Spring at Redington Pass

Spring 2019

Redington Pass is always such a pleasant little trip. It is only a half of an hour carnuding from Central Tucson to the trailhead. It feels like getting away from everything, leaving the pavement, the urban structures are miles behind.

We park just off of the road. The quality of the space is first come first serve. Usually, I can park right next to the trailhead in my 4×4. There’s a hill with a gulley there that most vehicles don’t dare. This spot gives me a clothing optional access to the trail.

Of course, I go for the more liberal option, but at times, there can be others around. We don’t want to upset the opposition. The now, clothing mandatory area’s trailhead is just a couple of hundred feet down the road. There can be textile sensibilities within view. You just never know with people like that, how that they may react. We all want to be left alone.

Generally, we are free, especially on weekdays. I have learned to take something like a sarong to protect my shoulders, in case we want to stay longer than planned. If my ability to relish my freedom is impeded, it is only a very short 50 feet or so to the first sign and I’ll have that sarong around my waist. There, we are enough out of sight to get completely comfortably nude.

I feel the pleasant sense of liberation, knowing that I don’t have to dress. My nudity is accepted, a norm and not a surprise to anyone. Everyone is pleasant, whether they chose to dress on the trail, or not. There is nearly always a friendly greeting, or a smile. From that sign, we are in liberated territory. Life is as it more ideally could, or should be.

I smell Spring. I’m grasped by the air and sun. A breeze comes by and I swish it in my hand. I am of this Earth.

On this day, we find that spring flowers are in bloom. The yellow daisy-like brittle bush has had a good year. The rains appear to have sustained it in an unusual manner, much of it has had flowers since last fall.

Everything is at its seasonal optimum.

The extra rain has also blessed us with another benefit. Our ears pick up the sound far below of cascading water, its echo is bouncing up the hard canyon walls to us. This will be a good day to be here. There will be plenty of people taking advantage of this weekend day. The other trailheads were teeming with parked cars and activity.

We soon see the waterfall below and there is water at the beach.

This is a wonderful stop, but we have decided to go to the “jaccuzzi“ spot a little ways further.

Having come through here for so many years, I enjoy finding my way through the rocks and boulders.

It has changed numerous times. There are choices and an opportunity to climb about, using those muscles that were meant for four pronged activities. There is the pull up and the twists to get around. I experience the balancing, the small jump.  I stretch, placing one foot high above the other and then lifting off. It feels good. I can appreciate what a body can do, its flexibility, and its adaptation. Most of us are wasting away these inherent pleasures of natural movement. We have little use for these in our man-made environments.

We find our coming place already occupied by two bikini women and a young man in a pair of jocky shorts. The underwear’s style is structured and it clings to the body and bulges at the genital area. It looks as though it is meant to flatter a body like a padded bra. It is nearly armor and faked. There is no other use than to cast a false image and show off.

The jaccuzzi isn’t running today. There is not enough flow. The vibe is off. We decide to head on up to the next feature, with its bathtubs.

On the way, I check on the crevasse above the jaccuzzi. A flooding event had deposited a couple of large rocks in it. As I stand upon it, I see smaller pieces have been building up, which restricts the flow. Too big to move, this may be the beginning of the end of the jaccuzzi. Time will tell. Nature is so unpredictable.

We find our tubs full enough with fresh water.

Some tubs have had enough sun to warm their contents. There is a beach, a pond and the sculptured smooth granite surface. This will be the place.

I take a sensuous stroll about with my bare feet. The rock surfaces give a special sensitivity, an awareness to my movements. I see that there are a few smaller boulders next to a larger one. They are surrounded by water. I decide to climb across without getting my feet wet, just for the challenging fun of it. When I arrive at the other side, I realize that the bigger boulder makes an overhang. This makes passage on the smaller ones more difficult. I watch my body do what it can do, to twist and balance. It is a meditation.

When I get to the end, there is little room to stand, or turn around. I use all fours.

Then, I lift, suspending my body with my arms. I twist and pivot around, placing my feet in the other direction.

It may be a simple maneuver, but in full awareness, the traverse of these rocks is awesome to me. It is something that I haven’t had occasion to do for many years. It is as if new to me. The process is all that I am doing, there is no cluttered thought, but to be in this body. It is these moments naked in this canyon that liberate me most. The place is filled with such experiences, if I just take notice.

We lounge, meditate, lay about, bask in the sun and just be.

Chi Gung

The fun golden electric patterns are in the water.

We shoot a few pictures and we lunch.

Toad Lounging with Us

People wander past, we smile and greet.

DF finds her solitude. I get pleasantly laid flat out on a comfortable surface.

I hear voices above me and open one eye. It is the two bikini girls, standing in front of the sun. The eye closes again. They will pass.

Time passes easily.

A fellow comes up to us. He had been up the canyon. He knows me from a Buffateers event (a local non-landed club). I didn’t recognize him. It is always good to see someone that you know. Like the “Cheers” show, “A little place where everybody knows your name.” I feel fortunate.

We have found our way here by walking and climbing upstream. I prefer the watercourse and I have encountered rattlers on the narrow high road, but today that route feels good. We decide to take the high road back.

The hillside is abundant with color. Where we are, there is a trail that leads up the hill and out of the canyon, intersecting the busier one.

Again, we travel down the trail, a bottle of water and a pair of shoes each. I have the day pack this time. DF carried it down. It is a greater pleasure to be less encumbered, to wander casually, more naked, in a sense of truly nude. This time she is delighted with her turn to have the glimpse of a more perfect world.

There is a sense of freedom that just feels so good at Redington Pass. People can expect to encounter nude people enjoying the area and its gifts. There is a reputation, signage and a tradition that is widely known. The situation lacks that fear, or concern that someone might object, or fear that the ridiculous laws might be effected. A reasonable person cannot be offended. There is no recklessness.

We intersect the trail and continue.

After spending a few hours nude in this environment, DF walks off at her own pace, relishing her liberation in only shoes and carrying only her water bottle.

She raises her arms and feels a breeze. She studies lovely flowers and imbibes the beauty of the hillsides and glorious vistas.

She smiles and greets people as they appear along the trail. They also smile with a friendly greeting.

Five or six people encounter us and a speedier two pass us up. One stays with us for a short while. One is also nude.

We return to the sign. There is much activity on the road. I pull DF’s sundress out of the pack and wrap my sarong at my waist. Just a few minutes later and a hundred feet, we are again naked, shoes off, seated in the SUV with windows down, breeze rushing in all over us and on our way.

I’m moving and we’ll see if I get a post out every week with the busy-ness. Things should settle down by the end of February. There is plenty in the works, but time is constrained.

Be sure to click any image to enlarge it as you desire.

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