Hiking Nude. What It Feels Like!
Location: Deep Creek Hot Springs (Calif.)
(Written exclusively for the Western Association for Naturist Recreation.)
Weather was forecast as good, so Sunday morning about 6 A.M. I departed
the Los Angeles area for the Deep Creek Hot Springs, a popular skinny-dipping site at the base of
the north slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains. After first stopping in Victorville to glorify
God at Sunday services, and getting breakfast, I arrived at the Bowen Ranch shortly after 9:30
A.M..
For those not familiar with the Deep Creek Hot Springs, Bowen Ranch is private land which lies
directly north of the shortest National Forest trail (1.1 miles long) to the hot springs. This
private land has an access toll road, parking and undeveloped camping areas.
To reach the Deep Creek hot springs trailhead from the Bowen Ranch parking area, there is a
steep downhill hike of 6/10 miles. Having a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle, I was able to eliminate
this portion of the hike by taking a road which skirts around the side of Bowen Ranch
to the National Forest trailhead. I have previously done this whenever possible, as the return steep
hike back to the Bowen Ranch parking has never been popular with me.
I have been to Deep Creek Hot Springs a number of times. I have always
approached it from the north via the Bowen Ranch, with the exception of one time taking the
5.7 mile hike in from the spillway downstream, an access route from the west using the Pacific
Crest Trail.
At that time, I did hike portions of that trail nude; it was my initial and only previous
experience at nude hiking. The trail has long clear stretches in it where I could see
anyone coming far in advance, giving me ample time to slip back into my shorts before they
could see me naked.
The trail that day was nearly deserted and I only had to sneak back into my shorts twice
for the portions I tried naked, but the vigilence and tension of looking out for others
was burdensome, something of a cat and mouse game where I was the mouse. Rather than
simply relaxing and enjoying the wonderful moment, the experience was severely tainted.
Feeling inhibited, I had not since hiked any other trail nude. I have felt no impediment
in going nude at numerous nude beaches where such modes of undress is an expected norm;
but the idea of hiking naked outside of an accepted recognized nude location, and inevitably
coming upon unsuspecting hikers, has been neurotically inhibiting to me.
But now this was to be my day! I wanted to put those inhibitions far behind me!
I arrived at the trailhead parking at 10 A.M. The parking area, like the trail leading
to the hot springs, is arid with only shrub vegetation. No one was in sight and I was eager
to start the trail. Outside my vehicle I immediately started to remove my clothing.. footware,
shirt, pants, and finally.. my briefs. I was totally naked. A feeling of nervous excitement
shivered through and tingled the very core of my body.
For hiking attire, I quickly put on a pair of short cut woolen socks, tennis shoes, and a baseball
cap.
The air temperature was 65 degrees (F.) and climbing. It was cool yet very comfortable for hiking
under a cloudless blue sky. The warming sun felt great upon my body. I immediately started for the
trail. I'm on my way! Not a stitch covering my ass.. just an enormous feeling of stimulating
exhilaration by the sensation of being.. buck nekkid!
Often when descending this trail in the past, I have encountered early morning hikers hiking out.
Would I encounter anyone I thought? Naa! It's late November and 65 degrees; no one would be hiking
out this early.
Three minutes into my walk, surprise!, a departing hiker. Another surprise is that the lone San Diego area male is also hiking nude; an aspect I didn't expect to encounter. I felt fully comfortable approaching him as he represented an affirmation to me. We chatted briefly and were each on our separate ways. (The remainder of the hike to the hot springs turned out to be free of anymore encounters).
As I continued my hike to the hot springs, I realized how wonderfully alive I felt, and how astonishingly perfect God's creations are. My heart was lightly pounding with the exercise; the rising sun was warming my naked body; the feeling of a very slight breeze was softly caressing me; and the feeling of my penis being unrestricted by clothing and free to move as I walked was all so natural and marvelous. Why did I ever take so long to experience this trail openly naked?
I'm an "average" 5 foot 10 Caucasian male with a circumcised average length penis; nothing extraordinary. In cooler weather my penis and balls naturally retract snugly against my body. But in walking freely with the sun warming my body, they dropped with my flaccid penis hanging sufficiently extended to bounce from side to side, giving me an added pleasurable sensation.
As I approached closer to the hot springs, I decided to take the cutoff for the gradual descent trail down the west side of the ridge. No reason to chance slipping and scraping my bare butt on the very steep and slippery, sandstone final descent route most other hikers take.
It was 10:30 as I arrived at the hot springs. The hot springs are located on the opposite side of the wide cold creek, which is several feet deep. To avoid temperature shock in wading across, I cowardly hiked downstream and crossed over on rocks.
The hot spring pools were near empty of occupants, with only a few people using them. Normally males always outnumber the females here, but during the morning hours this visit, there were pleasantly more women.
