I've been following BCP for about a year and became a member a while ago, but I have opened a new profile to ask one question. This would indicate that I'm a bit embarrassed, which is true, and want to maintain anonymity on this while posting freely on other topics, although it does come at the risk of being thought of as some weird troll. However, I've decided to risk it to satisfy my curiosity.
My thoughts were prompted by a discussion I had on another website, and my readings in the works of some of the big "nature guru" guys, like Colin Fletcher, John Muir, and Henry David Thoreau. I noticed that in their writings each eventually mentions times when they got naked outdoors, and commented on how natural and uninhibited it made them feel. There was no shame to this, and none of them highlighted any sexual aspect of these times. Fletcher wrote more recently, but Muir and Thoreau wrote over a hundred years ago when, presumably, they might have faced more disapproval for such admissions, and perhaps this reflects on public attitudes in some way. Because I read their writings over a fairly short time period I was struck that with the regularity with which it was mentioned.
I wondered if outdoorsy people aren't usually, at some time or another, given to trying this. I will admit that I have when I have been remote enough that I could be confident no one would be around, since becoming a registered sex offender is not a personal goal. The sense of freedom, the idea of being where one can openly do what would be so transgressive in any other setting, was exhilarating and liberating, and for me also there was no sexual element to it at all.
So when I was on a hiking-oriented website recently and chatting with a guy the discussion trended in this direction after a time and he let me know that there is a real, albeit small, subculture of naked hikers out there. This got me to wondering if people who are aficionados of the great outdoors, presumably pre-disposed to personal freedom, and lovers of being natural, open, and free, aren't drawn to getting naked in the wild at some time in their outdoor explorations. I hypothesize that, having those personal traits, they would be. The hiker guy said that, in his experience, "serious" and experienced hikers were more relaxed about outdoor nudity than others, and felt no judgment about it.
What do you think? And thanks for not thinking I'm a weirdo or a pervert (that is if you aren't thinking I am!).
My thoughts were prompted by a discussion I had on another website, and my readings in the works of some of the big "nature guru" guys, like Colin Fletcher, John Muir, and Henry David Thoreau. I noticed that in their writings each eventually mentions times when they got naked outdoors, and commented on how natural and uninhibited it made them feel. There was no shame to this, and none of them highlighted any sexual aspect of these times. Fletcher wrote more recently, but Muir and Thoreau wrote over a hundred years ago when, presumably, they might have faced more disapproval for such admissions, and perhaps this reflects on public attitudes in some way. Because I read their writings over a fairly short time period I was struck that with the regularity with which it was mentioned.
I wondered if outdoorsy people aren't usually, at some time or another, given to trying this. I will admit that I have when I have been remote enough that I could be confident no one would be around, since becoming a registered sex offender is not a personal goal. The sense of freedom, the idea of being where one can openly do what would be so transgressive in any other setting, was exhilarating and liberating, and for me also there was no sexual element to it at all.
So when I was on a hiking-oriented website recently and chatting with a guy the discussion trended in this direction after a time and he let me know that there is a real, albeit small, subculture of naked hikers out there. This got me to wondering if people who are aficionados of the great outdoors, presumably pre-disposed to personal freedom, and lovers of being natural, open, and free, aren't drawn to getting naked in the wild at some time in their outdoor explorations. I hypothesize that, having those personal traits, they would be. The hiker guy said that, in his experience, "serious" and experienced hikers were more relaxed about outdoor nudity than others, and felt no judgment about it.
What do you think? And thanks for not thinking I'm a weirdo or a pervert (that is if you aren't thinking I am!).
It feels great! As far as the lake, it's usually with only my wife around, but one time last year I had a few too many G&T's on a really hot summer night and... yeah. But for actual hiking, I like clothes. If I ran into someone naked on the trail, I'd get a chuckle out of it, but I couldn't blame them for doing it.
