Happy "Nude Year's Eve"

Happy "Nude Year's Eve" everyone. (What a nice way to wish Skinny Trippers a great year of naturist life.)

(Now it's your turn. Please post a comment wishing those who read this a happy "Nude Year's Eve" from wherever you live.)

Kenfreehiker from Southern California.

The Perfect Place for a Naturist to Live

The Academic Naturist posted an interesting blog about finding and buying a private place, a piece of land, where he could practice naturism (see - http://academicnaturist.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-most-expensive-suit.html ).

In the post he asked, "Have any of you been through this before? Did you find the perfect place, where you can wear your best suit anywhere you want? Do you have any tips on what to look for, or what to do to find that perfect place? Any tips on dealing with neighbors? Any tips on bargaining with realters?"

Here is my comment about this:

We also searched for a perfect place for our "private" naturist home. Then we found our happy place at Olive Dell Resort, rented a site, bought a trailer, and decided our thinking had been wrong headed.

We discovered we weren't really trying to get away from others; we only wanted to live naked around others who understood and wanted to live the same way. Olive Dell was perfect for a number of reasons, including:

- It's inexpensive (about $300 a month)

- We have lot's of area to freehike and garden nude

- We meet lots of new naturist friends who come to freehike and visit our nude garden (Dellymaze Park)

- We can swim in the pool and soak in the hot tub whenever we want and not have any upkeep

- We easily get together with naturist friends often to sing karaoke, eat, play games, etc.

- Major shopping and dining areas are just minutes away if we want to get out for a clothed time.

- We have even been able to start a business with naturist friends.

For us, it was a real revelation when we stopped looking for our own naturist haven and moved to a wonderful haven for naturists that already existed - Olive Dell Ranch - our happy place.

Naked BBQ & Freehike Video

Naked BBQ & Freehike Video (France)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x96mla_randonue-carriere-sable-blanc_creation

Naked Life is Good at Olive Dell Ranch

Naked life is good at Olive Dell Ranch - even the weekend after Christmas.

Harrow and Kitty visited us at Olive Dell Ranch this weekend. Sunday we all weeded and cleaned up Dellymaze Park. It's looking great. We took time out for a naked lunch in the clubhouse. I dug some more on the Olive Dell Nature Trail. Later on we all hiked the trail.

Today I'll work a little more on the trail, and I think I'll take a freehike. Perhaps they'll all come along.

Nude Bike Riding

Has anyone reading ever taken a naked bike ride?

I was a kid when I last took a nude bike ride, late one night, down a well-traveled neighborhood street – crazy I know - I didn’t understand naturism then. However, for many people nude road and mountain biking is a totally acceptable naturist activity, as can be seen below. In fact, the World Naked Bike ride happens annually in mostly large cities around the world. (Here are a few links to photos of this event:

2009 World Naked Bike Ride - Madrid Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Jtyr1BmFA

2009 World Naked Bike Ride - London Photos http://picasaweb.google.com/duff2253/200906NakedBikeRideLondonStop# http://picasaweb.google.com/pixis140/WorldNakedBikeRideLondon2009# http://picasaweb.google.com/tart2000/NakedBikeRide#

2008 World Naked Bike Ride - Brighton Photos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAXK_W-M5Lg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIvjROMAcGM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbSg8ZqSCGc&feature=related

2007 Vancouver WNBR photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/tijuanobamako/PRONAGEN#

Work on Olive Dell Nature Trail

I spent Sunday afternoon, Monday, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning working nude on the new Olive Dell Nature Trail - removing brush, digging, moving rocks. I finished the completely new downhill section that ends at Dellymaze Park, and then moved over to the original section that has completely grown over. I modified this older section of the trail, making it better – less steep, and more interesting.

The new trail should be over a mile. I’m hoping to have the entire trail cleared/dug by mid-January. Then I’ll invite a local botanist from a community college to come help identify the vegetation. (It should be interesting introducing a professor to a naturist resort.) Finally, PJ and I will install signage, and hold a grand re-opening this coming spring.

