I Wish I had the Guts to do That

“I kept wondering what other hikers would say if they saw me hiking nude. It was early afternoon and I knew others would still be coming in to the lake. The nude portion hiking in was great, so I decided to hike out nude . . . I was so jumpy, I wound up putting my shorts on twice when I heard someone coming. I wasn't enjoying the hike as I was so busy listening and looking for others. But then, after rounding a blind curve on the trail and having no time to cover up, there was a couple coming at me. I said hi as I came upon them. The guy looked surprised but said hello and the girl looked me over and smiled. I felt relieved again that people just didn't seem to care I was hiking nude. I paused at the top of a hill and moved my shorts to the bottom of the pack so I couldn't get to them as fast. Not that I really wanted a lot of people to see me nude, but I needed to get a broader sense of reactions to decide if nude hiking was an acceptable activity and wouldn't offend most people. So, down the trail I went. I came across about 30 hikers on the way out with no negative reactions that I could sense except for a few surprised looks. The interactions were much the same as if I was hiking 'normal' - most people said hi and some passed by with no reaction. Two females hiking together stopped and talked to me about my dog for a bit and didn't mention my nudity, then wandered on. . . There have been some negative reactions over the years, but very minimal considering the number of hikers that have come across me. I'd guess that around 400 hikers have seen me in 8 years of nude hiking . . . The positive reactions have been numerous and have been subtle as smiles, to verbal comments like "Alright!" or "I wish I had the guts to do that" and "That's what I should be doing". . . I came across a lone female hiker who said "I've got to tell my husband about this!" She told me she had always wanted to hike nude, but couldn't get her husband to do it and didn't feel safe hiking nude alone being female. . . I was hanging out nude at my favorite spot . . . when a female and her two male companions came down the side trail to where I was. They could see I was nude, but didn't seem to care. . . When I was returning nude . . . I ran across them again . . . She said, "Alright, that's what we should be doing!" . . . I . . . started on my way down. I turned back and noticed they had stopped and she was removing her clothes! It felt good that I had inspired someone else to try nude hiking!” - Steve