After so much time in the outback, arriving in Blanding, Utah had been the shock of civilization. The quiet little town was quite a contrast to the solitude and elbowroom of the uninhabited mountains. It felt hectic to go from store to store, preparing for the next leg of our journey, get a camp set up, shower, pay bills and hear the news on the phone and internet. Civilization, with all of its convenience, by comparison, seemed stressful.
Today, we no longer awaken under the call of birds breaking the silence, the peace, or the pleasant smell of a forest. We’re in a trailer park, amongst monstrous vehicles, with the footsteps and chatter of elderly anonymous tourists, our friendly neighbors. They are moving in less than perfect health, but content, leashed to their small dogs, smiling with waves to fellow assumed Good Sams. I pack up our sleeping quarters and compliment the owner on the tidy grounds, as we leave.
We travel south, through the increasingly more desolate and surreal lands. The last vestiges of civilization are crammed into the thin canyons with the highway.
In iconic rock faced valleys are monuments to “Indians” and offers a stay in conical teepees within a luxury resort.
Along the way are a restaurant and a local cross between a convenience store and a very small general goods outlet. I make sure that I slip out to pump the last available gas, probably for a long long time.
It seems that here, people need to make a buck with what they have available, or they’re retired.
Two hours down this road, ancient Canyon de Chelly sits. It is a bigger, more complex grouping of ruins, which were a part of systems of a very different civilization.
We are understandably traveling every bit of naturally naked, save the walls of the SUV.
(To see the rest of this post, you’ll have to find the “2” and click the page turning button, below.)
All the while, as we lumbered along the thin winding graded roads that traverse the Manti-La Sal National Forest and from the canyon lands of the south, Blue Mountain was an imposing landmark. Today, it has been a goal to be met…or maybe not….
The ancient mammoth formed out of volcanic magma has been a home, hunting ground, and water source. Its height has collected seasonal rains and snow, producing springs around the base for millennia. It has been called sacred by peoples. It looks likely to harbor camping sites under the cover of trees. Still dark clouds threaten.
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We headed up to Redington Pass the other day. It is an easy access and with the climbing, it is such a more well-rounded exercise, more than just walking a path. It is also, traditionally, a nude area and trail with nude use signs posted. So, on this day, we needed a nice quick hike; one which we could be freely nude without being bothered to cover up for weekend and holiday crowds. We park and then have to legally cover our bodies long enough to walk from the parking lot to the other side of the road and then sufficiently away from the road. There, from the “nudity ahead” sign, it is liberation. The minimal coverings are tucked away into a backpack, or under a shoulder strap. There is no need of them, no matter who we encounter.
This day, we decide take the high route, so as to descend further upstream.
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I hope that your holidays are the best yet. This is about two things that I lifted out of “The Daily Word” a few months ago and what they brought to mind. It is a booklet published by the Unity Church. DF got me a subscription a few years ago, we’ve shared it daily, ever since. It brings to mind children’s joy and wonder, and my own, which is sometimes lost in a busy, sometimes difficult, or disappointing world. I hope it makes your holidays even better. The holidays can be tough some years. In those moments, these words and actions may bring me back from my distractions.
“I view my life through the eyes of wonder.
I feel inspired watching a young child discovering new things, eyes wide with awe and wonder. Even the smallest experiences- the tickle of a butterfly on my skin or blowing the seeds of a dandelion-are a marvel and joy.
I think of this when disappointing life experiences chip away at my sense of awe and appreciation. Today, I let go of disillusionment and open my heart and my eyes to once again live in wonder.
As I view life anew, I renew my belief in the goodness of life and of all people. I open myself to unexpected treasures happening all around me each day. Wonder is a precious gift, one I use to appreciate the marvels unfolding before me.”
“As I focus my attention the world around me comes alive
The world becomes more vivid when I focus on its many details. As I concentrate, my senses come alive. Colors are brighter, sounds sharper, and everything that touches my skin –a loving touch, the warmth of a fire, a gentle breeze- heightens my perception and anchors my awareness in the present moment.
My focus enlivens my inner world as well. Time spent in mindful contemplation floods my awareness with the grandeur of God. Now I open my eyes and turn my ears to the divine expressing all around me as magnificent beauty and wondrous diversity.
The more I focus my attention fully on God, the more easily I discern the divine expressing all around me.”
A Meditation to Bring Back to Daily Living
I often disrobe and close my eyes. I simply notice my body, with that intention; the awareness is allowed to travel, making its own itinerary. Soon enough, it glances about to its surroundings and back. The naked body remains the basis of awareness of existence.
I focus on the sensations and the details. Similarly, the world becomes more vivid when I focus on its many details. As I concentrate, my senses come alive.
Then with eyes open, colors are brighter, sounds sharper, and everything that touches my skin –a loving touch, the warmth of a fire, a gentle breeze, heightens my perception and anchors my awareness in the present moment.
My focus enlivens my inner world as well. Time spent in mindful contemplation floods my awareness with the grandeur of so many small things. I notice the feelings, the inner transformations, the raw physical sensations of emotions alone without mind. Now I open my eyes and turn my ears to the divine, as it is expressing all around me, as magnificent beauty and wondrous diversity. All of it, simply right here, right now.
The more I focus my attention fully without the dialog, the more easily I discern the divine expressing all around me. I know that I am of that.
