You should have no doubt at all, jbee, that your blogs are greatly valued and appreciated by those that click in from here and those that find you by other routes. Don't stop blogging- the vacuum in cyberspace that you would leave would be asphyxiatingly unbearable!
If you ever get too old to hike, your blogs will be the finest nostalgia to warm the cold recesses of your dotage, which, by the way, I hope never happens!
Questions & Comments
1) How do you know the pottery was ancient native American (rather than, say, a bit of old roof tile that someone has dropped)?
2) The pool area was indeed rather magical. Pity there wasn't a somewhat longer shot of its context.
3) What was the blue coloured waterfall after the line "This place obviously hosts plenty of water in season" ?
What mineral do you think left those blue trails and traces?
4) Some wondrous crested saguaros
5) That's a really interesting terrain area
6) I note that you two were mostly true to your new policy of being proud of your nudity and not covering up on encounters but not altogether so as you covered up on some of them. However, I'm sure you exercised your judgment appropriately in each case. Thanks to your new policy of boldness, I now feel excited and anxious for the successful outcome of any encounters whenever I read a post!
John
Questions & Comments
1.How do you know the pottery was ancient native American (rather than, say, a bit of old roof tile that someone has dropped)? It is distinct. There are distinct forms in different regions and periods. The stuf around here is typical. I have a basket of chards collected just from my back yard as I have wandered and constructed. It is generally brown outside and darker to black inside. Some is potery shaped. It is around places of habitation. Water had to be stored and transported, so it does turn up in the middle of the desert. Someday, I show you my chards, or take you to a trading place, where lots may be found. It is pretty obvious archeology, you’ll see.
2.The pool area was indeed rather magical. Pity there wasn't a somewhat longer shot of its context. It was small, ten by twenty give or take. Just enough to hassle our progress.
3) What was the blue coloured waterfall after the line "
This place obviously hosts plenty of water in season" ? The stain from baked algea, exposed rock minerals, the shade’s effect and the way the camera picked it up. Whiteish rock in shade sometimes gives a bluish hew, like snow.
What mineral do you think left those blue trails and traces?
4) Some wondrous crested saguaros. Yup, they do take ones attention. Gotta love ‘em.
5) That's a really interesting terrain area. There is less and less human activity the further back. It is slow and a hassle, and a great place for rattlers in season. These make it more pristine and an area that is just about animals lives without us. Lots of evidence and its more pristine.
6) I note that you two were mostly true to your new policy of being proud of your nudity and not covering up on encounters but not altogether so as you covered up on some of them. However, I'm sure you exercised your judgment appropriately in each case. Thanks to your new policy of boldness, I now feel excited and anxious for the successful outcome of any encounters whenever I read a post!
It is curious. We are so ingrained with the fears, that it is often amazing to me when nobody shows any objection. It is liberating to discover oneself as being so harmless, when for years we have been taught that we are not when naked. It keeps reinforcing the vast distance between the reality of a nude body and the illusion that is so popular in society and then enforced by government.
Even more so, we see those alarmed by an unclothed member of their own species as ludicrous as it is. I laugh about it, but then it is made to be such a serious matter. Yea, it is our intention to not do anything to break the law, at least in its stricter literal original interpretation. The different locations, like a populous state park and a less populous Federal land, can present a grey area by interpretation. We don’t want to publish admission and evidence of breaking law, which requires a “reasonable person” to be likely to object. Then we find that only an unreasonable very small minority would be alarmed. When we pass by a hundred with no alarm, or reaction, to find only one problem, who is unreasonable?
There is a part of me that is intent in studying the reactions, the subtle messages about their reactions, and to be more sure that I read them correctly. I can’t always be certain what thoughts, or reactions, or conclusions that they may come to, after time passes. I hope that it would follow that they see us nude and harmless, whether they see our illegal parts or not. I hope that it teaches them that their own naked bodies would be harmless.
I suppose that I should include all encounters in future posts. That way the readers will see that naked hiking is less risky than what is in their imaginations and then get out there and do it, too. The purpose of the blog is to teach and encourage. However to keep reporting that the reaction was benign, or favorably accepted could get redundant.
We have been out there hours and hours without others around. There are only moments amongst that in encounters. Generally we feel so much more relaxed and free with the new intentions, than being prepared for what is feared. We should feel free like this, to have no fear.
Nearly every encounter comes with warning. People make lots of noise. We don’t have to be so alert. We know that they are coming and we are mentally prepared.
It will be different when I’m out hiking alone, or nude with a dressed person. In the future this year, I’ll have more opportunity to hike than DF. I’ll feel different, then. I’ll have to overcome concerns of thoughts about being the lone guy, which, according to my polling, seems to gather no different reaction than being a part of a couple. Fears are ingrained in the head and I suspect that I have more to overcome when alone.
Yea, I’ll keep you, for one, entertained.
Jbee