I took my third and final trip at Burning Man Sunday night, the night of the burn and my last night there. Roughly half of my camp was planning on drinking mushroom tea and I had planned to join them. However, time ran out and they ended up just eating the mushrooms. Since I was not in the mood to chew up (and then try to digest!) bitter mushrooms I chose to take some 2CB with a few others from camp. I took my dose, 20 mg in four small capsules (5 mg each) right before we left for the burn, shortly after my three companions (E, F and P) had taken theirs.

We arrived at the Man and found places to stand and watch the spectacle. E and F were standing directly in front of the Man, while P and I walked around to one side. There were thousands of people clustered around and the energy level was very high in anticipation of the Burn. My first alert was an "up" feeling about fifteen minutes after ingestion. By the time the Man began to burn I was starting into the body of the trip. P was obviously ahead of me on the curve, as he was feeling the effects strongly while I was feeling only mild effects.

The burning of the Man was spectacular, visually and emotionally impressive. The energy of the crowd thronging around me was tremendous and infectious. I felt very tuned into it and everyone around me. The burn was incredible and the 2CB put me very much in the moment. As the Man fell, people began rushing in and I was tempted to follow. However, P was tripping quite hard and was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, so we hung back. We walked around the huge bonfire that the man had become to where E and F where standing and rejoined them.

People were beating drums, shouting, chanting and dancing around wildly. I joined in dancing from time to time, enjoying the pleasure of moving my body and sharing the energy of the Burn. I was in an excellent, highly energetic mood that was in sharp contrast to the low energy, drained state I had spent the last two days in. I was extremely happy to be there, tripping with the people I was with.

After a while we headed back to camp to chill out a bit. We sat around engaged in mellow, low key conversation. Mostly we talked about 2CB, our reactions to it, previous experiences and comparisons of it to other drugs. I think we all agreed it was "one of the good ones".

At this level and on this occasion it reminded me quite a bit of a less "obvious" and aggressive MDMA with more of a visual element. It felt more like my heart was being "eased" open or allowed to open rather than the more forceful opening of X. It was more subtle, but also more real. In any case I was greatly enjoying the company of the people I was with, and was very grateful of the opportunity to grow closer to them by tripping together.

After a while we wandered out on the playa and set off some fireworks, which was mildly amusing. The visual element became more apparent (although still quite subtle) as I looked at the full moon and saw faint colored patterns scribed over the night sky. After we set off the fireworks we all headed to the bathrooms to relieve ourselves and then returned to camp again.

In camp we hooked up with several other people from our camp and we decided to head out to wander a bit more. Our first stop was out to the playa again to set off the remainder of the fireworks we had. This provided momentary amusement. Afterwards we returned to camp to dump off our garbage before striking out again.

As we wandered out over the playa we were talking about Burning Man, what it meant and what it could possible signify. E mentioned that it said a lot about Ecstasy, and I have to agree. I didn't see a single violent incident out there, but I saw lots and lots of people loving one another and being high as a kite on X. A marked contrast to alcohol culture where fights and macho behavior are the rule, not the exception.

We ended up under an incredible "UFO", a structure covered with pulsing LED's, suspended by two weather balloons. We sat underneath and continued to chat about various things. I enjoyed our conversations tremendously, largely because the people I was talking with were intelligent, articulate and interested in many of the same things as myself. People kept stopping by to ask about the UFO, assuming we were responsible (we were wearing flashing LED's ourselves, which probably helped). We had to tell a dozen people (or more) that we too were merely admiring it. If whoever did create it might be reading this, kudos! That thing was very cool!

At some point I did a balloon of nitrous. At first it was quite visual, but I opened my eyes soon after finishing inhaling it which seemed to break the trance, leaving me with a giddy feeling and a bit of ringing in my ears and not much else.

Not far from where we were standing the main rave stage was pumping out some awesome trance, and I danced from time to time as the mood struck me, as did E and F. As before, the 2CB seemed to enhance my body awareness and allow me to really focus on the way I was moving my body. I don't know if it precisely improved my dancing, but it definitely increased my awareness of how I was moving my body. The rave camp had a high power laser that was quite amazing, spraying a bright green beam out into the night. Since half the playa was on fire, there was plenty of smoke for the beam to illuminate. It was very beautiful.

After a while we moved back towards camp, stopping at the trance party we had been admiring from afar. There were tons of people there. I joined in the dancing until my energy level flagged, which didn't take long. The desert environment was harsh and it had been a long week. In any case, I really enjoyed the opportunity to dance a bit more and enjoy some first rate trance.

Finally we headed back to camp, joining a group of people who were sitting and talking. People slowly wandered off, to bed or back out to look for more craziness. P and I stood around trying to decide whether to give in to exhaustion or go out and find more fun. A dose (2.5 grams) of GHB helped us decide and bed it was. I slept well, for a few hours, until it was time to rise and break down camp to return home.

This was an excellent trip and I can't think of a better way to end my Burning Man experience. The people I tripped with were three of the people that I was most impressed by and enjoyed hanging out with out of a group of nearly seventy amazing folks. At the 20 mg level the experience seemed focused on internal qualities, emotions and body effects. It was my most empathogenic 2CB trip yet, and one of my best bees experiences overall.