Monday, July 27, 2009

“The Rocks" Camp Freehike - Sept. 2007

Saturday, September 29th, PJ and I got up early to go for a hike near “The Rocks” camping area. The weather forecast didn’t look good, but we decided to go anyway. We met up with Popeye and Bangles in Salt Lake City and drove south past Salina to “The Rocks” camp area to meet up with Larry and Kitty who had camped overnight.

We hadn’t been able to find the camp on a previous hike, but Popeye and Bangles had been there before so this time it was easy to find, though our car did bottom out a little twice on one rough section of the dirt access road.

When we arrived we found Larry and Kitty digging out from the evening windstorm – I guess sand had about filled the front part of their tent during the night.

“The Rocks” camping area is unique. It sits at a rise on a ridge that looks over a valley filled with yellowish brown sandstone cliffs and rock formations. The area surrounding the campsite is fairly flat until you reach a circle of huge light-brown boulders. “The Rocks” camp is right in the middle of this circle of boulders, protected some from the weather and from the view of anyone else in the area. In fact you can pull a vehicle right up into “The Rocks” so no one can tell you’re there. Juniper and pinion trees grow sparsely around the campsite, including a few inside the boulder circle. It’s a wonderful, private camp – just right for a small group of naturist friends.

The weather was threatening so we decided to immediately go for a freehike. We want to be sure we did at least a little hiking before it stormed. Some of us started out nude even though it was a little cool. As we worked our way through the cliffs down into the canyon most got undressed; hiking always warms your body, in fact I find it’s normally warmer to hike nude than clothed unless it’s windy.

Part way down PJ and I got distracted by some interesting cliffs, so we left the group to do a little photography; PJ likes to have her photo taken with interesting rock formations. We could spend days playing nude and shooting photos around rocks and cliffs.

The rest of the group continued hiking down the canyon. After a short time we all headed back up the hill to meet up with another naturist friend, Bob, who was scheduled to arrive shortly. This ended our first, short freehike.

Bob arrived just as we returned to the camping area. After visiting for a while he led us on another short freehike to a beautiful canyon lookout. We would have hiked further, but the wind was rising and the weather was really starting to be a concern. Still it was nice to visit with Bob again – time well spent.

We returned to the protection of “The Rocks” and talked for a while before it was time for PJ and me to return as we had a family event to attend the next day. The others stayed for a while but soon drove to Bob’s place for the night. They took a freehike to another beautiful area the next day.

The weather was bad on our way back – it even snowed some. Still it was a great day. It was interesting to find “The Rocks” camp finally, to visit with Bob, to enjoy some freehiking, and to shoot a few nice photos. All in all, it was a very nice Skinny Trip.

(See the photos of this Skinny Trip at: http://imageevent.com/kenandjane/therocks )

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