Posts Tagged With: free hiking

Big Bend State Park: Pt III

Posted on June 16, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-28

Number 20 in the Georgia and Back Series

We are staying at a rustic campground in Big Bend State Park near the banks of the Rio Grande River. There has been a great deal of rain this season and recent flooding. The flow of the Rio Grande River is still running pretty high with some rapids and there is uncertainty as to what is under the muddy brown water.

We set out to see if we can find a beach, a spot to take a dip and inspect the extent of the flood and damage.

Nobody else is in the 45 other campsites along this river bend. Nobody has been here since we arrived, except for a few moments.

We can walk through the dunes and brush and down to the river and back. We can hide our bare bodies, if need be. We grab our cameras and some water for a late afternoon stroll.

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Big Bend State Park Hike

Posted on June 8, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-28

To Georgia and Back Series Pt.19

We awaken in another world. Having been back east for the last few weeks, this contrast seems stark. The hills are green with low vegetation which accents the colors in the rocks. When the sun peaks over these hills in the morning and evening, an orange/red glow takes over. 

It is very quiet. Rush hour consists of two lone trucks heading up a distant hillside grade. One and then in a while, one more. We have this world to ourselves. The air is warm as the sun bakes away any chill. I step out into the caress of clear air.

“I still can’t believe those stars last night!”

“I know!”

“You’d have to be sitting in a boat out in the middle of an ocean for that.”

I look out at the glowing hills that stretch upstream along the Rio Grande canyon. I breathe deep and stretch my body with one of the local lizards.

 

There’s a slot canyon, a hike that I’d like to try, but that’s later. Right now, I’m here. I’ll pluck a few cords and notes on my little guitar, watch, just be. This is good. There’s no hurry, no mission, just the wondrous here and at the moment.

 The Hike:

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Big Bend State Park:Pt I

Posted on May 28, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-28

Number 18 in the Georgia and Back Series

We head out of Marfa, Texas toward Big Bend. There have been exceptional seasonal rains, making the countryside remind us of Sonoita, Arizona. We’re feeling more like home, after spending weeks in the eastern forests. There are not as many mountains, here, the horizon is quite a lot further out. A host of clouds run out from behind the edge of the Earth, drifting our way.

Cruising naked across these wide open spaces, just reeks of freedom.

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Lunch in a teepee

Posted on May 11, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-28

We have arrived at Big Bend. We’re looking out at the Rio Grande River. As the fish swims, somewhere in that river is the United States/Mexico border. The hills just beyond are another country.

A road side attraction, one of a very few roadside attractions, does what it does best and we are drawn in to stop and to rest.

This has a series of Teepees constructed of metal. There has been no real shade for miles and here is an oasis. Each has a picnic table to lunch at and it is lunch time.

All appear full, so I wrap my kilt around and DF slips her ever present red Hawaii print sundress over her head, expecting textile people.

Just as we pull up a prominent RV pulls away, leaving us the last teepee on the block. I get out to stretch and investigate. Perhaps I can find a place that we can be nude, but I sense the futility of that outcome. This is a very dry desert, with little ground-cover and only a few bushes. There might be something further down by the cool water river.

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Marfa

Posted on May 6, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-26

To Georgia and Back Series: Pt.16

We have left Garner State Park, needing to leave earlier than we did. It will be a long slog to Marfa Texas, unless we happen upon a good spot to camp. Garner, a friendly park, has been a naturist’s frustration and that continued this morning.

We’ve been getting into some wide open spaces, flat plains and some desert on our way to Marfa. It is a long drive across this state.

I want to make a point to check the famously super blue waters of the river in the Amistad Recreational Area. There is supposed to be something very special about their blue. They do reflect the clear sunny sky, as we cross on the extensive bridge system, near the Rio Grande at the Mexico border.

It is lunch time and a spot by the lake sounds good. We pull off the highway, but soon enough, discover that it is several miles to the lake, the boat launch and we can’t be sure what else. It just doesn’t have the vibe that says undeveloped, skinnydip in the refreshing clear waters. There appears to be many opportunities on Google maps, but not for a Honda Civic and a tent.  It is perhaps a nude boaters paradise.  Perhaps a stealth dip at night.

