Burning Man 2015 saw a return to the playa of old … gone were the placid, pleasant days and temperate weather we enjoyed in recent years, replaced by the Black Rock Desert’s wrath of high winds, hours-long dust storms, and near-freezing temperatures testing the mettle of 67,564 participants over the course of the week. But hey, we never said this thing was gonna be easy. The Principle of Radical Self-reliance certainly competed with the other nine for primacy this year.

The 60-foot tall Man stood center stage to the proceedings, immediately surrounded by a mind-bending maze and a bustling Midway experience in the spirit of 2015’s Carnival of Mirrors art theme. The Midway’s carnival booths were activated by shuckster participants determined to hoodwink unsuspecting rubes, who risked losing their pants in games of chance — if they were wearing pants in the first place, that is.

Beyond the Man’s Inner Circle perimeter, more artwork graced the open playa than ever before. And while normally there are a small handful of seminal art installations to which beat a path, this year’s art truly leveled-up across the board, and an art wander was more like a walking connect-the-dots between one amazing piece and the next … and the next … and the next.