The Black Rock Desert

AERO-PAC launches in the best place in the world for rockets, the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada. If you haven't been to the Black Rock Desert, you really owe it to yourself to see this spectacular natural wonder, the largest flat piece of land on earth, and bring your rockets!

Black Rock is a "dry" lake about 100 miles north of Reno Nevada. It's at just under 4,000ft ASL. It's very empty country, just about the only town nearby is the town of Gerlach. See our Getting to Black Rock page for directions.

Blackrock is a dry lake-this means that usually it is dry-however in wet years some or all of it can become wet, so be careful. We normally only go there in the late spring, summer or early autumn when the weather is more hospitable to rocket flying, and the surface of the lake bed is in a better state for traveling on.

The lake bed is basically mud: dried and very flat. You can drive almost anywhere at 80mph, but lookout for those hummocks. The top ½ inch is a fine dust and when it rains this turns to a horrible clinging mud. If you drive on it it will fill the wheel wells of your car or trap you by letting your car dig its own grave. During the summer rain storms don't last long-they often happen in the early evening and the lake surface dries very quickly the next morning. The best thing to do is to stay put and ride it out, especially if you have a street car. If there's a lightning storm, stay in your car, it's the safest place to be.

There are hot pools around the edge of the lake. Be careful as some of them are way too hot to be safe and people have fallen in and died.

Summer weather is usually hot with calm mornings and afternoon winds early evening gusts and occasional thunderstorms are not uncommon and usualy blow over. Afternoon winds can gust to the point where tents and shades blow away make sure to tie them down well (rebar works much better than normal tent pegs), sometimes the wind gets so bad you just have to hide in your car until dusk when the wind usually winds down. Mornings are more likely to be calm so plan to get your launching done then. Winter weather involves snow and heavy winds-we don't go there then.

Nothing lives in the center of the lake. Some insects do blow in from time to time. If you camp at the cove there are rattle-snakes, ants and scorpions to look out for, but we haven't heard of anyone being bitten.

We're not the only people who use the space. Every Labor Weekend the Burning Man group turns up. If you think we're a little crazy ....

Black Rock is a dry lake and it gets very hot in the summer. Temperatures of 125°F (50°C) have been measured at the launch site. Be sure to:

• Bring water.
• Bring more water, don't forget about the ice.
• Bring some shade. The wind often comes up later in the day so be prepared to pull it down.
• Maybe we forgot: don't forget water.
• Oh yeah, maybe some rockets too.
• Be careful about running out of gas. Obviously there's none available on the lake bed and the gas stations at Gerlach and Empire are not open late.
• If you go out driving make sure someone knows where you are and when you expect to be back - take water - cell phones don't work at BlackRock and radio transmission over the playa seems to be limited - satellite phones do work but are expensive

Please don't bring:

• Fireworks. They are illegal in both counties spanned by the Black Rock Desert.
• Trash. The playa is not a dumping ground. Please help us keep this place beautiful. You must pack out every single piece of trash you bring, including that made by your dog.

You basically have four choices of where to stay:

• Stay at Brunos (775) 557-2220, the only motel in Gerlach, with only simple clean rooms. Register at the bar just down the street and do book ahead. We try and organize our launches so that we don't collide with other users but Brunos is usually fully booked weeks before a launch.
• Stay in Fernley or Reno, but it's a long drive. Motels in Fernley include: Fernly Super 8 (775) 525-5555, the Truck-Inn Motel and Casino (775) 351-1000 and the Starlite Motel (775) 575-2444.
• Camp out. The BLM allows us to camp out on the lake bed, or at the Cove near the launch site. (See Finding the Launch Site.) They ask us to not camp at any other places along the 'shore'. All garbage must be packed out and you must use the Porta Potties we are required to provide. There is often a strong wind in the late afternoon and/or early evening (it usually passes after an hour or two). Make sure that your tent is firmly staked (many people take them down for the day).
• Take an RV. They can be rented in Reno and can be driven onto the lake bed without problem (but be careful if it rains). Please park your RV end on at the launch site, or in the second row, so as not to take up as much of the flight line.

Crossing the train tracks on the east side of the playa can be dangerous! See Ian Kluft's story.

In the last few years, a new hazard has appeared at Black Rock: "playa serpents." These ridges in the surface of the playa can show up unexpectedly when you're driving and give you a nasty surprise. More info.

Pets on the Playa

For several years now the issue of pets on the playa has been a topic that causes frustration and distraction from the club focus, which is rocketry on the playa. Yes, "pets" primarily means dogs, but the arguments relate to all pets. Everybody who has pets love them dearly, most think of them as family members, thus every time in the past when this issue has taken the focus of the Board, the decision has been to back away from conflict and make no hard decision, because nobody really wants to offend their fellow rocketeers.

Well folks, it is time for the board to take a stand, and to do so with the best interest of rocketry in mind. We have come to the decision that the right thing to do is to officially discourage people from bringing pets of any kind to the playa. Realistically it is difficult to imagine a workable solution where we would "ban" pets from the playa. There are countless scenarios that suggest that an outright ban is unenforceable, difficult at best, and potentially counter productive. Besides, we want to be a rocketry organization, not an enforcement agency.

It is time for those of us who bring our pets to the playa to rethink this practice. Some of us on the current board have actually brought pets to the playa in the past, and we have observed many others. When viewed objectively we have learned that it was wrong to do it. There are several very real reasons that indicate it is in the pet's best interest to leave them home.

• Excitement displayed by animals in reaction to rocket launches is often an expression of discomfort and even pain in the case of many dogs, caused by audio components of the rocket motors that humans can not detect.
• Most animals have a fur coat that simply cannot adapt to the heat in the time it takes to drive there.
• Heat exhaustion is a very real danger that is compounded by the inability of the animal to take verbal direction such as "drink water, and stay in the shade".
• The highly alkaline soil of the playa is extremely bad for the skin of animals that walk and lay down on the soil.
• Sun burn.
• Eyestrain from the brightness.

The above issues are very real for all animals, humans included. We have done a very good job of getting nearly all humans to defecate in the designated manor, and to protect them selves from these threats. But we have done a poor job of protecting the animals from inadvertent discomfort and potential harm caused by our own emotional greed. Please don't bring the animals, and if you must bring them, please respect their health issues, and the club issues.

Ian Klufts one stop shopping for Black Rock info!

The playa is administered by the Winnemucca Field Office of the BLM. They have information on their web pages about Driving in the Black Rock Region and about their Leave No Trace policy. please leave the playa as you found it: pack out all the garbage you bring in.

Management of the BlackRock area is undergoing change, the BLM has put up this web site containing more information about the ongoing changes and the area itself. Portions that were previously accessable by vehicles have been designated wilderness and now can only be accessed by foot.

Here's a copy of a BLM publication about the Blackrock Area

A group called Friends of Blackrock that a number of AERO-PAC members belong is working to protect the Black Rock Playa and surrounding area.

Blackrock Highrock Info also has information about the area

XBRAT Email list - This is an non club specific - open forum for communicating with people participating in HPR activities at Blackrock