View Full Version : Hike Naked Day - June 21 (does anyone really do this?)
SavageLlama
06-17-2005, 11:00
Saw this funny article this morning on hiking naked. i've never seen anyone on AT in the buff (which is a blessing considering most of the hikers I usually see). Is it just me or is this hiking naked stuff just a myth?
Hike naked? With these mosquitoes?
By Joe Miller
The News & Observer
June 17, 2005
A reader from Raleigh was at Rex Wellness Center recently and saw someone working out in a "hike naked" T-shirt, prompting the questions: "People really do this? And don't you get mosquito bites in very inconvenient places? And how about the irony of a shirt that says 'hike naked'? And, if I may be so indelicate, this was not a person that I would relish running into in the buff in the backwoods."
Yes, dear reader, some people do, apparently, hike in the buff.
At least according to the Internet.
Google "hike naked," and you'll come up with 183,000 hits. Which is 182,999 more incidents of naked hiking than I've been able to unearth.
Naked hiking got its start with the Garden of Eden Parks & Rec. weekly apple orchard hike. From there, its history gets fuzzy.
Despite America's Puritanical origins, Ben Franklin and Henry David Thoreau were both fans of the "air bath," as a revealing romp was then called, according to Road & Travel Magazine. Later, in the early 1900s, German nudists were known to take a hike in upstate New York.
Recently, the notion of hiking naked has come to be associated with June 21 -- typically the first day of summer -- and the Appalachian Trail. Hit the AT on the first day of summer, goes the popular lore, and you're bound to see fabric-free folks frolicking like pixies.
Or will you?
"It's been a long time since we've had any reports in here," said Brian King with the Harpers Ferry, Va.-based Appalachian Trail Conference. The conference essentially manages the trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine.
Frankly, King doesn't get the concept. "It's buggy, it's muggy. The pack on your back can chafe something."
It's not an event the ATC necessarily supports.
"We encourage families to go out on the trail," says King.
Tip No. 2 on a Hiking Naked tip sheet from the Body Freedom Collaborative Web site advises: "Avoid trails that normally have plenty of children."
If folks aren't hiking naked on the AT, are they doing it elsewhere?
"Oh, my, I don't think I've heard about that at all," said Karen Willson, receptionist at Eno River State Park in Durham and Orange counties. "We've had one or two people who have decided that it was too hot ... ."
Same deal at Umstead State Park in Raleigh.
"I can happily say that has been one issue we haven't had in the past," said park superintendent Martha Woods. Then, as if to squelch any thought of a "welcome summer" walk in the buff on Tuesday, she added, "I will be paying special attention to that date."
Hiking naked doesn't appear to be an issue elsewhere in the state park system, either.
"Periodically, we do get some unusual visitors, to be sure," said Charlie Peek, spokesman for the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation. But no, Peek says, overexposure isn't an issue.
The only report of nude hiking I could come up with was from my biking buddy, Alan Nechemias of Chapel Hill, and that was in Hawaii. Hiking a remote section of the Big Island in the late 1990s, he came upon two naked female backpackers.
"My first comment was, 'Don't the straps chafe?' And my second comment was, 'Don't you have to protect yourself from the sun?' "
What did they say? I asked.
"Well, I didn't actually say that. We just kept walking."
Despite the potential for chafing, burning and those "mosquito bites in very inconvenient places," Hike Naked Day still makes more sense than another au naturel event I stumbled across during extensive research for this story.
World Naked Bike Ride 2005. It was June 11.
It's not a myth. Some hikers do it! I've read about it quite a few times in folks' journals.
Happypappy
06-17-2005, 12:08
I have seen it done,,,,,,,,,,,,,once,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and not by people that I would generally care to see naked.
I've seen it done a number of times now. Only once was I happy to see the person was naked though... usually they're a bunch of hairy men. :(
Tha Wookie
06-17-2005, 12:33
Every day is hike naked day....:sun
Lion King
06-17-2005, 13:20
2001, three girls from some college were doing it Southbound as a joke after they had seen a Northbounder doing it, and I am glad I wasnt naked because it would have been obvious I thought they all were pretty hot.
They just smiled and were laughin and dancing along...I support it when the conditions are this way.:D
Lone Wolf
06-17-2005, 13:22
Yup. Hot babes only should be allowed to hike naked. What's the point otherwise?
gr8fulyankee
06-17-2005, 13:47
In Georgia the only bare ass you are going to see is a brown bears ass.
