BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — Forget all those rumors about this year's Burning Man event being a police state.

It's the same gathering of free-wheeling Burners that have populated the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach for more than 10 years, with the Bureau of Land Management, Pershing and Washoe counties' sheriffs deputies helping keep the 48,195 Burners reasonably in line. Final attendance is expected to hit 50,000.

I say "reasonably in line" because how can you expect these Burners not to be a bit out of the ordinary — after all, they've paid as much as $360 to take part in this counter-culture and non-mainstream outing. As in the past, drug use was common, mostly pot, said the BLM rangers.

Organizers downplayed a newspaper article in Reno that compared lawmen here as brutal enforcers of the letter of the law. It apparently was put on the Web by unknown writers picked up by a newspaper.

"No way,"said visiting Madeline Roch of Germany, "the police have been easy-going on everybody, even those seemingly smoking dope."

Echoing that was Joe Sherwin of South Lake Tahoe, on his third visit to Burning Man.

"I've not seen anything that was out of line." He did complain that organizers ran out of maps by the time he got here.

BLM officers said arrests and heat prostration cases were in line with previous Burning Man events (it's not a fiesta, say organizers).

There was no visual evidence of police overdoing their job and as of Friday afternoon, the crowds' biggest problem was the intermittent whiteouts when the winds acted up.

On the whole, this year's Burning shapes up much the same as those of preceding years. Perhaps there was less nudity and topless women than in past years, but nobody seemed to notice. Except ogling bachelors.

The Center Cafe was serving long lines of thirsty customers and Burners were dancing away — well, maybe dancing doesn't quite catch the flavor of those doing body contact on the central floor. The Cafe is about the only place where things are sold at the Man's — coffee, tea and other beverages. Burners can also buy water and ice with profits going to nearby Gerlach (Burning Man organizers have over the years upgraded Internet access for Gerlach citizens and bought computers for Gerlach schools).

The Man himself stands 40 feet tall atop a steel framework. He'll go up in flames Saturday night after a colorful fireworks display.

Out on the desert, works of art tower or hug the ground. The Temple — where Burners leave notes to loved ones and propose philosophies on wooden planks — stands as a vast sprawling structure that winds around several courtyards. As in the past Burners often sit and think, about what nobody knows. Some dance, sit and apparently pray.

One sprawling, spectacular piece of art is a towering nude woman, made of woven wire and attracting many admirers. At night the nude lights up in pale blue. But there are all those lonely smaller works of art, perhaps 15 feet tall or wide. And as in the past there are many ships and steam engines, built on truck frames, roaming around and offering free rides to anyone wanting to jump aboard.

One large blocky structures, the Megalopolis, in the Playa went up in flames Friday night, in a dazzling display of fireworks as one by one the four blocky buildings exploded in flames. This drew a maximum crowd and was as fiery as the Burning Man's burn to come.

The Man burns on Saturday, and many of the larger art works on the Playa will flame Sunday night. Sunday morning there will an endless stream of cars and RVs depart for home. If you're smart you won't want to be on roads out of Gerlach.