Tag: nude hike

Nude hiking is the best

While you read this, I’m probably on my way home from a short vacation on one of the Canary Islands. These islands are wonderful for the naked tourist. No, alas, that doesn’t mean you can wander around in the nude anywhere without getting into trouble, but they offer lots of places where you can.

On Easter Sunday I was out for a walk. I had been looking forward to this particular one as it is a walk I can’t do at home (lacking mountains and the space to do it naked).

Walks like this are always good. I know that many of you, reading this, can and will agree.

For me, the experience of consciously taking my clothes off and going for a long walk (this one was about 3 kilometres long) is an almost spiritual experience.

I am peeling away the physical boundaries between me and nature. All of me will be able to feel the sun and the wind. All of me will be moving without being bothered (yes, that is really it) by the stuff other people demand I wear when in most kinds of company.

And the best thing: it’s free.

And then I mean free in the most literal meaning. No one who has a problem with me being how I want to be. Nothing holding me back except gravity (and I am very grateful for that one 😉 ).

Having this possibility to walk around clothes-free is truly amazing. The sad thing always comes when the walk comes to an end and I have to put the hot stuff on again. That moment tells me how unnatural it is to wear clothes in an environment that is made for bodily liberty.

I can hardly wait to go on another nude hike. Let’s hope the world will someday get its act together and understand that our lifestyle isn’t bad. That we’re actually preserving energy and water.

And let’s hope it happens in our lifetime.

A naturist’s view on hiking

Naturists and hiking.

Nude hikingDamned right they go together. Hiking is a good thing. It means you’re outside, walking, being active, being kind to your body.

Fresh air is good for a person and for one’s skin. Makes sense then that exposing as much skin as possible is the way to go for hikers. Most hikers don’t, which is sad and their loss.

Vitamin D is best taken in through the skin, soaking up sunlight. What nicer way can you think of?

Footwear counts.naked hike

For a decent hike it’s advisable, I think, to be safe. Wear something sensible unless you are one of the barefoot-forever people.

I’m not one of them. I like decent footwear. To each their own. I’ve seen people negotiate a gorge on Crete on flip-flops, so whatever wiggles your toes goes.

Easy does it.

Whatever you feel your goal is, it’s good. Is half a mile a hike for you? Great. Do you go for the big ones, 10 miles of more? Great. There’s no need to overdo things. Take what your body can handle. If your body likes it, it will motivate you to go a little further next time. This is general knowledge, not limited to nude hiking, by the by. It’s easy to go too far, get hurt and demotivated. Be smart about yourself; you’ll enjoy hiking for much longer.

Possibilities.

Where can you hike freely? I know that people in big cities pull the short straw here. I pity you. Also I can’t offer advice to everyone around the globe as I haven’t been all around the globe to see what your situation is. Sorry, lack of money, time and knowledge of where you all are is to blame. 😉

Nude hike England
Me during a nude hike

I’ve taken long, naked hikes on several of the Canary Islands. It’s great to be there and be able to do that. I’ve also made long, nude hikes in England. I’ve found that when there is a place with lots of forests, there’s an opportunity to go naked.

Maybe not all the way but there’s more opportunity than many people assume there is. A big thing over here in Europe is NEWT, an event where a group of people hike through Austria in the nude for an entire week. Here’s a video report of one such events for you:

Maybe you get inspired by this. Look for places. Scout them out if you have to. And hike naked when you can. It’s so much better than in clothes.

A naked vacation-hike

A few weeks ago I was on vacation in the US of A. It was a great vacation. I had planned to get to the nude beach near the Golden Gate Bridge but that didn’t happen, alas. However, on my wanderings I happened to reach Reyes Point Station, about an hour north of San Francisco. The weather was amazing, there were no people around on the parking location and so I decided to have a little walk around.

Point Reyes 1As you can see, the weather was absolutely stunning. The trail was very winding, going up and down a lot as well.

Good thing I didn’t have any clothes on because the temperature there easily reached 78F (26 C) and that’s quickly too warm for serious hiking around. My lack of attire made the whole thing a very pleasant experience though.

Of course there was a spot where I put something on: at the end of the first trail (called the Jepson trail) there was a large parking lot with dressed people and cars. I don’t want to make others feel uncomfortable around naked people so I covered myself.

Point Reyes 2No one noticed anything because of that. Okay, it’s a sad state of affairs that naked hikers have to go through that but it wasn’t for more than a few minutes. I was once more impressed (in a bad way) how very warm you get inside clothes, walking over a stretch of asphalt to the start of the next trail.

Once on that trail (called the Johnstone trail), another winding, climbing affair, I was out of the fabrics quickly. Once again no one on that trail (I guess most people around there don’t like to walk around in nature, not even dressed) and I went on my merry, nude way. It was an even better trail than Jepson as it was longer and nature was at its best.

If you ever feel like having a cool walk (I walked about 3.5 miles/5km), that is definitely a good spot to do it. “Parking” marks where I parked my car, the parking with the people is at the top where the two trails connect to the ‘hook’.)

The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State

nudehike3

Here is a very good article on how to prepare for nude hikes: The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State. Please enjoy a snip from the post:

Finding the right spot

The first and foremost task is to pick a track that is a little out of the way, not so popular, or a little tricky to get to. The rougher a track is, the less likely it is to be used frequently. The type of people that are likely to use the track are probably keen hikers who might be a little more receptive to you than day trippers out for a Sunday stroll with their kids.

Ideally you want to find a track that has a single entry point and car park, so when you’re there you can ascertain if anyone else is on the track. If the car park is empty, this is a good sign nobody’s around. It’s not an assurance, but a pretty good indicator.

