Posts Tagged With: nude hiking

Cochise Stronghold I

2018-08-17

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.

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Free Range 101 at the Hot Springs

2018-04-15

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.

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Foothills in 4×4 Low

2018-04-14

 

We are at the hotsprings still. It is Saturday after arriving on Friday. Today we have directions to the rough road that leads back into the foothills of the mountains to the north. We are going to explore today. You might read about Friday here first:

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2018/06/22/exploring-the-foothills/

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A Mingus Mountain Trail: Group Hiking

2018-06-17

I mentioned a while back about a non-landed group that we had had a couple of decades ago in southern Arizona, “Southern Arizona Naturist Society, SANS.” Today, we will be hiking similarly with a group. This is a different way to be free range than what DF and I usually present.

We are in the Prescott, Arizona area. Our host has created, or refurbished a trail in the nearby mountains and we’re all meeting up to hike it naked.

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Need a Nude Trail? Make One

2018-06-16

I mentioned this trail once before, when we visited Ken and Amie’s hilltop near Dewey, Arizona. Then, it was just a hilltop, a garden, a trail and plans. Now, there is a pleasant home on top and a system of stealthy trails to wander, to meditate and explore.

We came up from Tucson on Friday. The plan was to camp in one of the spots that Ken has put aside for a tent. Saturday, we would then visit Schenbley Road a four-wheel drive mess. The views are of legendary Sedona in the distance. Along the way, there are a few trails off of the road. I surmise that the 4×4 conditions of the road would diminish the number of vehicles. The trail which I planned to explore, leads off of the road into official wilderness. It would seem a good candidate for freely nude hiking. The views will be awe inspiring.

A hurricane in the Pacific off of Mexico has created long sought after rain, but it is forecast to be falling from late Friday night, until evening on Saturday. I’ve been told that the planned jeep road is notably slippery when wet and may wash out. On a good day it can be a cliff side, hair-raising drive.

Game called because of rain. What to do?

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Our Introduction to Sycamore Canyon

2018-06-15

I had planned a three day excursion into the Wilderness of Rock and Lemmon Pools. June is a hot time, a dry time in the Tucson Valley, and the cooler temperatures at 9000 ft. are something to long for. There has been two years of drought, but water would be found there in the pines.

As the date nears, I realize that a plan B contingency will need to be taken. The monsoon appears to be approaching early. Lightning popping off at the high elevation of those mountains, with that immediate cannon-like thunder is risky, if not traumatic.

The monsoon comes sooner to the southern part of the state than others. It generally creeps out of Mexico and then works its way north in increments. I checked the National Weather Service’s predictions and then my bucket list for a backup plan. Soon enough, with plans had to change, we are now on our way to Dewey in northern Arizona to visit with a pair of our naked hiking friends.

Thursday night, I undress in my truck after topping off my tank for our morning departure. That same evening, DF drops her clothing as she walks into her door ready to load up. That should be the last of the formality of clothing for the next three days, other than to pump gas and dine.

Friday morning, we will carnude up to Dewey, meet our friends at their hilltop retreat and head up through Cottonwood to Sycamore Canyon. DF and I have never been there. Our hosts will be our guides.

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Monsoon Dawn into Sunrise

2018-07-24

Night into Day

I like to feel the dawn. The nakedness most certainly adds to the wonder. Senses are alive. It perks up my consciousness. The animals are all responding, birds singing, night life is going to rest. Most species respond to each other sexually at this time, awakened by the sun. I can experience the energy of the associated sensations myself, as a fellow animal.

Then, there is the morning sunlight, its warmth, its relaxing effects. I sometimes feel like a lizard warming myself on a rock, getting the sleeping blood to lighten up.

During the monsoon, the morning display of the sunrise clouds can strike spiritual awe. There are the beams of light, the angle of it casting longer shadows, making everything that much more distinctive.

Rain Far to the East

This morning, there is a blessed cool breeze circulating around the fresh green growth and my body. It will be 110 later today, breaking another record. This is a pleasant respite.

Monsoon sunrise, wondrous sunrise, hews of gold, silhouettes of saguaros and purple mountains. I see turquoise thunderheads over the Catalinas.

I wonder, am I ever closer to earth and my nature in the universe, than as these nude times?

This body feels loved by a universe, welcomed this morning, as another piece of nature. A part of what is wondrous. The unique smells of the monsoon, its plants, flowerings, the earth soaked with moister and cleansed, every miracle, I am a part of these, too. I am this, simply because I was born to perceive it fully.

Out at White Sands Missile Range, a day’s drive east, someone has pushed a button and set off a rocket. I see the glowing trail from where I stand. The sun enriches its display. I watch, as it floats apart, growing into a long golden cloud itself. For all of man’s world, its war, its technology, the interplay of seemingly important activities, there is irrelevance. None of it truly matters in a moment during a monsoon sunrise. All of it is diminished by a thunderhead over a mountain range, the sound of sweet life, and the smell of a desert exploding with bounty after rain.

This is all best savored without an agenda. That is only within this moment, not preoccupied with a list of chores and concerns, just awareness and sense of gratitude, being here, now. The rest can wait…maybe until after going back to bed for a while…in peace….

Effects of a Setting Sun in an Eastern Sky

 

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The San Pedro River: Part II

2018-05-20

We awaken in into an Eden in the San Pedro River. It is time for a stripped down walk about.

Part #1 can be found here:

The San Pedro River: Part I

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The San Pedro River: Part I

2018-05-19

The San Pedro River flows north, somehow a rarity in North America. It hosts over two hundred bird species. This is a major migration corridor for 85% of our bird species. The river is part of the two percent of Arizona’s landmass that is considered riparian area.

Ninety-five percent of these riparian water sources are damaged or destroyed. There has been an ongoing struggle to protect this natural treasure. It has dry spots and much of it only flows seasonally. The ground water, which feeds it from the surrounding mountains, is being sucked out with the growth of thirsty communities like Sierra Vista. Conservation measures are in place, but the influence of money, profit and politics, greed disguised as good economics, continue to whittle away at our true wealth.

There is a 40 mile long belt on the river that varies in width that is for wildlife preservation. The river is lined with huge cottonwoods.  Mesquite bosques lie beyond. I only recently found how extensive that this preservation is. I called the visitor center and was told that there was water at the bridge there. Downstream, they didn’t know. We have been in drought for two years. We will use the visitor center bridge section as a backup, in case the river is dry.

There are fewer people downstream near the bridge close to the ghost town of Fairbanks. We are heading to Fairbanks to look for flowing water in the river. We are continuing our birthday celebrations weekend, traveling from a late morning start in Gardner Canyon.

Here is that story:

Gardner Canyon Revisited: Part I

We’re picking up where it left off.

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Monsoon: The Desert Springs Back to Life: Part III

Summer 2006

 

Another Monsoon Day

This morning, I am compelled to walk out the old jeep trail behind my house and take some pictures. I’m chronicling the rebirth of the desert in progression and recording the blooms of the monsoon plants for myself. The desert around my house has been transformed into a grassy meadow.

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