I’m loving working on the Olive Dell Nature Trail (especially since I get to do the work nude). When it is complete it will certainly be the best nude nature trail at any resort in California. I hope many of my readers will visit us this year.

Valley View Hot Springs

“My wife and I go there [Valley View Hot Springs, Colorado] a number of times a year. The place is great. We are [free]hikers and do not find the trip to the upper pools difficult at all. I think it depends on the perspective if you are used to hiking mountain country or not used to it. The hike to the mine takes people from lower elevations 1 1/'2 to 2 hours up and less coming back. It is an old road for the first mile or more, and then finishes with a good hiking trail that climbs the hill to the mine. Seeing a quarter million bats come out is really something. . .

The kids will like the big swimming pool . . . The big soaking pool uphill from the big swimming pool usually has colored marbles and rocks for the kids to get (it is about 3 feet deep all over). . . There is a hot pool that is about 1 1/2 feet deep by the swimming pool and is the only "hot" pool there. They heat it with their self generated electricity. The other pools are usually 93-96 degrees. . .

The only drawback to Valley View that we find, is that there are a lot of "skinny dippers" as opposed to nudists. We call them skinny dippers because they only get nude in the pools. . . There are plenty of nudists too. We even sent the OLT folks an email several years ago (after our first visit) to ask it was really alright to go naked anywhere anytime. They said absolutely yes. Even the office is fine. . . We even went to the office the next trip and deliberately went to the office to become contributors and ask some questions. They never batted an eye. . .

My wife and I have been the only naked people in Oak House several times on winter trips . . . and nobody has ever acted funny or put out. We have also been in Oak House several times when nobody had clothes on. . .

Hiking nude to the mine or upper pools is all on the OLT property so is just fine. We have hiked with nude people to the mine in the afternoons . . . and we have hiked with clothed people while we were nude. Nobody cares, so do what you like. We like no clothes. They had a tour group at the mine once when we hiked up on a warm evening. They were not from VV but had been told that nude people were probable. We hung out nude with about 20 people with clothes on for over an hour. They had been told by their guide that no pictures of any people were allowed without the person's permission. Nobody said anything bad and they were all friendly, not put out.

We also hike on up the mountains sometimes and do it nude if the weather allows. Once you leave the OLT property you are on federal lands. In CO hiking nude on Federal lands is tolerated unless someone issues a complaint and then they have to follow up on it and find you to issue a small ticket.

On one warm hike we ran into a group of CO Mt College students that were there to work on the trail we were using (we usually stay off trails when nude hiking). We were worried for a minute and then one of them said rather loudly "looks like escapees from the hot springs." Everybody cracked up and we visited with them for awhile and hiked on up the trail with them a ways to where they were going to work next.

We have hiked nude with other folks that are like minded, and even hiked nude a whole day once with several others that never did get nude. It is nice to suit yourself about clothes and others can do the same. Should be that way all over.” – Jerry K.

Naturist Friends

I stopped for the night Saturday on my home from Idaho at Harrow and Kitty's house in the St. George area. It's always nuce being at a place where one can relax and enjoy life naturally without being judged. Naturist friends are the best!

I’ve found that naturism fosters friendship and love. Naturism is naturally less judgmental, and those who judge less are able to love more. Some people act as if they can only love those with common beliefs and standards. If a person doesn’t eat meat, for example, a person who eats meat must be wrong. If a person doesn’t drink alcohol, the person who does is wrong, and shunned. If a person prefers being clothed, the person who enjoys naturism must be immoral.

But these judgments do not indicate love, nor does trying to make people behave according to some ‘preferred’ personal standard, even if that standard is popular. At least with adults, loving someone means accepting them as they are, and since we were all born naked, we should love each other in that way; naturists can and do.

We love doing things with our naturist friends. When I was a textile most everything was done alone or with my family. As a naturist things changed; I have more friends of all types than I've ever had in my life - good, trustworthy friends who will last forever.

So thanks to Harrow and Kitty for being such good friends.

