Photos Show What It Was Really Like at Burning Man 2023

Before watching the Man burn, I visited Temple. It ended up being the hardest part of my entire experience.

Temple at Burning Man. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Temple is an annual tradition at Burning Man, its walls covered floor to ceiling with mementos and letters and photos of lost loved ones. It's a communal place of grief and catharsis and I was warned many times that my first visit would likely feel intense. 

Before the storm hit, I had planned to visit Temple in the daytime, write a letter to myself, and sit on my own and reflect. My time there was shortened, and the sheer amount of pain that the Temple holds hit me harder than I expected — to the point where I actually had to run out of it for a second.

But as my boyfriend Peter hugged me and encouraged me to go back in, I was grateful I still got the chance to experience it. 

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