Pamphlets

[Greenbare Woods]

I don't know if they had pamphlets to hand out or not but a local non-landed nudist club has a table at the county fair here. I've never been to the fair, so I can't tell you anything else about it. I think the club is the Potomac Rambling Bares, in Northern Virginia.

Good for them.  The more public we nudists are, the more acceptable we become in common knowledge.

I do know that there have been organized group hikes, nude, of course, somewhere not that far away. Again, they weren't things I've participated in, so I can't elaborate. There are others who organize "ordinary" group hikes. They seem to be loosely organized, as in, meet at the corner of 15th and U Streets and we'll go somewhere.

Some years ago when I belonged to a non-landed AANR group they organized some hikes but they hardly ever would hike naked.  For example they would organize a 2 mile hike to a hot springs every year.  They would swim naked at the springs, but nobody but me wanted to hike the 2 miles naked.  It was one of those states where just being naked was legal  unless you were intending to cause someone else to be affronted. An organized group of nudists has a public intention of something else.  There is safety in numbers. 

I'm of two minds about such things, that is, concerning group hiking, not the nudity part. If somebody else does all the work, well, that makes it easier, but you may not care for their destination or you just may not be up to the group standards concerning hiking speed. All the groups I've seen on the trail were way younger than me, so that might be a real issue. It might be nice to meet new like-minded people but at this stage of my life, which includes being married, that might not be a good idea for me.

I understand your concern Blue Train, but many people enjoy the company of other like minded people.  I can gladly hike a little slower to accommodate an elderly member.  Humans are a social species so doing things in groups makes a lot of sense.  What made me disappointed in the group was that more often than not I was the only naked person in the AANR "nudist" group.   

If you go alone, you always have your own way.

True, but  when you trip and break your ankle you have no help.  (I've done that too)

Bob

[BlueTrain]

I have always worried about falling when on a hike and I have, too. But just like the legal risk of being nude in public, that has never stopped me. In fact, the serious falls that I've had took place at home, rather than somewhere out in the woods. The falls I've had in the woods caused nothing more than skinned knees, yet a woman here at work fell and broke her leg just walking across the lobby.

It reminds me of another discussion on another forum about 1st aid kits. I took a serious look at what I had been carrying for the last 40 years. I concluded that what I had was unnecessary for what it was good for and inadequate for serious injuries, more or less.

I think people are generally very accepting of nudists, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on a lot of factors. I think the general public image is that they (we) are harmless eccentrics, which may or may not be how I want to be though of.

I have no idea where those group nude hikes took place that I mentioned. Such mention of them was on a forum such as this that had since disappeared.

[jbeegoode]

A part of the rest of my post at TheFreeRangeNAturist.org later this week will mention danger inherent in hiking alone.

There will be a trip report from way back when I hiked/camped with a nude group, but I have only written it. It now requires some new pics and so a further trip report into the Santa Rita Mountains, when the weather is just right. There are many pros and cons to the group thing. It discusses that.

I like me alone, I prefer with DF, she is a good match, but then there is fun in a occasional group outing, like, our free range naturist group outings up near Prescott... wow, getting to be a year and a half ago! Its getting to be time for another, me thinks.
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2016/10/07/free-range-naturist-gathering-pt-1-a-trip-report/#more-1809
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2016/10/11/free-range-gathering-pt-2-a-trip-report/#more-1850
Jbee

[eyesup]

I have done the majority of my naked hiking solo. My wife has accompanied me on a couple of themm but for the most part, I have been alone. The only concession I've made to safety when hiking is that I don't hike where, if fall I could die.

I have got to the point where I would probably enjoy some company as my wife so far does not participate.

Duane

[BlueTrain]

The dangers of hiking alone and of the woods and presumably the deserts, too, are overstated. There are those who never leave home without a gun and a complete second-story kit. I suppose they all have their reasons. I can realistically only base my ideas on my own experiences, all of them, and I'm 71 now. Chances are, I've already had most of my experiences, too. But I still drive to work (my last day is this coming Friday, I think) and the driving scares me more than anything.

Colin Fletcher spoke of issues relating to going alone. If you want a risk-free life, chance are, you wouldn't be making any posts on this forum. Just let someone know where you're going and when you're supposed to be back, as a minimum. After that, you're on your own. But some people don't like being by themselves anyway.

Serious rock and mountain climbing, however, is something else. My wife had a former co-worker who disappeared on Mt. McKinley about 35 years ago. Ironically, we learned about it from a newspaper article. His mother was a grief counselor. She wrote an article for the local paper, the Washington Post, in which she described having to deal with personal grief herself.

[eyesup]

For me, the object of hiking naked is to be naked as much as possible. If I take the kitchen sink, that's going to be more difficult. Being in the forest of Virginia or Florida has it's own problems, but water isn't one of them. Good and bad water is everywhere, but not here. The heaviest thing I carry is water.

I worked for an engineer in Houston that would go scuba diving with a friend every year in the Cayman Islands. One year his friend disappeared during the dive. Never found any trace of him or his gear. He stopped going after that and speculated once whether he died or just swam away and vanished.

Either one is disturbing.