More at: The Art of Free Hiking | Naturist State.

Nude walk Germany Friday 12 July 2013

I went for a check-out of a spot in Germany I had discovered via some browsing. The place turned out easy to reach and most important: as good as deserted!

photo IMG_20130712_191008_zps30e7bfcf.jpgThis is the main trail that I followed most of the time. The total walk I did was 9.75km or 6 miles and I didn’t see anyone during that time.
photo IMG_20130712_192232_zps88217b02.jpgThis is a stretch along a wider path. I discovered that this trail almost runs parallel to the Dutch border, which made me grin!
photo IMG_20130712_193610_zps70e4b680.jpgIn the distance is a lake and that is in the Netherlands!

My walking gear.

photo IMG_20130712_193748_zps184e6cfc.jpgSee, there even was a little bit of sun!

Lots of hiking/walking today

Today was grand, great and impressive. And most of my out-time walking was textile-free too. I walked and hiked a little over 10km in 3 walks today, the last one a good 6km, and about 8 to 8.5 of them were clothes-free. 🙂

This would amount to 6.25miles in total, and 5 to 5.3 miles nude. The weather was gorgeous, people were scarce and a few I ‘suddenly’ met while nude were quite positive about it. (I try to cover up when I see people coming, but sometimes they are unfair and literally come around the corner and then I just keep going.)

today's nude walk

It was fabulous being out, had a great walk through a forest/heather area while going around a lake. I hope I can do something like that again in a few days. The weather also helped a lot, I hope we keep that for a while. Say until the week before Christmas? 🙂

Nude hiking in Switzerland. Do or don’t

Nude hiking in Switzerland: Legal or not? (via Matador Network)

Photo: Rick McCharles Naked trekking in Switzerland may very well rest in the balance of this current court case. WE’VE SPENT A LOT of time at Matador telling you about where to get naked: The Best Nude Beaches in the World, the Best Places for a Skinny Dip, and Nude Trekking, German Style. We’…

Continue reading “Nude hiking in Switzerland. Do or don’t”

Germany 2012 – Bizarre trial around nude hiker

nude hike

I found an interesting piece on a trial involving a nude hiker in Germany (original in German here on tz-online.de) which I’ve translated as well as possible in this post:

Bizarre trial around alleged exhibitionist.

Munich – A nude hiker was accused of exhibitionism by a 44 year old woman. The man from Giesingen was arrested. End of this: a bizarre trial with odd dialogues.

Just now the court pronounced Rudolf L. not guilty. But the 45 yo man from Giesingen still feels he’s been treated unjustly. “This is a joke, I feel hurt in my pride,” he complains. “This is a scandal, they should arrest the criminals.”

The “criminal” that Rudolf L. mentions is Anja N. She’s a film producer and she accused him of playing with his genitals as he was hiking along the river Isar in the nude. She was on her bicycle behind him and said how she saw how his hands moved in the area of his privates. “I do think that was not because of me,” she added. Still out of principle, “because I felt violated because of that”, she warned the police on that June 29th.

Schoes, backpack, sunglasses – that was all he wore

The officers came – and arrested Rudolf L. Little later he was formally accused of exhibitionism. This however was not confirmed by the court. Because Anja N. suddenly declared that she had not seen it all that clearly, it was more something she had deducted, that he was doing something unacceptable. Also she hadn’t even recognised him any more, she confessed. “Maybe I’d recognise him by his behind,” the 44 year old assumed. Rudolf L. in the courtroom however thought not.

Very different at the Isar. There Rudolf L. walked along rather undressed, Shoes, backpack, black sunglasses, that was all he wore on that day shortly after 6pm. “I was on the way home because there would be a thunderstorm,” he said. All the other sun-lovers had left already. “I was all alone.” At least he hadn’t seen anyone else. And even when: “From Wolfratshausen to Freising everyone lies around naked.”

“I’m gay, since birth””Then I needed to pee urgently and went into the bushes,” he reported. That was where the woman had addressed him. “I felt hindered as she interrupted me while peeing.” Shortly after that the police arrested him. “After that I was completely through with my nerves.”

That was visible in court as well. Still Rudolf L. seems to be devastated about the idea that the woman blames him to act against moral values. Even worse it is for him that the woman insists he had been exhibiting himself to excite himself. “I’m gay, since birth,” he complained. “I am not interested in women, it’s in my genes. I’m gay as they come.”

“I was ashamed to death”

That convinced the judge as well. Exhibitionism, so he said, was out of the question. Perhaps a disturbance of public decency that would require a “gravely indecent act” like “masturbating in public”. This however was not proven. Therefore the accused was acquitted.

Rudolf L. does not think that’s enough. “This is prosecution of the innocent,” he said after the verdict. That’s why he now wants to prosecute the woman. “After all, I was arrested. I was ashamed to death.”

Bettina Link

Note from Paul: Laws about nudity in Germany are much the same as in the Netherlands. If you make sure you’re not offending anyone by just being nude and you stick to places that are not near the general public, you should generally be safe. Of course it always comes down to the local authorities, so check before you strip. Exhibitionism for sexual arousal, having sex in public and things like that however are obviously forbidden.

When on a nude hike

When on a nude hike and you run into textiles, stay calm, nude and friendly. After all, a nudist has nothing to hide, and usually clothed people are scared more of what they see than the nudist hikers. It gives us the edge.

Oh, and if you know good places to hike in the nude, wherever in the world, would you mind sharing? The more places we know, the easier it is for us all!

(Image courtesy of Tumblr)