Richard Silverback

Copied from NakedHiking.com

Hi everyone. It most encouraging to see interest expressed here about our annual nude hike on the Long Trail in Vermont. I apologize for be absent on this site till now with the hike just about upon us. Life is sometimes in the way. The hike this year is to be Monday June 20. I have been in touch with Ed who has organized this hike since its inception many years ago. He is once again leading the hike this year on the Long Trail in Vermont of which Nudeed (not the same Ed) speaks in his post above. I recommend the hike very highly. It has been a high point on my year long freehiking season for several years now. It is both naturist and naturist family friendly, though as with most naturist events of this type, the mix in the past has been strongly skewed toward male. We would like to see that evolve as we move forward. As ten mile hikes go, this one is quite easy. Our pace is relaxed and varied, with several points of interest along the way to stop and admire, such that the miles pass without notice. And the chance to swim near the end without extraneous wet rags draped around one's loins is wonderful.

Here are our notes from (organizer) Ed: We meet at the car park at the Long Trail crossing on the USFS Road #10 aka Mt Tabor Road at 9am sharp. To get there from Rt 7 in Danby, take the Brooklyn Rd eastward up into the forest. The road morphs into the Mt Tabor Road. At about 3.5 miles up from the highway, you will come to a trailhead car park on the right. There is an earlier pull off at a couple of picnic tables just before your desired one. Skip to the next. As I recall, if you lose the pavement on your road, you have gone just a bit too far. This second car park is the meetup. From there we carpool north to the starting point trailhead near Wallingford and then commence to hike south on the Long Trail. The rest is about as simple as life can get. Enjoy.

A group of us are planning to hike in the afternoon before on Sunday and sleep overnight on the trail nearby our Monday morning meetup site. If you are interested in joining us for the overnight, please message me directly or email me at freewalkerma@gmail.com for more info.

Stay naked.

-Dan

PS….If you would like to read more on the back story of this hike along with some impressions of an expanded overnight version of the Summer Solstice celebration that I try to do every year, you can find the article and side bars co-written and photographed by Milt, John, and myself in the winter 2014 edition of "N" magazine (The Naturist Society).

I have been hiking in a kilt for the last couple of months. I find it close to hiking naked if on busy trails. At the trail head I stick my shirt in my backpack so all I am wearing are boots, gators, backpack and kilt. If I feel comfortable, I take the kilt off, fold it and hang it from the over the shoulder strap on the side. When I hear or see someone I quickly turn, grab the kilt and put it on. With practice it can be done in 3 to 5 seconds. Then I turn around again and continue past like nothing happened. I usually comment that I never see anyone on this trail and that either starts a conversation or we just pass with a nod or so. I recommend the Mountain Hardwear Men's Elkommando Kilt because I can cover up so quickly. Other features of the kilt are lightweight, two large pockets, a material that repels water and the belt is attached so it is all inclusive. I have tried one other kilt from Damn Near Kilt Em but there were too many fasteners to get the kilt on quickly.

I am a 205 pound 5'10" 54 year old inactive US Marine that is 50 pounds overweight. This is how I will work to get the first 25 pounds off and I wants to do it naked, as much as possible.

I am happily married, semi-retired, 2 sons, 1 daughter and 5 grand children. Our children are mostly on their own, except the youngest that basically just sleeps at home. We help our daughter all the time raising her boys so I see her all the time. I wanted to do something different with my sons, so we talked and decided we would Hike the CT section of the Appalachian Trail this summer. Well, the boys are 25 and 20 and both in great shape. I realized I needed to start getting into a different shape than round.

I started March 4th with 30 minutes of naked Yoga. I watched a beginners yoga video and followed along. The next day I walked the Sikorsky River Bridge, 2 miles. I did some research and found some local trails to hike. I started with 2 miles and quickly worked my way up top 7 miles. Now some days I do 6 miles and some days I do 12 miles, it depends on the trail and the time I have available.

My next entry will explain where the NAKED comes into the story.