Rite of the summer solstice?

[Rick500]

Skinny Dipping is every hikers right, and there's no best day to do it. I will say my Birthday falls on the Summer Solstice and I usually try to be in the highcountry on that day...

Happy shared birthday to both of us then. Cheers!

[Enic]

I was doing a section hike right around Pine Grove Furnace last year during the solstice. There were several thru hikers that happened on me while taking a lunch break not too far from the trail... Lets just say some were proud, and at least one pulled on some shorts when he heard noise ahead. Yes it happens. If you can't be naked in the woods, where should it be?

[4eyedbuzzard]

Vermont has no State nudity law except if done for explicitly sexual purpose - read up and take notes 'cause it's a felony if you are convicted for doing that in front of a child. Towns may have their own laws also. Anyone that wants to hike naked should bring along lots of insect repellent and after bite as well. Fun? Maybe. Itchy and/or painful? Probably.

[Snoring Sarge]

I am always amuse by the silly way so many people react to nudity. Nightly TV entertainment act out countless murders, rapes, kidnappings, all the CSIs NCSIs, and L&E franchises are making money. The 10' o'clock news is a rap up of the local Murders, rape, kidnappings and thieves. CNN, FOX MSNBC, HLN, are there if you need a update violence fix. This is legal and profitable watch by millions everyday.

Yet see a human in the nude is such a terrible life scarring event?

Why should walking nakked in the woods a few hours on the Summer Solstice ibe a crime worthy of being permanently out cast? How is a college kid streaking across campus a crime on the same level as a pedophile or rapist? Sex offender status is a label that one will never successfully remove.

We need to lighten up and refocus on what is/or should be a crime and what is simple the joy of living.

Oh by the way human were NAKKED for thousands of year before there was wash and wear off the rack.

[Snoring Sarge]

"In the south there's a difference between 'Naked' and 'Nekkid.' 'Naked' means you don't have any clothes on. Nekkid' means you don't have any clothes on ... and you're up to somethin!"

[jesse]

Hey rumprat, would you like to have your wife, mother, sister, children flashed by a total stranger.

[strollingalong]

Hey rumprat, would you like to have your wife, mother, sister, children flashed by a total stranger.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

you americans are such prudes!

[strollingalong]

let me add... i don't mean to stereotype. most of you aren't, some of you are laugh out loud prudish though!

Get 'em swinging!

[Rain Man]

Hey rumprat, would you like to have your wife, mother, sister, children flashed by a total stranger.

"Flashing" is a crime and only happens when the perp has a sexual gratification intent. It has nothing to do with nudism, except to the ignorant or secretly salacious.

So, no, I would not want my wife, mother, sisters, or daughters around flashers ... or salacious individuals, pervs who think every single instance of innocent nakedness is sexual.

One should keep one's mind out of the gutter, in other words, or else one is there with them. Lazy, false comparisons can make the sexual predator lists somewhat of a joke. Sex crimes are no joke and deserve no perverse comparisons.

Rain Man

.

[strollingalong]

One day, Rain Man, once I have matured somewhat, I will aspire to make intelligent counter responses like your own. Nice one.

[OldStormcrow]

Hey rumprat, would you like to have your wife, mother, sister, children flashed by a total stranger.

My teenage daughter hikes with me sometimes. She is mature enough that she doesn't get freaked out by skinny-dippers and would probably just be highly amused if she were to pass a naked hiker on the trail. I would much rather her see a naked person in the woods than Freddie Krueger on t.v. My wife seems to run into more naked people than anyone I know.....walking on SC beaches, in the woods, etc., and she just thinks it's funny.

[orangebug]

Looks like a _____, only smaller.

There is far more titillation in discussion of this Summer Soltice tradition than in the real event. Smelly sweaty nude hikers are just as attractive as smelly sweaty fully dressed hikers.

[TIDE-HSV]

Getting away from the trail for a moment, I was in Denmark on the Solstice once and they light bonfires around the coast and people dance around them naked. Some of the dancers were easy on the eyes, too. I was in Norway two years ago during the Solstice and saw nary a bare bum. They tend to be a bit more prudish than the Danes.

When I kayaked the Grand Canyon, nude bathing became the norm because the campsites were simply too small to allow for modestly, although some did just bathe in their clothes, sort of. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but, after a few days, I really didn't notice if the person I was speaking to was clothed or not. I was the oldest male at 39...

[4eyedbuzzard]

Getting away from the trail for a moment, I was in Denmark on the Solstice once and they light bonfires around the coast and people dance around them naked. Some of the dancers were easy on the eyes, too. I was in Norway two years ago during the Solstice and saw nary a bare bum. They tend to be a bit more prudish than the Danes.

When I kayaked the Grand Canyon, nude bathing became the norm because the campsites were simply too small to allow for modestly, although some did just bathe in their clothes, sort of. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but, after a few days, I really didn't notice if the person I was speaking to was clothed or not. I was the oldest male at 39...

Likely helps when the naked folks are all under 40. Just being realistic. Naked octogenarians like over in VT on hike naked day can have a negative visual impact on the trail experience.

[Bearpaw]

Use a little judgement. When you get within a mile or two of trailheads, where dayhikers roam with families, put on some clothes. It's about respect.

[Gray Blazer]

Hey rumprat, would you like to have your wife, mother, sister, children flashed by a total stranger.

Who did you have in mind?

[The Weasel]

Getting away from the trail for a moment, I was in Denmark on the Solstice once and they light bonfires around the coast and people dance around them naked. Some of the dancers were easy on the eyes, too. I was in Norway two years ago during the Solstice and saw nary a bare bum. They tend to be a bit more prudish than the Danes.

When I kayaked the Grand Canyon, nude bathing became the norm because the campsites were simply too small to allow for modestly, although some did just bathe in their clothes, sort of. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but, after a few days, I really didn't notice if the person I was speaking to was clothed or not. I was the oldest male at 39...

Well, folks, just remember: Georgia ain't Denmark. And frankly, there aren't a lot of places I'd less want to get busted for public indency - that's what they call it - than Arizona. Well, being busted for anything is sort of nasty in Arizona, but Arizona is, essentially, like being in Texas, without the sense of humor, in terms of law enforcement.

Overall, if you want to let it hang out in the wind, join a club.

TW

[Marta]

Keep the shoes...just sayin'....

"But officer, I wasn't naked...I was wearing shoes!"

[Mayer]

Thank you rain man. Don't be brainwashed by human institutions. There's nothing wrong with nudity.