I slipped into the largest pool which had a middle aged hippie-like couple from the Lucerne Valley. Soon four attractive young women (I would estimate in their early twenties) appeared on the opposite side of the stream from us, near where they had been camping. In groups of two, they stripped naked and anguishly crossed the cold creek; their faces tearing in distorted configurations, with punctuated gasps and shrilling cries. Quickly, they selected our large pool and warmed themselves. I learned that they were from the Santa Monica area.
We soaked and chatted a bit. The other male was quiet, smoking (something) from his homemade pipe made from a plastic "honey bear" dispenser.
The four young women had camped the night before adjacent the stream unaware of the law against doing such. Learning of the possibility of a hefty fine if a forest ranger appeared, they broke camp about noon and departed.
Due to the adjacent mountain and the low arching November sun, at no time did the sun shine upon all the hot pools simultaneously. By early afternoon, the southern most pools were in the shade for the remainder of the day and a cool wind was starting; so I started an early return trip.
It was now after 2 P.M. and I had been nude since 10:00 A.M. Despite not wearing any sunscreen, my easily burnable skin had been treated well by the late November sun and wasn't showing any signs of sunburn. Great!.. for I wanted to continue my marvelous experience hiking nude.
Setting out on my return trip, and knowing that late hikers often come down the trail in the afternoon, I hestitantly wondered again about the possibility of encountering others. What would the reaction be?
While returning, the hike always takes me longer as the trail is uphill. I was throughly enjoying every minute of this splendid naked experience. The temperature now in the mid 70's felt perfect; and being totally naked, the lite perspiration from my body was evaporating at peak efficiency. I only had a few more minutes and I would be back at my vehicle. So far, I had encountered no one.
Although I had not wanted to run into anyone on the return trip, at this point (near the conclusion of my hike) I was beginning to have some second thoughts of disappointment that I hadn't. It was more of a feeling of realizing a lost experience. Of not knowing how I myself would react if actually faced with such; or knowing how others might react to me.
Opps! As I turned a corner, there ahead of me was suddenly a fully clothed couple hiking down the very narrow, single file trail. The suddenness of their close proximity surprised me probably as much as my appearance to them. The male's mouth tightened a little as we approached. Myself being alone, I suspected by his expression that he was uncomfortably sizing me up as being gay (which I am not). I casually greeted him as I passed by.
His female companion was walking about 20 feet behind him. As I was about to pass her, she raised her eyes up from my genitals and gave me an approving, big warm smile. It felt good.
Gee, that was very pleasant I thought. Ignoring the surprise element, I hadn't felt the least bit awkward about suddenly coming upon them being totally naked. Despite a full frontal view of my genitals, fully exposed and bobbling as I approached them, I was much more aware and concerned of their responding body language than conscious of my own state of appearance.
No sooner had I thought this and turned another small bend, then another fully clothed couple appeared, descending down the trail a distance before me. This time, the couple had a much longer period to view me as we approached one another.
The male on the narrow trail walked about forty feet ahead of his female companion. As the distance between us shortened, the male's face showed no unusual expression. We both exchanged friendly greetings as we nonchalantly passed by.
Approaching his companion, who had been fully eyeing me, she seemed to be totally surprised and caught off-guard by my appearance. She kept her head turned slightly away from me as though bashfully not knowing how to respond to my advancing body. Yet, as though in contradiction to her slightly turned head, she kept her wide eyes locked on my nakedness, observing me with the widest approving grin. In passing her I greeted her also and briefly commented on the cooling hot springs' weather conditions.
As I hiked on, I realized that my earlier anxiety of hiking a populated trail nude was totally unfounded. It was easy. As I reached my vehicle, I felt so good being naked that I didn't want it to end. I drove back through Bowen Ranch 'au naturel'.
In all fairness, I should note that clothed hikers on this particular trail are headed to a location where nudity is well known. Consequently, these hikers experiencing an unexpected encounter with a nude hiker may not be as much surprised as elsewhere.
I found my overall experience hiking this popular National Forest trail to be fantastic! It was only a matter of getting out and openly doing it. To allow myself to be cloaked solely by God's created skin. To experience the natural way my body was meant to feel and witness the elements; and touch with harmony the inherited latent gene in the mind which validates all the senses when the body is purely in accordance with the way our early ancestors hunted and lived for thousands of years. This experience has opened a whole new dimension in hiking for me. It felt so good, so relaxing, and so very natural.
For suitable trails, I have now shown myself that being totally naked and coming upon clothed hikers is not a concern. More than not, as lovers of nature themselves, I suspect clothed hikers totally approve of seeing the freedom expressed in a fellow hiker having the balls to hike nude and do what something inside them wishes they were doing themselves.
Yes, I hope to continue this experience of hiking totally naked in many more places. If you live in the L.A. area and wish to contribute some information, drop me an e-mail note at WANR's e-mail. Also, your comments are warmly appreciated.
P.S. Despite this page having a hidden counter, it doesn't tell the WANR if anyone actually reads it. We'd like to know if there is enough serious interest out there in nude hiking to propose the WANR develop more webpages to it. Please take a moment and let us know your thoughts, or if you may desire to submit material to such.
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