Black Rock City is not a real city. Black Rock City is a very real city, for a very short time. Where is Black Rock City, you may ask? Well, it’s in the middle of the Black Rock Desert, an ancient dried up lake bed in the Northwestern corner of the state of Nevada, about two hours north of Reno. Black Rock City is the 6th biggest city in the state of Nevada during its annual one-week of existence. You may have already made the guess — Black Rock City is the home of the even

Kadin and I had independently dreamt of seeing Machu Picchu, the mountain complex of Inca-era ruins in Peru. He wanted to hike the Inca Trail. I had grand ambitions of joining him. After loads of research, we eventually settled on an alternative, the Salkantay Trek. Although only a portion of this trek would include traveling along the Inca Trail, it would have the benefit of being less populated. And even better, we would be staying in permanent camps with solid buildings an