The 2018 burn as a collection of thoughts and images by Jeremy Gillick.

Well, that went must smoother than expected.

Our camp leadership has leading other camps for years, but this was the first time that we built a camp from bare naked concept to playa reality. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of hard work with the expected unexpected failures, but overall it went alright.

I expected that things would fail because that’s what always happens out there. However, what I was bracing for was the inevitable playa drama and personal breakdowns as a group of new people learned how to live with each other during the most uncomfortable parts of the days. There were, of course, a few personal incidences, but overall, people got along, did their shifts and our new little community thrived.

We’re all packed and ready to go. Look at how clean everything is…for now.

Build was exciting and exhausting. Our camp had the good fortune of inheriting two containers; almost by accident. Since we only need one, part of the process of building the camp was to unload both containers and organize the contents into the things we need and the things we do not.

Then, of course, after setting up a couple of the monkey huts, we discovered that something was wrong and things weren’t matching our map. The monkey huts had to come down, new measurements taken and rebuilt. By the end of the burn, we were done with playing with monkey huts and are going to invest in modular shade for 2019.

Our beloved Beryl warming us in the evening. She worked so well, we’re going to integrate her into some of our events for 2019!

The chap challenge, our primary event, was a riot. Convincing random strangers to do obscure things in the name of a challenge – what’s not to love? Here you see Kyle, in character and cheering on a contestant who is attempting to ride his bike with what looks like 12 hats on it head.

In retrospect, I love the idea behind the challenges and the one thing I’d change is to make the games easier to understand to the casual passerby.

Mable, the Victrola, was a beautiful centerpiece in our lounge area and bar. It was playing music all day long and often attracted people in from the street. She was also a nice change from the usual playa music.

Our fully stocked double steamer trunk bar with our bartenders, Nick and Dmitriy, trying to figure out what to make our guests.

See everyone in 2019!