I talked to plenty of people that say they've seen it done, but noone has even admitted to doing it themselves. :-?
Tha Wookie
06-17-2005, 13:55
In Georgia the only bare ass you are going to see is a brown bears ass.
Maybe in roswell... come on out to the Broad River and then maybe you won't be missing NH so much...:D
Saw this funny article this morning on hiking naked. i've never seen anyone on AT in the buff (which is a blessing considering most of the hikers I usually see). Is it just me or is this hiking naked stuff just a myth?
No. A few do. Once in the 100-mile-wilderness I saw a couple walking bare in a light rain. We chatted a bit. They said clothes just cause chills in a warm summer rain.
Again in Massachusetts one year a middle-aged woman was notorious for walking naked. I ran into her once with a couple of pre teen grandchildren, both of whom were more puzzled than shocked.
My At slide show includes two guys skinny dipping in Virginia. Once when I showed the slides to a senior citizen's group, my wife urged me to pull those slides. Of course, I showed the photos anyway. I did tell them what my wife had said. A quavering female voice came from the back of the room. "That's just what us old folks need."
At Rusty's, Fourth of July, 1993, we sat on one of porches and watched a touch football game between "The Skins," and the "Pants."
One of the skins was called from the game a couple of times. The first time he stopped and put on his pants before coming up to fix a stove. The second time, he paused at his pants, thought better of it, and came up the hill naked. No one seemed offended. Lorelie McGee, who I hiked with for a couple of months, commented later, "I thought it cute."
A 26-year-old girl tried to get some photos, but had no telephoto and was too embarrassed to get close.
Weary
Slaughter
06-17-2005, 15:04
Did it once in '03 in the rain, it was fun. :sun Like taking a shower; I felt very clean afterward! Probably would have done it more often if it had been a less well-populated trail.
Big Dawg
06-17-2005, 16:36
During my 1st camping trip on the AT in 98 (loop trail including AT near Mt.Rogers), me & my friends were taking a break on our last day hiking out, chowing some lunch, when this guy strolls down the trail right by us w/ nothing on but a fannie pack?????? :eek::eek::eek::eek:
ridgewalker777
06-17-2005, 16:58
There was a fellow who hiked the length of Britain a couple of years ago and he faced quite a few citations for indecent exposure, some arrests, etc. Considering how reactive many people are to nudity, it is truly a stupid idea without merit. Light nylon or other clothes allow the same freedom from stickiness with none of the offense. Try hiking barefoot 20 plus miles a day with a substantial backpack, sometime, as an experiment of a footwear-free day. Now that would be a challenge in Pennsylvania!
In Georgia the only bare ass you are going to see is a brown bears ass.
I hiked into Low Gap Shelter in GA last summer from Dicks Creek Gap. A couple from Florida walked in from the south. During our conversation they informed me that they passed 3 college girls sunning naked on some rocks just north of Unicoi Gap. I said, "well, the people who usually do that should probably keep their clothes on in the first place." To that comment, they became quite animated, and insisted that all three were quite beautiful and well put togeher. To which I commented "why doesn't that ever happen to me?"
And by the way gr8fulyankee, there ain't no brown bears in Georgia, unless they're in a zoo, or lying on the floor in front of somebodys fireplace.
The Cheat
06-17-2005, 19:14
There was a fellow who hiked the length of Britain a couple of years ago and he faced quite a few citations for indecent exposure, some arrests, etc. Considering how reactive many people are to nudity, it is truly a stupid idea without merit. Light nylon or other clothes allow the same freedom from stickiness with none of the offense. Try hiking barefoot 20 plus miles a day with a substantial backpack, sometime, as an experiment of a footwear-free day. Now that would be a challenge in Pennsylvania!
He's doing it again this year.
I'll be on the trail that day. I hope the scenery is nice.
