Last weekend I went on the camping/hiking trip to Dewey-Humboldt where I met Jbee, DF, Kensunwalker and his wife Amy. There were several 1st's on the trip,
1st Social nudity
1st nude hike in a neighborhood (*)
1st wilderness hike in a group
1st carnuding with a group
We did three hikes, short and long, and all three times I left my clothes behind. Something I've never done at the start of a hike. I did so because everyone else did. That's how comfortable I was in the group I was with. On two I carried a small cover-up, on one I carried nothing.
The weekend had been somewhat planned ahead of time. Let's see, it was, "Let's meet somewhere in the Prescott National Forest on Friday, Sept. 30, 2016." A good plan! I had looked at sites ahead of time and had three options for camping. Ken had suggested "Lynx Lake" as a local favorite. Another just south of that was "Hilltop". I had picked another site, but it was 20 miles as the crow flies to the east near a mining ghost town. A last resort option. Jbee was researching his maps and scanning on GoogleEarth looking for promising sites.
I spoke to him last Thursday and he had suggested a fourth option. A place called "Enchanted Forest Trail" campground. In the process of looking for internet info about that I found another just south of Jbee's site called the "Bannie Mine Road" camping area.
Click one of the Google Bannie Mine ".kmz" files below. The "Enchanted Forest Trail" is about 3/4 mile north of Bannie Mine Rd.
These two camps were referred to as "dispersed camping". They are not a maintained campground and have no facilities. The only thing available at each campsite is a firering. They are randomly placed where convenient, without doing any "improvements" to the site. This sometimes encourages the camper that expects a more comfortable experience to move on.
They also are dry camps, as in water, not spirits. The internet site where I found my info had reviews by campers with one drawback to them, because of their proximity to Prescott these were a favorite amongst locals for partying and binge drinking. Ohhhh boyyy!
Friday, I got on the road at about 10:30am, a little later than I had wanted and was hoping to get there early enough to claim a spot. It's a 260 mile 4 hr. drive to the campsite. About 2 hrs. south, I ran into some cloudburst's just east of Kingman, AZ. Not a good sign as I saw nothing but clouds to the south. I drove in and out of these for 90 miles. After swinging south on Hwy 89, the downpour slowed to a steady drizzle. This lasted all the way to Prescott.
After locating Walker Rd. in the foothills, that is the forest road the camps were on, I texted Jbee that "it was 59D and drizzlin' rain". Their response:
"That's a bummer. Is it a socked in rain or a shower?" All I could see was blue sky to the south and west and was fairly certain that it would clear off. It did just that around 5:00 - 5:30p pm. I checked the thermometer in the truck and it read 65D. Temps were up!
Lynx Lake, Hilltop and Enchanted Forest Trail were all full when I arrived at about 3:30 pm on. I then drove to the Bannie Mine camp, and found that site #2 was open. I parked my truck and walked around the site. It was big enough for 3-4 vehicles and had a stand of small trees which provided privacy. It was perfect! I pitched my tent behind the trees so it was shielded from the drive. If desired I could spend naked time there. It was also secluded, the next closest site to the west was 300 yds. away, to the east, I walked down the road for 1/2 mile and saw no campers. Nice!
I broke out the cookstove and made myself some supper and ate a hot meal, always good on a chilly evening, then started a fire, also good on a chilly evening. I sat in my camp chair with my feet propped on the fire ring and waited for Jbee and DF. I had eaten at 6:00 pm or so and knew that they would be in about 8:30 pm.
| Waiting by the fire. I considered bringing BEER, but since it was a hiking, not a camping trip, I didn't. | 
| Camp site #2 on Saturday morning. The tents are behind the trees to the left of the light blue chair. |
After dark, I wandered back to where I had placed my tent and went for a little nightime naked stroll in the forest. The sun had set and it was a little nippy. The fire ring was visible from the road but I walked over to warm up by the fire, after a bit I went back behind the trees. It was getting chilly so I dressed and went back to sit by the fire.
Jbee & DF drove in sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 pm. Jbee got out and well, he wasn't wearing a thing! They were ahead of me in nude time. We spent the next couple hours visiting and adding wood to the fire for comfort. I was finally able to put voice, face and personality to the words I had been reading for so long. You can always tell when folks hit it off when long spells of silence don't seem to bother anyone. Sitting by a warm fire staring into the heart of a glowing bed of coals occasionally prompted a comment.
They had been on the road for 4 hours and I had done the same earlier in the day so we all seem to have had the same idea. Time for some sleep. I showed them the tent sites and they selected a spot and put up their tent. We hit the sack, it was getting late. Fortunately, the reports of the binge drinking were greatly exaggerated and didn't produce any anticipated behavior (or we were too dead tired to hear them), so it was a very pleasant night. At the time we went to bed the sky had cleared and stars and the Milky Way had made an appearance. It was new moon so it was dark and clear.
Duane
* The neighborhood is where Ken & Amy are building their home. It is a large area of ranch estates with homes from small to large. I was hiking naked, along with four others, in daytime where I could see the neighboring houses. I hadn't done that before.
