We arrive, having driven through the fertile Gila River’s valley with cotton growing right up to the side of the road. The big sky is wide open, decorated in the same turquoise color everywhere. We had gotten a start later than we intended, but accept our day as it is unfolding.
We are to spend a couple of days at the hot springs with a pair of guests. Here’s the tale.
We drive up to New River Arizona after dropping off DF’s wonderful granddaughter. Somehow, we get there without bothering to get undressed! I comment and query to DF as we near our destination, “Wow, this is the first time in a long time that we have traveled anywhere dressed. And we’re heading to a naturist resort to top it off! Doesn’t it seem weird to be going to a naturist resort wearing clothes?”
Upon arrival at Sangrala Ranch Resort, we strip completely immediately, that is as soon as the car’s motor turned off. We go into the office, check in and will wait for Nuduke to give us a call to rendezvous. They will have been traveling a long distance today and have to check into their resort and settle in, as well.
We decide that our wait will be in the pool. We grab two towels and cell phones and place them on a nearby chair as we skinnydip. The phone rings, I jump out of the pool and answer. We have time to go get dressed and travel to the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, which is a very nice upscale resort in Scottsdale.
Have you ever had a correspondence with someone online frequently through years, but never meet in the flesh? This was such a couple. Nuduke and I had been members of “The Secret Naturist Society.” It was a sort of internet pot belly stove in the general store kind of place. A group of us would sit around and discuss our naturist lives there. Generally, talk was about a stealth exploit, where one wouldn’t normally be naked.
I have little to know about the Mrs., other than that she is not apt to participate in social nudity.
We are at Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains. We have a wonderful campsite and have hiked to the pass on the previous day. The story of that is in two parts is here:
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2018/11/02/cochise-stronghold-i/
And here:
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2018/11/12/cochise-stronghold-ii/
We have a short sunrise wander, just before the morning begins to warm. The tent is already heating up, but we slide back into bed.
We are on a hike along the trail at Cochise Stronghold. We have found a pocket just before the season’s campground opening and been blessed with a cool day with the shade of a parade of fluffy clouds.
The first part of the story can be found here:
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2018/11/02/cochise-stronghold-i/
We have reached our water source at Half Moon Tank.
REMEMBER that you can enlarge and enhance any photo by clicking on it.
The plate has been pretty full lately. We are cleaning up a house and getting ready for a move…naked.
There are packing boxes filling up the house. Now we are walking trails through what is reminiscent of a train wreck. It looks like a pathological hoarder lives here. I have stubbed my bare toe on a box or two, but nothing serious. Packing while nude is okay.
Drywall, painting, plumbing, wood trimming, and staining are also working out well barefoot all over.
Cochise Stronghold is a part of the habitat of the Chiricahua Apaches. When settlers began to make their way into the area, destroying the lives of those who lived there, a “war” eventually broke out.
To put it briefly, Apache raids could be conducted from these safe rugged mountains. Cochise, who was initially prone to a peace, found himself accused of a crime. Then, members of his family were taken hostage. He then saw futility. There were white betrayals, which lead to more decades of war.
Eventually, Cochise died and was secretly buried in these mountains.
As I walk through this incredible landscape of fortress-like boulders and hoodoos, I watch water leach out of rocks and then stream down them. I sit in the shade of many types of trees and consider the abundance hidden here. I hold thoughts of Apache lives. I ponder some nebulous foreign peoples beginning to force the takeover of my own homeland. I can imagine how I might feel and how I might react.
REMEMBER that you can CLICK ANY PICTURE to enlarge and enhance.
Halloween’s back. This year we are feeling lazy about this holiday and making costumes, so we decided to just go naked….
We took last year’s nude body tights and placed strategic censorship bars on them with black duct tape….
Went to the first bar and won a prize. We thought that it had something to do with the band/judges being friends.
We went to an Anniversary Party at another bar afterward. It was chilly in the night, so I put on a shirt and DF a shawl. The music was faster paced, it was filled with strangers.
We took off our wraps to show off our costumes. It felt kind of genuinely naked, actually. We began to spin around on the dance floor and then saw people pointing. Compliments kept popping up. We were attracting lots of attention.
An announcement was made that there would be a costume contest. Only about a dozen of us took it on. Now, we found ourselves naked on stage, under bright lights being cheered! We won hands down!
People love naked people.
It’s another day in Eden at the hot springs. We’re walking out for an exploration into the desert foothills.
We start with another meditative breakfast at the duck pond. It is warmer today.
We want to do the hike that we had planned the last visit, then return with enough time to indulge our senses in the various waters as they call to us. We will have to drive home tonight.
North of the hills where people set up their prayer circles of stones, there is the distant valley. We have seen it as a green ribbon of mesquite along a dry wash. It looked to be an inviting hike. There was a sense of “out there”, to go trekking into the wide open spaces, liberation.
SEE the story where this one picks up here:
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2018/02/26/a-valentine-and-eden-2018-a-trip-report-part-ii/
We begin to pass through the familiar and then make our way into an exploration.
REMEMBER that you can enlarge by clicking any picture.
It is always good to have a backup plan to assure nude friendly weather conditions. We had plans to visit the top of Mt. Lemmon, but monsoon thunder and lightning storms are predicted this weekend. Our alternative is to not campout, but we’ll do a day trip instead. The prediction in the Rincon Mountains is heavy showers, which may cause flooding after 11am and before 11pm. This generally means that the creeks will run. There will be this break in the morning, before more rain. We will also enjoy cooler temperatures.
We visited a new found waterfall a year ago. That story is here:
https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2017/10/27/happy-valley-sad-day/#more-3146
We hope to find the water falls running and that the pools are filled with fresh water for swimming.
Remember, you can enlarge and clarify any picture by left clicking on it.
We set up the outdoors bed last night. The moon will be full in a couple of days. In its evening transit, it did drown out some of the stars and illuminated the surrounding desert.
Our intention is to observe the annual meteor showers, lying on our backs, cuddling together, enjoying naked sensuality and freedom. Lying here under the stars, in the more pristine desert, we have a sense of place in the universe. There is stark quiet.
I see one meteor, then another and another. DF misses them, somehow. I’m getting a familiar twinge of frustration and jealousy from my partner. This has happened often, when gazing for meteors. I’m commenting on falling stars in awe and amazement, and she is wondering, if I’m just putting her on. I see another, “Wow, did you see that one?”
Finally, she does see one with me. She is feeling better about things, excited for the next one.
She soon sees another. This time, I don’t see it. I smile and wonder if she’s putting ME on.
The meteors dissipate in frequency. A flashing plane creeps over and then a lone flash appears just as bright. We ask each other, “Could it have been a meteor coming right at us?”
Eventually, there is another burst of shooting stars, which is followed by a lull.
The main event won’t be for a couple of hours. We wonder if we will be awake for it. This moment is a good place. So, we’ll see.
I comment that the weather is perfect out here. I’m incredibly comfortable.
After a while, someone whispers,” Do you feel that cool breeze?” I do and it is a delight. Then, nearly immediately, we’re commenting together, as we find a warm breeze rolling over our bodies. No words are spoken, just that awareness of the person next to me feeling the fun of it, too. It’s a naked thing.
Turtle Dove and Road Runner Warm themselves in the Morning Sun
The Free Range Naturist 