As I walk on in primal nudity in naked nature, it is as I began this experience, anchored with the natural sensations of the body.
May we all love one another, know our blessings and we’ll be back with you next year. The story will continue on the sacred Blue Mountain….
Thank-you Beth Jonquil for your photography.
I am on the forum of FreeRangeNaturism.com often, if you would like to converse.
Reluctantly, after a few days, we leave our retreat in the mountains. We have decided to cross the Manti-La Sal National Forest in one day, but having the option to stop off in any paradise that attracts us. The trip was 36 miles here and there will be 36 more miles, maybe more. This time, all of the roads are winding, graded dirt roads, marked with small signs with numbers in an unknown wilderness.
There is something, that is very much here, on top of the bear. Amongst the miles of the forest of trees, hills and mountain tops, there are views across the canyon lands below. We investigate a few trailheads, which lead down into even more remote canyons with their ruins and surprises and sense of adventure. There are other places we note for a possible camp, if we feel like it, sometime. There is that wonderful exploratory sense of the mystery around the next bend and one bend leads to another.
We drive out to the road and then it meets the actual main route, which is one of many that web their way through these mountains. A series of these links will have us on the other side of the mountain range in the Blue Mountain area.
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We’ve been in this lovely spot, just content. There is nobody around to impose on us. The weather is pleasant, blue skies are above the canopy of the local trees. No bramble, just grass and pine needles to walk comfortably upon with naked feet, no threats, no concerns. We are living with no clothing needs, not even shoes in camp, or to stroll down the two track trail that leads off to the main road. We call it the “main road,” but it is only a sometimes graded walkway that ultimately, in five days, we see only three cars drive by, once as they pass and once as they leave.
A walk seems right once or twice a day, sometimes short through the forest. Sometimes we’ll gather up a couple of bottles of water and walk further in our moccasin-like toe shoes. During the longer walks, we’ll have a cover-up tucked under a shoulder strap. The covering may or may not be wise, but just in case. It is just something for sun protection, to sit down upon, or the off chance, actually nil, that someone might drive by and be a problem. I could suppose in an emergency, it might be a warm covering, or a tourniquet. It might be something to distract, or armor against wild beast attack. It might be wetted to cool, or clean a wound, or brush off dust, or mud. It might be many things, but in all likelihood, being natural and vulnerable, naked in nature is none of those experiences and a piece of cloth can be done without.
You will most likely have to push the button marked “2” to get to the next page.
The Starship Enterprise has just landed on Earth in the year 2063, while chasing and destroying a Borg ship. Both have transferred back in time to get there. In a missile silo, they have contact with an old spaceship, one that Picard has seen at the Smithsonian centuries later. He places his hand upon the metal outer sheathing.
Data (the man made man): Sir, does tactile contact alter your perception of the Phoenix?
Captain Picard: For humans touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way, Make it seem more real.
Data gives touch a try in his usual curiosity.
(“Star Trek VIII: First Contact”)
Touch does make something real. There can even be a compulsion to reach out and touch someone. People get touched emotionally. People pinch themselves to make sure that they are not dreaming.
Touch is our nature and our birthright. When we touch and are touched by the world, the world feels more alive and real.
By just removing clothing, the entire experience of the planet becomes greater. To step into water nude, or to feel a gentle breeze across the entirety of the body, the heat of the sun, and to be entertained with all of the associations, the messages and knowledge of the moment through the body and sensitivity of the organ called the skin, we are more alive. Again, this is a birthright. To take this away is a wrong.
The holidays are making time difficult to find, so as to publish the stories of our journey through the Manti La Sal National Forest. Progress has been made, although slowed, but sure. The photo is from that drive. A passing cloud is felt, as well as seen.
I am on the forum of FreeRangeNaturism.com often, if you would like to converse.
We’re taking a back road off of a dirt road that travels along the Pima County line’s north side. It should lead us to a mountain bike trail that heads into the Tortolita Mountain County Park.
It is familiar, it used to be in what I considered my back yard, a big backyard. I have taken this trail from the south many times, it is easy to find, a shot just past the windmill landmark.
This time we’re coming in from the north, through a foothills of misleading dry flood washes. It is not clearly marked. The last time, I misread the landmarks and ended up in an entirely different area.
During that hike, we looked and looked for possibilities for the trailhead, or the correct wash as seen from a satellite photo. We thought that we found it as the sun set. Now, I hope to find it again.
To continue, you’ll probably have to go down to the button labeled page #2, until I can get “Classic Editor to work again.
This is another article of mine that was published fairly recently in “N” magazine, the quarterly of The Naturist Society Foundation. When we set up the new communal sweat on my property, I took it upon myself to provide a meditative, healthy atmosphere for the community’s members to wander in, while they languished between sauna rounds. It is also a gathering space for fundraisers, memorials, and other social events pertaining to The Tucson Family Sweat Alliance (TFSA). It is where DF and I live a significant portion of our clothes free life under the sun. I’ve added a few additional illustrative pictures.
Desert Gardening
Here in Baja Arizona, creating a Garden of Eden to live in has unique challenges. We have over 300 days of sunshine in Tucson each year, but precious few days of seasonal rains. That’s great for living naked, but a challenge for our flora.
The Free Range Naturist 