A simple roadside sun shelter presents itself on this small road to the boat docks. It is an opportunity to continue our day nude. Traffic has demonstrated itself to be nil here. 

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Garner State Park Via San Antonio

Posted on April 28, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-09-25

The resumption of our “To Georgia and Back” series

After leaving Austin, we have to cross the great state of Texas. There is no hurry and so we’ll avoid the desolate lonesome feeling of Interstate 10. We’re looking for back roads through the Great Plains, the legendary western desert and a place and flavor that neither of us has yet to explore.

There is little notable, or famous, that is nude out there. We’ll be looking for natural beauty and space to roam free. We have no real idea, no picture of what is out there.

First, I’ve always heard about the San Antonio river walk. It seems a good place to begin. I’ll check it off of the bucket list. We thought to take a chance on a “lifestyles” optional sort of resort, which is on the way, as something different, but ultimately decided to take the naturist option.  I suppose that it might have made an interesting story.

We eventually have reservations west of San Antonio at Garner State Park for the night.

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Super Bloom

Posted on April 19, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2023-04-03

Every seven years, or so, the spring temperatures, the amount rainfall and its timing, work together, to create a spectacular desert blooming. This year is being called a “super bloom.”

We had been a few days at the hot springs, when a friend, who had been out taking pictures, stopped in for the afternoon for a soak She told us of the occurrence. Leaving Monday, we decided to take the long way home and see what it was about.

Leaving about 1:30, we are off for a four hour drive. Having been nude three or four days, we leave, staying the same. Clothing doesn’t make much sense anymore, not after that long without.

The road up to Globe passes through the San Carlos Indian Reservation. That’s where the show begins in earnest. There are patches of yellow flowers in the desert fields along the road.

Suddenly, a field of yellow Arizona poppies shows, glowing in their florescence. 

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First Walk

Posted on April 15, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2023-03-11

La Nina and climate change have brought us a much longer winter. Springtime hasn’t happened. Business obligations were followed by a hernia operation to further stretch my frustrations. I haven’t been out hiking all year and it is mid-march!

Then, one day, I feel recovered enough to walk away from my stir crazied life, my clothing and coverings. One last piece of barbed wire is stretched to allow my nude body to carefully climb through the last obstacle and I am free.

It is a familiar spot in the Arizona desert. We haven’t seen it in years, however. I climb the hill and at the top, my bodily inventory tells me that I’m doing just fine.  There is no returning burning pain and no exhaustion from inactivity.

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Bear Canyon II

Posted on April 9, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-05-21

Next Day:

I love waking up in the forest. This is like coming home.

Everyone is up early. A-blue jay is on the ground near the tent. There are lots of bulges in the packed leaves. Birds have been digging. I had heard someone poking around in the leaves next to the tent just before dusk.

I had spent a few minutes awake as the world came alive. There were more of those voracious bats just before sunup.

I sight a butterfly high above through the mesh tent cover, “Good morning.”

Stepping outside, the weather is inviting.

A Hike:

We march a quick short nude walk, .2 miles on the graded road and trailhead.

Four grey squirrels sit and romp around at a familiar looking rock. It is peaceful and pleasant. Walking nude up the middle of the road, we know that we are alone. Anyone approaching can be heard a mile away. It feels so free.

We both jump, startled by the crash of a larger animal, which suddenly shoots out of the brush a few feet from us. It is running away into the scrub forest at a fast rate. It jumps like a deer over obstacles. We’re surprised to see that a javalina can jump like that on their short legs.

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Bear Canyon

Posted on March 31, 2023 by lasthouseob1

2022-05-20

The story of this trip was the trees. The highlight was a magnificent alligator juniper where the water springs out of the creek bed and then ponds.

Alligator Juniper have a distinctive bark. It generally looks much like an alligator bag. Fires and other challenges damage “Gators.” Often there is a dead grey section which is not covered by the bark. The tree lives on. Branches grow out, die and new arrive.

There are plenty of Gators in the forest when we arrive at camp. It is interspersed with scrub oak and other vegetation that grow happy at 4 to six thousand feet elevation. These trunks are somewhat the same, but upstream, where moister is more abundant more often during the year, or a perennial stream and other species naturally intermix, they all take off with growth. There, we find trees with the character of time, abundance and scars of disruption and survival.

 

This giant takes us slack jawed in amazement.

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