Family Friendly Naturist Review Video

Great family-friendly review of naturism (video) from Fance: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9ez1d_harmonie-respect-et-liberte_people

Nude Driving

Driving nude one must be careful – though other drivers seldom see you, the police may not appreciate the un-sexual aspects of naturism. Still, being careful, which one should be anyway when driving, naked cross-country is a wonderful way to go. PJ and I have driven naked often – mostly on longer trips from Utah to Washington and to California.

Has anyone else reading this ever driven nude? How about sharing a comment?

We just returned from a week-long vacation. I drove nude most of the trip from Idaho Falls to Olive Dell Ranch in Colton, California (about 13 hours). Though I sometimes wore an open coat because it was winter and anyone looking would expect that.

It's amazing how different the sensations are. You feel temperature differences immediately. You're more conscious of your speed and other cars around you.

I even drove naked except for the coat through the California plant inspection station.

When I got to Olive Dell is was nice to just drive in and be already in uniform (naked).

Nude driving isn't as enjoyable as freehiking, but driving naked certainly made the necessarily long drive bare-able.

Family Naturist Camping Video

This video of naturist families camping at Fox Bay shows naturism the way it ought to be. (Any idea where Fox Bay is located?)

Skinny Camping is so enjoyable. And of course freehiking is also a normal part of the outdoor naturist activities. Nude outdoors is such a wonderul thing.

http://groups.google.com/group/skinnytrippers/browse_thread/thread/e80ebf3a6df6cf77?hl=en

Families make such a big difference to real naturist practice. Adults only nudism can't compare.

Communing with Nature

“There is nothing better than communing with nature dressed as nature intended. A 5K nude walk in open countryside is just what the doctor ordered for de-stressing.” - Pete

Freehiking Everglades National Park

"I went to Everglades National Park. There are hiking trails in two areas of the park, "Flamingo" and "Pinelands." The former is bug-infested (the no-see-ums are worse than the mosquitos). The latter, however, is surprisingly bug-free. I freehiked for more than two hours on two separate trails in the Pinelands area and only saw one mosquito (and no people). On one trail the forest was slender Florida pines and short palmetto trees. The other trail was a raised former road through swampy terrain with sawgrass and with lots of birds. National Park Service literature notes that alligators and snakes avoid humans so even off-trail hiking is permitted, but you would have to be willing to get pretty wet. I stayed on the trails and stayed dry.” - Milt

Naturist Christmas Party

We finally got a vacation from work long enough for a trip from Southern California back to Utah and got together with our friends for a nude Christmas party on December 15, 2009. We shared a wonderful meal. PJ and I showed photos of Dellymaze Park. During the presentation we discussed the Bare Burro 5k that Olive Dell Ranch will hold April 18th next year (hope you can attend). We also played Trivia Toss, the new game we’ve developed and are beginning to market.

Naturist friends are the best friends.

PJ and I wish all our followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Nude Year. Perhaps we'll meet freehiking in 2009? We hope so.

Austrailian Freehiking Report

“Today a group of 5 undertook the Wondabyne walk in the Brisbane Water National Park. The weather was mixed, but promised to be good enough for an enjoyable walk. We car pooled from Woy Woy station and parked at Staples Lookout. Heading back down Woy Woy Rd a bit, we headed off along the track. A short way down we got into uniform [nude], and continued along. Eventually we hit the point where the Great Northern Walk cut across the Thommos Loop Track. Heading out along the GNW, we eventually came to Kariong Brook Falls. Here we stopped for a rest and chance to cool off in the waters. A lovely little oasis in the middle of nowhere. It started sprinkling a little, but this just added to the beauty of the spot. Then it was time to head off up the track on the other side. We passed through another watercourse with dark clear water. Not quite large enough for a swim, but cooling none the less. As we set off along the track again, the landscape slowly changed around us, passing through the hanging swamp and beyond. We then met up with the main access road heading towards Wondabyne station. We followed this down to the end where we stopped for lunch. Down below were the stairs down to the station, and a view across Mullet Creek. We were briefly interrupted by another bushwalking group heading back to the station after a walk to a local cave. A quick cover up of our uniforms was required. Finally it was time to head down to the station. Climbing back up the other way would certainly be challenging. Once on the tiny platform we said our goodbyes as a couple of our crew were heading to Sydney, and the rest of us were heading back to Woy Woy. It was a great day out, lovely part of Australia to explore.” - George "Jorgi" Zamroz

