Naked in Nature - It Is Hard To Do It Any Other Way - The Perfect Day
This last week was spent in the northern San Juan Mountains of Colorado, which by the way is a good place to find really good naked hiking locales. I got a naked hike in every day, but in the end also just spent time hanging around naked with friends. The spiritual aspect of naked hiking is something I enjoy very much as well as the physical part. There is nothing better than sweating and having your body dissipate the heat as it was designed to. So, one of my hikes consisted of a hard maximum effort 1.5 mile hike up a steep ridge. I left everything but my shoes and sunglasses at the beginning of the hike. At the top of the ridge in a grassy aspen grove, with a lot new spring green growth, I sat down and calmed my body and mind. I eventually turned around and hiked back down at a very different pace. I slowly wandered back using all my senses, feeling the wind and sun on my skin. Really, you miss so much if you are covered in textile. The visuals, sounds, and smells combined with the tactile sensations from 98% exposed skin contributed to a real connecting with nature. It probably took me five to ten times longer to wander back to where I left my water bottle. My clothes were back at our little travel trailer at our friends house. The one other thing I had with me was my yoga mat. I threw off my shoes and sunglasses and spent the next hour or so doing yoga and meditating in a meadow surrounded by aspens, pines and some noisy birds. Lastly, I spent some time walking around the meadow barefoot, and of course, not a single other artificial thing touching my body. I used this time to work on my balance walking on aspen logs.
Reluctantly, I gathered up my stuff, my mat, shoes, sunglasses, and water bottle and headed back on my 10 minute hike to where I was staying. I was resolute not to put clothes back on the rest of the day even if others were clothed. That is always a very difficult thing for me after spending time naked in nature - putting clothes back on is just no fun - just so wrong unless it is snowing or the bugs are really bad. This effort to keep textile away was not going to be easy, because I was the only male in the group. No one other than my wife knew about the naked hiking earlier in the week. This time, I had let it be know what I was planning. I felt fine about letting the others know now, because there had been some talk from my sister-in-law, who had been visiting this location much longer than I, of hanging out naked there in days past. Apparently, my confession that I was going out for a naked hike, and in fact, left naked, broke the ice. When I got back everyone else was sitting around naked in the sun. That made for a wonderful rest of the day. Oh, why can't everyday be like that one. It was about perfect.
It reminds me of my summer hikes with NEWT (Naked European Walking Tour). Every summer NEWT spent a week hiking naked in the Austrian Alps. Between 30 and 50 of us gathered from all over the world to share a truly back to nature experience. We hired a "Hut" or chalet already in a remote alpine location, about 1000m above sea level. The accommodation was in shared rooms with several to a room... The day started with a hearty breakfast and the opportunity to pack a lunch. Then we'd go hiking. Maybe we looked odd, wearing a hat, heavy hiking boots, a back pack and nothing else. We did carry wraps to cover up when hiking through villages. The Alpine flora is beautiful at that time of year - virgin meadows full of wild flowers, grazed by the occasional cow with its cow bell tinkling in the clear mountain air. And the mountain scenery is truly stunning. It was the epidemy of naturism - naked in nature. And the body breaths so much better when hiking naked. We would climb another 1000 meters and walk for about 15km. On return we drank a refreshing beer, cooled in the cow's water trough fed from a mountain spring. Then we'd all muck in and get dinner ready, usually a hearty meal to satisfy our well earned hunger. It was always accompanied by more beer, wine or a special spirit brought by a participant. The chat would go on well into the night, sharing experiences from all over the globe. Regrettably the 15km hike and 1000m climb became too strenuous foe me and I had to stop going. But I have fond memories.
Great stories indeed!
Living naked here at home, visiting our club and resorts is all great and nice to share it with each other and with others that prefer being nude. But, there is so much to say about being nude in nature. It's a totally different feeling of freedom. It is as it was meant to be. Being naked inside is great but being naked outside in our backyard is freeing. Being naked outside at our club or resort is also great and freeing but being naked in nature, at the beach, in the mountains on a trail, in the woods... it truly is how it was meant to be and it's a freedom that is uncompareable.
When inside the house, even if naked, I still feel clothed. However, that said, textile-free inside is still better than not.
As previously stated, we are naked everyday, all day when we are not entertaining other non nudist guests. It's just our normal way of life. That being said, I can get somewhat antsy and feel closed in if I spend too much time inside, even though I am nude. I spend a fair portion of my day outside when weather permits. If it's too cold or too hot, I wait until it warms up or cools down and it could only be a few hours of the day in winter but summer... the nights are very nice and I escape the closure of the house and let my entire body breathe! ;D
Sounds pretty perfect, with the cherry on top being that the others had already undressed by the time of your return. Was it a surprising relief?
It was not too surprising given some of the hints dropped before I left for my hike. It seems everything done naked is more relaxing, including sitting around on a deck with friends enjoying the afternoon sun. Every new experience makes me more of a nudist and wish that more people could share the experience.