Neal Katyal Details 'Harrowing' Burning Man Escape

Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general of the United States, has described his "incredibly harrowing" journey out of the Burning Man festival.

Tens of thousands of attendees were stranded after heavy rain turned the annual counterculture festival's site in Nevada's Black Rock Desert into a mud pit.

Organizers closed the festival to vehicles and urged attendees to shelter in place until conditions improve, with some fearing they could be stranded for days. Authorities said they were investigating after one person died on Saturday, but provided few details about the fatality.

Those stranded were advised to take shelter in a warm place and conserve food, water and other supplies. In an update on Sunday evening, organizers said they were aiming to open "for exodus" on Monday, but a final decision on access will be announced by 9 a.m. local time.

They earlier said people could walk about five miles from the festival site to the nearest town of Gerlach, where shuttle buses would take them to Reno. "This isn't a simple solution, but it is a possible one should you need or want to make the trek," organizers wrote on the festival's website.

Katyal was among those who made that journey.

"It was an incredibly harrowing 6 mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud, but I got safely out of Burning Man," the lawyer wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. "Never been before and it was fantastic (with brilliant art and fabulous music)...except the ending."

Katyal, who served as acting solicitor general during the Obama administration, warned that others stranded at the festival site should not make the journey unless they are in good shape and part of a group.

The mud "is like cement and sticks to your boots. It also has some quicksand properties—it grabs your boots and sometimes you are stuck," he wrote.

"It was quite hard, and will get harder if/when it rains more. Talk your friends out of the hike unless you really think they can do it safely. There are treacherous places where it is worse than walking on ice."

He told his followers to warn their friends preparing to make the journey to use GPS, download a map if possible, begin walking at 6 p.m. or time it so there won't be rain for the first few hours.

Katyal also said those making the journey need to prepare their boots.

"Plastic bag on your bare foot, then sock over it, then put boot or shoe on," he wrote. "There are lots of places where you sink into the mud down to your ankle. You need the plastic bag to avoid being soaked."

The most important thing is to "encourage them to be safe," he added. "If it takes several days to leave, so be it. These are dangerous conditions to hike and will likely get worse."

Newsweek has contacted Katyal for further comment via email.