Less Clothes, Less Weight

Now here’s a great reason to be an active naturist – to lose weight:

“. . . when you burn fat, you are burning heat energy, and this must be transferred out of your body . . . And about 75% of this heat transfer occurs through the layers of your skin. . . we can improve the effectiveness of this fat transfer by dressing in cooler clothes, not wearing hats, going barefoot more often, and not bundling up with blankets. Basically, anything to give our skin the best chance to transfer the body fat we are working so hard to burn. So make it easier on yourself, let your skin do its job of transferring your stored body fat back into the energy cycle, and you'll be leaner faster. While this may seem a little weird, you now know that shedding some clothes can actually help you shed body fat. . .” - Rob Poulos, Zero to Hero Fitness http://www.fatburningfurnace.com/

Winter Freehiking

“In winter, of course . . . I enjoy challenging myself to the experience of hiking this road in the nude - feeling my skin tightening and responding to the cold. When I started around noontime the temperatures where hovering right around 31F degrees, below freezing but surprisingly I didn't really feel the cold . . . As long as I kept moving I felt great. It had been a long time since I'd had a chance to get out and hike nude.” – Rick

Nude Practice Makes Perfect

"Welcome" to my new follower. Feel free to comment anytime - it's lonely writing and no one writing back.

As those who follow this blog know, my wife and I work and live in the Redlands, CA area, but maintain our "happy place" at Olive Dell Ranch (family nudist resort) where we spend most all of our free time.

So yesturday we got off work early enough to drive up to the resort (about 20 minutes). There was enough daylight (a rare commodity in December) for me to get naked and work on the trails in our Dellymaze Park. Several trails needed a little clearing (the recent rains had washed down some dirt).

I then walked up the nature trail and extend it another 50 feet or so - clearing brush, moving rocks, digging out rough spots. It should be at least a mile long when I finish clearing it. I will then invite an expert from a local college to help identify and mark the foliage and other natural features. (That should be interesting - inviting a (likely) textile to participate in creating a nude-use feature.) Before spring I hope to have it completed. It should be the best nature trail at any naturist resort. (A nature trail at a naturist resort makes perfect sense; don't you agree?)

Want a rewarding naturist experience? I'd certainly welcome some help on the trail. Just let me know when you'd like to come - I have a shovel.

After working for an hour or so I returned to our site and PJ and I walked down to the clubhouse for a shared shower (still one of the activities I enjoy most at a naturist resort). Naturists get their backs washed nearly every day - ah, heaven!

By-the-way, reading about naturism is no substitute for trying it. I'm totally convinced that naturism can't be understood fully until it's practiced. I welcome all to come visit us at Olive Dell Resort and tour Dellymaze Park. Nude practice makes perfect in so many ways. Just let me know you're coming and I can get you in for free. We look forward to meeting you, and sharing this wonderful approach to life.

Ken

Elave Advertisement (Video)

Perhaps you are familiar with this ad for Elave skin care products. If you are at a loss for holiday gift giving ideas, perhaps this add may offer some suggestions. And wouldn't this be a nice way to work - totally nude?:
http://www.mojnet.com/video-elave-lab/59038a975faeeb6dc078

Here is a link to an interview with Joanna Gardiner (CEO of Elave) about it:
Go to http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-454428/MDs-naked-ambition-lift-sales.html

And here's a clip of an interview with her, when she became entrepeneur of the year 2008 (in the end she tells about the ad):
http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DK2lOv_ZP4LU&usg=AFQjCNEyG_WRezorI4lo-PZtIMpxjaBbsA

Naked Hiking Day

Just thinking six months ahead. Anyone else thinking about a Nude Hiking Day?