Saw a trail runner who had his running shorts in his hand and as he went by he held them in frnt of him for modesty. I won't be hiking naked. I have seen myself naked in the mirror and it is not a pretty sight.
http://www.phlumf.com/cdt/cdtexp/mta.htm
It was June 21, the summer solstice. There's a tradition on the Appalachian trail called naked hiking day - celebrate the summer, free yourself, run amok through the woods... naked. We figured the idea needed to spread. We did make one exception though - covering the jewels of the crown a la the red hot chili peppers. I figured if they could get away with it on the cover of an album (that's been in stores for the past 10 years), certainly it wouldn't be a problem in Glacier, where people were naturally happy and free. Thusly under-dressed, we headed out through the car-campground. Few people were awake. The few that were greeted us with confusion and encouragement. We had to walk past the ranger station. We hoped they'd see the fun in it. They didn't. One of them (every ranger I met in Glacier was a woman) called us back, like a teacher reprimanding a troublesome student. There I stood, dressed in a glove and a backpack, trying to explain why it was OK. "we're just going over to the trailhead and we'll put our clothes back on." There really wasn't any point being naked in the backcountry - nobody was out there. The whole point was to ignite peoples' imaginations. The ranger reluctantly let us go, what was her other choice? Cuffing us and sending us to the Blackfeet jailhouse? What could be more harmless than 4 mostly naked hikers? We passed a couple more cars on the way to the trailhead and waved hello, "welcome to Glacier!". We put our clothes back on, and headed up the trail.
We were hiking on the edge of the park, high above a giant expanse of flatness to the east. All of Montana was laid out before us. The CDT was huge, no, the earth was huge, we were small, no... I didn't know. We just kept going over the windswept foothills, 8 more miles back to East Glacier. To think any further ahead was pointless.
The trail went to hell... or at least to mud... the moment we stepped out of the park and onto Blackfeet land. The reservation charged anyone walking the few miles from the park to East Glacier $10, $10 that got washed into the reservation's "general fund". What was the general fund used for? Nobody could be certain, except that hiking trails were about the last thing on the list. There was a strange sort of battle going on though, the reservation's cows roamed into the park, where the park's bears ate them. Seemed fair to me.
I couldn't believe it. An actual park ranger cop (a woman of course) was waiting for us at the trailhead just outside of town. It seemed that we'd frightened some people with our little freedom march earlier in the day. The people had complained to the park staff, "If this is the sort of thing that goes on here, we're leaving!!!". We figured we'd done the park a service, who needed people like those in the national parks? Through a questionable reading of the parks "laws", we were charged with disturbing the peace or some such thing. The fine? $50 - the going rate for any park infraction.
We spent the rest of the day in East Glacier, eating, buying food, doing laundry, eating, beering. News traveled fast in a town of 250. Before long, we were minor celebrities - we'd stood up to da man! It was $50 well spent.
This post makes me wonder how Jaybird got that trailname.:-?
Not on the trail as such, but I have been caught naked in my campsite several times. I know now that if I ever get well and truely lost in the woods, I just have to drop my strides to change my underwear, and some grinning fool will jump out of the bushes, or come around the bend in a canoe. This is a most useful survival tool, and I am no longer weighed down with map and compass.
cheers,
PKH
superman
06-18-2005, 10:50
PKH
LOL, I know exactly what you mean. Or drop your shorts 100 miles from anything to do a proper powdering to avoid chafing and some one says "what cha doen.":rolleyes:
:sun "Don't forget the sunscreen and fly dope"
June 21st, the longest day, is the official HIKE NAKED Day on the AT. A gas station that sold fake tattoos did a land office business to one group that placed them in intresting parts of their bodies and hiked naked that day. In 1999 a very pretty early northbounder hiked naked past a AMC hut in the "whites" and got some nasty comments from the blue haired ladies on the porch. I was alone in Virginia on my thru hike on June 21, and the only other hiker I saw that day was a 60+ year old man and thank God neither of us was naked. Alot of my friends did hike naked that day and as most north bounders are in Virginia on June 21st there are very few bugs to bother them. I did meet some female section hikers from Virginia Tech that enjoy hiking topless any day of the year but I don't think you will find them out there in December. Hike naked day has been going on for a long time and it is a neat way of celebrating the summer solstice, Just wear plenty of spf 30 if you are above the timberline or on the southern balds.
:welcome to Maine, where naked hikers are welcome,
MileMonster
06-22-2005, 09:26
Last year Double Nickels and I were lucky enough to cross over Mt Washington on the first day of summer. We didn't even have to drop our pants to moon the Cog Railway, LOL!
