The night at Gillette was perfect. The temperatures were cool enough that sleeping was very comfortable just laying on top of the sleeping bag. Without its rainfly my tent is almost entirely mesh and that combined with the nearly no moon offered a pleasant, starry night sky. Not being eaten by coyotes was also nice.

Backway to Crown King was the plan and the group looked to be a fun one; Wes and Angie, Wes's relatives in a rented Hummer H3, Dan and Jessa, Oren, and a few different crazy 'Truggy' machines.

The start of the day was perfect with Oren nearly getting into a gunfight with some idiot in a really horrid 80's import tuner wanna-be crap bin. Of course saying they almost got in a gunfight is gross hyperbole, but it was pretty crazy nonetheless. Basically the guy was swerving around the road and dangerously cutting in front of vehicles, causing Oren to give him the finger... the response to which was a vulgar and quite hilarious confrontation.

Once on the trail, we hit every single possible optional obstacle. I'd only ever done two, the most recognizable of them all, but the others afforded some great fun and challenges.

Image credit: Jessa