Ken

“Every year on the first day of summer, a few outdoor enthusiasts nationwide expose virtually all of themselves to insects, scrapes and thorns for the pleasure of bonding with nature au naturel. They call it Naked Hiking Day.” – ABC Local

Starting a Naturist Business

This weekend has been cold in Southern California, so we've spent lots of time indoors working on a business we have been developing. By-the-way, we plan on making the business, at least aspects of it, clothing optional. Some workers will be able to work nude (we already do). It involves a game. Already, we have often worked with others producing the game, and have played the game with a number of nudists.

We plan on encouraging our future workers to get together before or after work and take a freehike or otherwise participate in nude recreation (naturism is healthy for the body and mind, and I believe this will create social bonds that improve worker satisfaction and retention.) Naturism will become part of our corporate philosophy and culture.

Anyone interested in working for a naturist company?

PS - It did get just warm enough today for me to work nude extending the Olive Dell Nature Trail.

How to Become a Freehiker

“There's no way to explain it [freehiking] until you experience it. . . It's not about being lewd and crude and all that. It's just enjoyment. . . I would walk around the house like that, and walking inside the house turned into walking outside the house, and then short little adventures through the woods. So the next thing I know, I've got a backpack strapped on and I'm walking down the trail.” - Andrew W.

Dellymaze Park Trails

At Olive Dell Ranch, PJ and I have been creating a nude garden - it’s large enough now to be considered a park, so we’ve named it Dellymaze Park. It’s really quit unique.

I’ve mostly been the digger and planter, making over a ½ mile of rock-lined trails, and planting a number of succulents. PJ has followed along and built many creative things to see. It’s nowhere near compete; it’s the work of a lifetime – but it is getting very interesting. We give a few tours to visiting naturists most weekends, and the residents and kids at the resort frequently visit to see what’s new and to play.

I find nude gardening so fulfilling.

I’ll share more about Dellymaze Park in future posts, but to start, here is a link to photos of some of the trails: http://imageevent.com/kenandjane/dellymazeparkwalking

Ken

Freehiking is Easier

“. . . a year or two ago in the northern end of George Washington National Forest . . . was one of my more memorable outings. Perfect weather, perfect day. I got there just as it was getting light, as I always like to do. I hiked to the top of Signal Knob, not sure how many miles I covered, perhaps 8 to 10 miles. Easy hike if you aren't carrying much and it's always easier if you are unencumbered by clothing.” – Blue Train

Banged Up Shins Report

Though I post a number of my trips in my blog, I have certainly done a number of nude activities that I never got around to posting (not for lack of an interesting trip). The main thrust of my activities have been working on getting through the bureaucracy of permits for Scenic Hot Springs and in general, urging the owner of that beautiful property to keep it rustic and nudist-friendly. I'm happy to report that Scenic is close to it's final permits to allow reconstruction of hot spring pools, and that the owner, who already can see no other way to soak than to soak nude, is seeing the value of working with affiliated nudists and making his entire property a nudist-friendly area for hiking, soaking and eventually camping.

Through the year I have been active in advocacy issues through my local club (the SLUGS) and AANR-NW. Activities included cleanup events at Rooster Rock State Park and Collins Beach, Glassbar Island where interaction with Oregon's SOLV and local officials have resulted in good working relationships between nude beach users and those officials who have the power to allow or restrict clothing-optional usage at these popular locations in Oregon.

Closer to home in the Seattle area I have been corresponding with several county sheriff departments to better understand conditions under which they respond to complaints of public nudity in the National Forests, to educate those same departments in the respect local nudists and naturists deport themselves. Though there is a general cynicism amongst nudism vis'a vis law enforcement I generally feel it is better to be on friendly terms with LE and understand (and respond) to their concerns. Most deputies and officers do not see any difference between simple, expressive nudity and indecent exposure. It is my desire to change these perceptions . . . as the law already acknowledges (though obliquely in the definition of indecent exposure). My correspondence has been a mixed bag but at least I have contacts who are willing to talk and who do acknowledge (though off the record) that there are people who enjoy hiking nude in the mountains . . . and that they are not necessarily doing anything wrong.