But seriously, although the part about crossing over Mt Washington on the longest day of the year was true, we did not actually partake in either of those AT traditions - hiking naked or mooning the railway.
However, later on that day a little south of Pinkham Notch, we did pass a SoBo (name withheld) wearing nothing but a backpack and boots.
He's doing it again this year.
With his girlfriend.
hikergirl
06-22-2005, 17:18
Hiking in the buff would make for some interesting tan lines... and potentially sunburned nipples. :sun
Jack Tarlin
06-25-2005, 08:01
There is a hiker presently in Harpers Ferry who has absolutely the WORST poison ivy I've ever seen all over his lower abdomen......yeah, you guessed it: He made an apron of leaves so he could hike naked a few days ago, with predictable and uncomfortable results. Very nice guy by the way, just not the world's greatest botanist.
Moral of story...... if you're gonna hike naked on 21 June, be smart, or you'll
end up like this guy, who has been re-christened "Pus Belly."
And no, I am NOT making this up.
Senator, who has a journal on trailjournals.com, hiked naked last Tuesday from Telephone Pioneers Shelter over to Ten Mile River. He wrote a very funny account of it. He actually hiked using a bandana for a loincloth...which barely covered the front and did nothing at all for his backside.
The funniest part is, the people he met, some of whom were unfamiliar with thru-hikers, didn't raise an eyebrow. They talked face to face as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
But he had a good laugh wondering about the impression he made on people as he walked away.
generoll
06-25-2005, 11:03
it's just those stream crossings that hold me back. that water's sooooo cold.
SavageLlama
06-26-2005, 22:40
There is a hiker presently in Harpers Ferry who has absolutely the WORST poison ivy I've ever seen all over his lower abdomen......yeah, you guessed it: He made an apron of leaves so he could hike naked a few days ago, with predictable and uncomfortable results. Very nice guy by the way, just not the world's greatest botanist.
Moral of story...... if you're gonna hike naked on 21 June, be smart, or you'll
end up like this guy, who has been re-christened "Pus Belly."
And no, I am NOT making this up.
That is too funny to be made up.
jackiebolen
06-26-2005, 23:12
I think Bigfoot and Stanimal might have a little bit about this in their AT trailjournals from last year with pictures for good measure. Check 'em out.
Hey, checking in from the trail, yes there were naked hikers out there! Coming out of HF were met by a group of older men, all day hikers , completely naked. One guy was carrying just a towel. Nothing quite like coming across a large group of naked folks when you are coming up a big hill!
Rain Man
06-27-2005, 11:26
There are legitimate groups for bona fide naturist hikers. One I found doing a search for this thread is on Yahoo--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturist_hikers/
Enjoy!
They even have a thread about hiking nude on the AT on the summer solstice! And, I bet they can answer questions raised about the legalities?
Rain:sunMan
.
Ford Prefect
06-27-2005, 12:58
it's just those stream crossings that hold me back. that water's sooooo cold.
deep too ...
:dance
wacocelt
06-27-2005, 13:04
There is a hiker presently in Harpers Ferry who has absolutely the WORST poison ivy ...
To the guys credit, I believe it was poison oak, so atleast he avoided one... :o
Jack Tarlin
06-27-2005, 13:05
And in addition to the botanic hazards I mentioned above, remember the wildlife hazards. We saw some MONSTER snapping turtles (like, bigger than hubcaps!!) in southwestern Virginia a few weeks ago.
If you choose to hike naked, fine. But there are absolutely places where swimming naked might be ill-advised, lest your trip be cut short. Amongst other things.
wacocelt
06-27-2005, 13:09
lest your trip be cut short. Amongst other things.
That was LOW!
Crazy Legs (05) had a digital photo of himself naked at Snickers Gap, which happens to be a very busy highway crossing. I saw him at David Lesser Shelter after he put on his clothes. It's a wonder he didn't cause a wreck! We all arrived in Harpers Ferry on June 21st (Live Strong, Crazy Legs, Dorothy, and myself Red Hat).
Lucky 03
07-12-2005, 13:06
Back in '03 Cosmo and I went up Bear Mountain on Hike Naked Day, had to put on pants when I saw cops, but got passed by several cars. Think Chameleon, Tang and Lady Walks ALot did it too.
