Annually, the Friends of Black Rock gather on the smooth, lifeless playa surface of the Black Rock Desert to view the climax of the Perseid Meteor Shower in the vast darkness of this uninhabited region, far from the pollution of city lights. This year is my fourth year taking part with them in this adventure, and I'm joined by my friends Gen, Josh, and Lacey this time.
Originally, we had planned on driving the two or so hours to the playa on Friday evening, but with a combination of clouds and delays in packing our respective vehicles, we decided to delay going out until Saturday afternoon. Gen and I each drive our respective vehicles, while Josh and Lacey, pull a small camper they recently purchased behind their 4-runner. We met near the Wadsworth exit a few miles east of Reno on I-80 and then caravaned up NV-447 towards Gerlach, NV where we will depart the highway and drive out onto the white surface commonly known as the playa. Nearing Gerlach, we encounter some rain. We pull over, discuss our plan, and decide to head on out into the desert, as Doppler radar indicates this is the tail end of the storm system.
As we down 12-Mile "Road", we pass along the border fence of Black Rock City, which in about three weeks will contain the amazing counter-culture event known as Burning Man. I was lucky enough to attend last year, and Gen and Lacey will be going this year. It's also worth mentioning the pure freedom of driving on the playa. Many years ago when I first moved to this region, I took my truck out onto the playa, accelerated up to 100 mph, closed my eyes, and took my hands off the steering wheel. It was a exhilarating experience and while we won't be doing that today, I still remember the absolute freedom I felt that day.
Arriving at the provided coordinates, the four of use find a vacant area among the camp of about seventy-five people. The sky still has a lot of clouds and a moderately strong wind is blowing. We decide to crack open some of the craft beer we brought out to share with each other. This is a fairly common activity among many of my friends. Most of us travel to some extent and share a love of great craft beer. We make it a point to collect unique beers in our travels and then share them when we come together.
When the winds die down, I start to set up my tent and bedding. Lacey and Josh will sleep in their camper, Gen in her car, and I will relax under my backpacking quilt on top of a couple of sleeping pads. We stay up for a little while and enjoy more beer before deciding to turn in and wait for the moon to set, which should be about 1:40 AM. I set my alarm, but when I open my eyes another layer of thick cloud cover has moved in and obscures our view of the vast star-field. I fall back asleep, but awaken to Lacey stirring nearby about an hour later. Some of the clouds have departed and a large patch of open night sky appears to the northwest. The four of us wake and pull some chairs out to await the show.
During the hour or so, we see a dozen or so shooting stars. A thin layer of clouds seems to partially block our view. It's unfortunate, but it seems this will not be a great year for seeing the meteor shower. Eventually, we all agree to wind down and head back to our respective sleeping arrangements. I quickly fall asleep and awaken with the sunrise. Breaking camp and wishing my friends well, I head back to Reno to start the day.
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