Within the municipal limits of Seattle I've participated in several events that advocate of nudity within Seattle. I started the year with the Body Freedom Collaborative's Annual Polar Bare Dip in Puget Sound . . . for which we received some local publicity (and strategically pixellated news images). I also did the ORCOBA New Year's Day Polar Bare Nude Plunge in the Columbia River off of Sauvies Island. This year I plan of doing three Polar Bare Dips (The BFC in Seattle, the ORCOBA at Sauvies, and the AANR one off of Rooster Rock State Park).

Related to advocacy events, I missed the World Naked Bike Ride but did participate in the Fremont Solstice Parade by getting myself body-painted with many others and riding a small mountain bike the parade route down a gauntlet of ten of thousands of cheering parade spectators . . . spending an appreciable amount of the day nude. (Normally the SLUGS enters a giant SLUGS float in this parade where we move it down the parade route nude. Unfortunately, our float needed major repair, leaving me in the lurch . . . I rode a bike nude instead.)

The SLUGS had a number of events which I participated in. Several hikes which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, medical necessity kept me from participating in several nude campouts and our popular Doe Bay Retreat this year. Each month during the winter we have a nude swim at a posh, private facility. I have enjoyed these moments to get together with fellow members.
A major part of my summer was spent exploring the camping areas and riverside of the North Fork of the Skykomish River above the road washout on the Index-Galena Road. That washout has left a major portion of the river inaccessible to motorists and a major hiking effort to hikers. I've enjoyed finding secluded little sandbar beaches and having the area all to myself.

Finally, Merry Christmas to all of you. Have a great New Year . . . stay warm (preferably naked in front of a roaring fire with Christmas cheer and friends . . . as I intend to do). Hear's looking to many new Skinny Trips this coming year.

- Rick with the Floppy Blue Hat and Banged Up Shins Blog: http://nudehiker.blogspot.com
- C/O Map: http://www.communitywalk.com/clothing-optional-places

December 1st Morning Hike

Not much to write about this morning. PJ and I had to be at work by 11:00 am, so I got up early and took a morning freehike around the Loop Trail above Olive Dell Ranch (about three miles), starting at 7:30 am. It was only a little cool to start, and I warmed up nicely once I got going. I wore shoes and socks, and took nothing along. One doesn’t even need a water bottle when the weather is cool.

Along the way I scared up a flock of grouse (I counted 22). I heard a wild burro, but didn’t see any.

I returned via the new nature trail, and got back just in time to help pack, and then sadly get dressed and leave.

Still, it’s nice to have some naked morning exercise – freehiking is the best – and in December no less.

Ken

Olive Dell Ranch – November 30, 2009

Today was a nice, normal, naturist day for me. I arose early, stepped nude out the door, and proceeded to hike the Picnic Table Loop Trail (about three miles) – no pack, not even a water bottle - totally nude except for shoes and socks – warmed by the early morning sun - healthy exercise and totally enjoyable. I love freehiking from our place at Olive Dell Ranch!

On the way I walked up my new Giant Boulders Loop Trail, and returned via the overgrown Olive Dell Nature Trail that I’ll soon redo; it will be nicest nature trail at any resort in California when it’s redone. I think I’ll approach someone at a local university to come up this spring and identify and help tag the plants, etc. This will have the added bonus of being able to interest naturism to someone new.

After retuning from my freehike, I spent some time digging a trench and installing a decorative cement block boarder along the black path I’d installed earlier down to our trailer. Fifty yards below me an electrician was poised on a ladder at the top of a telephone pole installing a new telephone line. Another man was holding a safety line. Both were nude of course – just an every-day occurrence at a naturist resort. (It’s of course always more enjoyable working nude.)

Still later I mixed up cement and helped PJ secure an angel statue on a large rock in Dellymaze Park. Then we both spent some time on park maintenance.

Today was a relaxing, rewarding day at Olive Dell Ranch. We love our naked place.
Ken

PS – We’ll be traveling from Southern California to Idaho, December 13th to the 20th, and might have a little time in the St. George, Salt Lake City, and Logan Utah areas. Let us know if you’d like to meet.

PSS – I post Skinny Reports like this, as do other Skinny Trippers, on our egroup at http://groups.google.com/group/skinnytrippers. If you’re willing to post a profile, you’re welcome to join the group.