Happy Feet
07-12-2005, 13:47
I have personally been "exposed" to Nude Hiking Day. :eek: Haven't done it myself. Only saw guys doing it. Woodchuck did it with a bandana strategically placed under his hipbelt while others weren't as discreet!
One morning leaving the Eckville Shelter we saw a 'naked guy' and it wasn't even anywhere near Nude Hiking Day! This guy had upset (scared) some young girls on the trail.
We mooned the cog, but it was fogged in and the only people who knew we did it were the 4 of us! We wouldn't have done it otherwise.
I do know that one of the older naked guys I saw in WV between HF and Ed G. Shelter was carrying only a towel, about 65 years old, and had SIX - counted 'em SIX scrotal piercings.....LARGE beer tab looking things.....definately was a naturalist hiker and a not a TH or he would''ve been dragging those behind him by the time he got to the big K. Not a pretty site, and at the end of a line of a total of seven dudes out for the day, naked of course. They signed the Ed Garvey Shelter register as "naturalist hikers" out for the day, several other hikers commented in the register behind them who had also run across these folks.....
AHHHHH, always an adventure on the AT....
Footslogger
07-12-2005, 16:10
Geeesh ...that's borderline TMI
'Slogger
TMI? Fill me in, I'm not so good with the 'puter slang ;-)
Thanks
TMI? Fill me in, I'm not so good with the 'puter slang ;-)
ThanksToo Much Information :)
You're right, thanks for the schooling.
Rain Man
07-13-2005, 10:17
...They signed the Ed Garvey Shelter register as "naturalist hikers" .....
Just a tad more schooling. ;)
I sincerely doubt if they signed a register as "naturalist hikers." The preferred term for "nudist" these days is "naturist" (for some folks anyway). So, assuming they were indeed nudist hikers, they might have signed "naturist hikers."
A "naturalist" and a "naturist" are two different things, though I suspect you can have a naturalist naturist. Live, and learn.
:dance
Rain:sunMan
.
Actually, I believe I am correct, that was what was so strange about the entry, and the discussion around dinner that evening amongst the hikers there..But feel free to hike in and check it out ;-)
Could be wrong, but I don't think these guys "hike" very often, and if I had to place a bet, would have to say that were local nudists out for a stroll on the best day to do same. I only saw two water bottles and one that had a small "camelback" type apparatus (new) amongst the seven......They may have been out for a short hike...got on at the dirt road at Browsville Gap or at Gathland...who knows. It was interesting and a nice break in the day!
The amazing part for me personally was that I thought I would be more surprised than I was, I had no idea about the whole naked hiking thing, but felt no fear or concern, which was very cool. Am considering participating next year!
Just a tad more schooling. ;)
I sincerely doubt if they signed a register as "naturalist hikers." The preferred term for "nudist" these days is "naturist" (for some folks anyway). So, assuming they were indeed nudist hikers, they might have signed "naturist hikers."
A "naturalist" and a "naturist" are two different things, though I suspect you can have a naturalist naturist. Live, and learn.
:dance
Rain:sunMan
.
I have hiked naked, and not just on hike naked day, and gone skinny dipping dozens of times while I have been hiking the trail this year. All you have to do is find a cute girl or two to do it with...:D
Lone Wolf
07-30-2005, 16:54
Yeah Jeremy. The AT is over-flowing with cute girls. :)
saimyoji
07-30-2005, 20:56
And snapping turtles. :D
Frolicking Dinosaurs
07-31-2005, 08:15
I've run into nude hikers in Slickrock Wilderness (NC) several times, but never on the AT. I have stumbled into skinny-dip sessions in progress quite a few times and once came up on a hiker changing clothes in the middle of trail.
As to have I done this myself? Yes, but it was in the 1960's and copious amounts of alcohol / herb supplements were involved. Today, things that have migrated south would drag the ground and you guys would have ample reason to discuss why I shouldn't be hiking nekked in trail registers.
smokymtnsteve
07-31-2005, 16:43
I ride the ATV nekkid but only under the midnight sun!
diogenes
08-03-2005, 20:23
yea i met i group of thru hikers who have done it. they know people who've gotten arrested for doing it also.
JustHank
08-04-2005, 13:04
Mowgli,
Don't recall the trek over Kelly's Knob afforded me much energy to be animated.
The girls were cute, though. . . :)
JustHank