Kane reports in March 2017 from the water-covered Black Rock Desert playa.

It's mid-June, and the Black Rock Desert is still a giant mud puddle.

Although it's been a game of wait and see for Burning Man organizers, they are still confident that Burners will be able to come home for their annual end of summer bacchanal.

Burning Man, a massive arts rendezvous, is set for Aug. 27 to Sept. 4 outside of Gerlach, about two hours north of Reno.

About an inch of water still stands on much of the playa, an alkaline dust flat that 12,000 years ago was Lake Lahontan.

"We still have a solid month of drying out to do, but, honestly, we don’t think we’ll ever have to cancel the event," said Burning Man spokeswoman Megan Miller.

Event organizers have been in talks with state officials at the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency which oversees the Black Rock Desert and issues Burning Man's multi-million dollar special event permit each year. Both are monitoring the situation.

Miller said that Burning Man has a Plan B and C, but did not disclose what those were.

Fly Ranch, the organization's newly acquired hot spring and wetlands haven just a few miles north of the playa, is not an option for the event at this point. While Fly Ranch was able to host the event in 1997, the population at the time was 10,000. Burning Man now draws 68,000 people each year.

Mark Hall, Black Rock Desert field office manager for the BLM, said that the agency had no "true backup area" for Burning Man to use at this point were the organization to need another area.

Most of the water that drained into the flat pooled in from the Quinn River, which runs from Oregon south to the Black Rock Desert. The river was rushing due to copious amounts of precipitation this winter in Northern Nevada. Rare snowmelt from the Granite Range, also north of the playa, added to the flooding.

"I think we were actually more nervous about it a month ago," Miller said.

Since January, the bulk of the 129 square-mile playa has been covered in water, drawing crowds of kayakers, photographers and people who enjoy a particularly messy kind of nude beach. BLM officials believe the flooding likely peaked around mid-May.

"It was like nature handed us a gift," kayaker Renee Aldrich told the Reno Gazette-Journal in March. "It's a rare occurrence and it felt really magical to see it like that."

While the playa's edges have slowly been drying, Burning Man requires a 22 square-mile area. The playa needs to be firm enough for heavy trucks to drive on and airplanes to land on. Otherwise, not only will vehicles and heavy equipment get stuck in the fine silt, but the playa's notoriously flat surface will be damaged.

The good news is that this year's event could be less dusty, though that is not a guarantee.

"If the playa dries with a relatively smooth surface and late, we expect there being less dust out there. If it dries with a heavily incised/cracked surface and late, it could be dusty as usual," Hall said.

Currently, the water level is about two feet down, Miller said, meaning a dog digging in the dry areas won't find water until two feet deep -- a good omen since organizers, artists and participants will need to stake down their shelters and artistic structures.

"They also have a lot of room to shift the city," said Hall, noting that Black Rock City's footprint moves around each year.

This year likely will be an anomaly, Hall said, noting that -- despite the widespread flooding in Northern Nevada this year -- the West is still experiencing a longe-range drying trend.

"I suspect if we have a typical July, by mid-July it will all be evaporated," Hall said.

Come sun and wind, the water is expected to evaporate at a rate of several cubic centimeters a day, he said.

The BLM usually grants Burning Man's permit at the end of July or in early August, just before organizers begin construction of the camp area known as Black Rock City.

Reporter Jenny Kane covers Burning Man, the arts and marijuana issues in Northern Nevada. Follow her on Twitter at Jenny_Kane or email her with a tip at jkane@rgj.com.