Duane

[BlueTrain]

That's generally my first object, too, although I've always tried to be out in all seasons. When the weather is warm, I have planned my outings around being nude, or at least most of them. I have other reasons to go hiking, too, besides being nude outside. I don't do anything dangerous on any trip, so I don't worry much about getting hurt. Other than reading this and a couple of other forums about hiking, I've never really discussed hiking with anyone. None of my acquaintances go hiking. I've been on hikes with my wife and sometimes my daughter but that's about it. Insects can be a nuisance in warm weather and I've seen bears in the woods but I don't consider there to be any real danger in the places I go, no worse than anywhere else. But that's just the hiking part.

Camping is a little different. If you camp in the woods, you have to be aware of things overhead that might fall. We had a terrific windstorm weekend before last and we saw a lot of reminders that trees and tree limbs fall down, sooner or later. But I don't mess with axes or knives and I don't build fires, so that eliminates a lot of potential injuries. I just go hiking, nude if possible. I don't do bushcraft or woodcraft. 

[jbeegoode]

Topic drift here is like a runaway train sometimes...woo, whhoo....

My concerns are falling and rattlesnake bites getting me stranded. If I'm stranded, I'm alone and exposed. There is no one to help, or go get some. I'm concerned about running out of water.

I'm less concerned about getting lost than these. When there is a question of direction, there can be disagreement, I'd rather trust myself. On the other hand, I sometime miss a sign, or don't notice something that the other picks up on. On that other hand, I'm more alert and with more healthy fear than when alone.

Photography and telling a yarn is better with DF along.

Yea, camping alone, I confess that I have still felt uncomfortable at times, in the dark wild forest, with critters lurking and breaking branches. O 

I rarely start a fire without someone else around to share it.

Being nude and alone in nature is spiritual, maybe even more so alone. It is an exploration of self.
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

There are supposedly Thai forest monks but I don't know much about them. I'm on the mailing list of a monastery but they never mention things like that. They aren't solitaries, as they are called in our church.

[Safebare]

I guess we can see how far this train will run off it's tracks😉.
I often hiked and bicycled, nude, in the federal preserve next to my cottage at Caddo Lake. My GF would join me when visiting, but usually I was alone. One Sunday afternoon I was biking the trails and had a spill, head first over the handlebars. Ended up with a hematoma on the knee. Rode back to the cottage with one pedal, then drove myself to the hospital. They wouldn't give me anything stronger than Tylenol because I didn't have a ride back. They finally gave me a couple hydrocodone tabs when I promised not to take them until I got home. 
I still venture out alone when the opportunity presents itself. I will let someone know where I'm heading and am usually in cellphone range.
Be safe out there, and bare!
Safebare

[eyesup]

Safebare! HOTHB! Been there, done that! 

I have been hiking in National Parks with the crowds and on rivers and lakes canoeing with the crowds but I prefer to be in nature naturally. This not only means my attire but my attitude when hiking. I have thought of SN occasionally as Solitary Naturism, something that appeals to me, because I do enjoy the quiet and the lack of crowds of people. I realize I am taking a risk doing that but going outside is a risk, staying inside is a risk, getting in your car . . . etc. etc.

So, I tell Mrs. E where and when I am going and my projected return so she knows when and where to send the gendarmes if I don't show up.

     “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road,
       and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept
       off to.”    - Bilbo

Duane

[Greenbare Woods]

     “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road,
       and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept
       off to.”    - Bilbo

Duane

One didn't catch either Bilbo or Frodo going down the road alone. 

I prefer company, but naked company is hard to find.   So I end up going alone much of the time. 


 This is a BLM owned former sheep ranch.  I was there alone last summer. 

[eyesup]

One didn't catch either Bilbo or Frodo going down the road alone.

Now that you mention it, they didn’t did they?

Duane

[BlueTrain]

They both took to wandering the woods in the company of elves--and barefoot.

[dbwvogel]

If you go alone, you always have your own way.

True, but  when you trip and break your ankle you have no help.  (I've done that too)

Bob

I have never been injured on a hike, alone or with a fellow hiker. But the trails in my area (Shenandoah valley) are mountainous and injury is always possible, so some pre-planning is of value. A close colleague, a veteran (textile) hiker, but educated and personally skilled, slipped on some unanticipated ice and fell headlong down the ridge, causing serious brain injury. It took three grown men to get him off the trail (was it luck that the next two hikers that came across him and his companion were paramedics?) and three years of therapy to get him back on the job.

Last Fall, on our final weekend before classes began, my wife and I hiked one of favorite trails, about a 3-hour excursion, me nude as usual and no one else on the trail. 30 minutes from the end, she slid on a gravel slope and fractured her ankle. It took us three and a half hours to get her out, me carrying her piggy-back style part of the way, and got her a walking stick which helped with the rest - dropping down a steep incline. It give pause to think what might have happened if I hadn't been there with her. Some places have cell reception, others simply don't.

I don't think this means don't go out alone - mostly these are freak instances; but it does reinforce the notion of leaving one's itinerary with a trusted friend, so that someone can come after you if necessary.

Question; does any of this go into the pamphlet?!