Ron's Log

TING Hike in the Mecca Hills

A group that calls itself "TING" comes to visit Palm Springs twice a year and asked me to lead them on a hike in the Mecca Hills today. I was surprised to see how many Mecca Asters are still blooming.

Public Near-Nudity in Ojai

An L.A. Times report on Jennifer Moss who prefers to appear in Ojai wearing only a hemp G-string and pasties to cover her nipples. She is wearing enough clothing that she is not in violation of any laws — which has the local bluenoses all in an uproar. She has been ticketed repeatedly for obstructing traffic. The police chief insists that his main concern is Moss's safety, saying that she rides her bike so fast he's afraid she might get into an accident. Uh-huh. He hasn't, apparently, ticketed her for riding her bike recklessly.

The article says her activisim "appears to revolve around natural-fiber clothing and the healing powers of water." Maybe we should get her to come to Desert Hot Springs for the Festival of the Waters.

Desert Shadows Closes - Desert Sun Opens

The Desert Sun (the newspaper) reports that the famous Desert Shadows nude resort has closed, after being in bankruptcy since October. The old Desert Shadows website.

But here's the website for the new and unfortunately named Desert Sun Resort which has, presumably, no connection to the Gannett newspaper company. Here's a message that I believe was a press release:

Re-opening of DSI as " http://www.desertsunresort.com/ " by new owners Desert Sun LLC John and Elizabeth are the new legal owners of the resort as Desert Sun LLC, and condo owners and residents at the resort. The facility will be opened as a family naturist and nudist resort allowing singles soon as the required permits and licenses, and inspections, furniture, and fixtures are in place.

The new Resort web site reference: http://www.desertsunresort.com/

Refer to the new web site for new contact, phone, and reservations, opening, and planned events. List of what will be available soft opening this weekend: The rooms are in fine shape and have all received or are receiving a thorough cleaning.

The phones should be operational upon (PBX) installation today Tuesday, 4/22/2008 The condo rental pool is being slowly formed. At least one of each condo type in the rental pool is available now, more are expected by the weekend. They'll try to provide some food, perhaps pizza, perhaps a BBQ, perhaps ordering out, but it's definitely BYOB for now. It's possible that one pool or hot tub might be under maintenance at various times during the weekend.

They are still on track to having everything up and running by the holiday weekend. What's not available: The restaurant, Spa, in-room Movies on Demand. The state of the in-room and condo rental cable TV is unclear at the moment. The status of the volley ball pool, new poles and net is unclear at the moment.

Please check the website http://desertsunresort.com/ and phone # 1 800 960 4SUN before arriving. 1533 Chaparral Road, Palm Springs, CA 92282

Bruce Bradley Protecting The World

Bruce Bradley, publisher of the Virginian-Pilot, is protecting us not from nudity, but from the unspeakable horror of giving a $1,000 prize to the artist who painted the nude. Here's the story.

Seventeen-year old Nancy "Beth" Reid entered her nude self-portrait in The Virginian-Pilot Student Gallery and won! Jamine Childs, also age 17, entered a nude sculpture and also won! There were no rules against nudity, but the publisher overruled the jurors and rejected their selections. However, the works were allowed to remain in the show, so that innocent citizens might come along and corrupt their minds and morals.

"Local art-lovers" are raising $1,000 to replace the prize for Nancy "Beth" Reid. Besides art-lovers, I suppose some contributions are coming from those-who-are-opposed-to-backwardness-in-general.

Today's Desert Flowers

Surprising Photo

Someone calling himself Bisnack on Flickr has posted a few images from the naked photo shoot I went on last month. Here's one. As I understood the release forms I signed, we weren't allowed to re-distribute the photos. I don't know if Bisnack was one of the participants, or got these photos some other way.

UCLA Undie Run Reveals One-Third Of Students Don't Know Underwear

Photo by jongleberry. This photo is from December 2007, but photos from this past weekend's Undie Run can be found here.

Today's PSSST Hike

Today we had another hike in the Mecca Hills where the weather was perfect. Afterwards, some of us took a side trip to Albert Frey's North Shore Marina for a few more photos. The complete set of photos is here, and these are some samples:

Gettin' Paid For What I'd Do Anyway

So there's this guy who's got a business where he organizes straight couples to get together in groups to cavort naked in nature. And by "cavort" I mean simply cavort, not boink. No boinking, nothing even close to it. Just happy cavorting. He pays the happy people who are attractive, but certainly not professional models, and he photographs them amidst their cavort. Logically, he then sells these photos in some way, but I get hazy on that business end of the thing.

He was coming to southern California to do some work, thought it would be interesting to photograph people cavorting on a naked hike in the desert, but was not familiar with the area. Almost like magic, Google brought him to me. We worked out a deal where I would lead him and his subjects on a short, visually interesting, naked hike in the Mecca Hills. Then, on short notice, he prepended a photographic cavort into the hot springs at Deep Creek. He was already familiar with Deep Creek, but needed me as a naked bearer of equipment.

The date for the Deep Creek excursion was two days ago, Wednesday, which, locals will recall, is the day the big rain rolled into Los Angeles. I was to meet our leader at a breakfast joint in Hesperia. I took the freeway route, because it is usually faster. Of course, from the Banning Pass all the way to the 210 (formerly 30) traffic just crawled due to precipitation that varied from a mist to heavy rain. I expected snow and ice in the pass on 15, but the mountains were breaking up the clouds almost miraculously so that by the time I reached the top of the pass it was mostly sunny and dry (but chilly). A glance to the east, however, showed that the clouds and rain completely engulfed the Deep Creek area and all the mountains that drain into it. Obviously, it would be too dangerous to go down to the creek, and so I advised our leader who, while being familiar with Deep Creek, wasn't familiar with where that water came from.

He expected two couples from the Los Angeles area to show up, but only one did. They were a very nice, young couple not too recently removed from Iowa (Dubuque, I think they said) but obviously aapting to the Hollywood scene quite, quite well. It was decided we would head out to the Bowen Ranch anyway, and make a decision there whether to simply hike the high trail without descending into the soon-to-be flooded canyon.

But when we got to the ranch an icy wind was blowing the mist horizontally. It felt like it should be sleet or snow, but I guess it wasn't quite 32° yet. A glance in the direction of Deep Creek revealed dark clouds that were lower than where we stood at the ranch house. After a few minutes of dithering, one of the ranch workers came over. BTW, what IS the business model at the Bowen Ranch? This is the first time I've ever seen anyone working there, and most of them seemed to be doing things to some of the junked cars that rust there. One man was up working on the roof of the house. There are no cattle, sheep or goats. I've not seen any woods to produce lumber. No mining, certainly. His only visible income to me is the $5 you pay to park to go into Deep Creek.

Anyway, this ranch worker came over to ask if we were going to hike in. He was very friendly and helpful, saying that it'd be fine to hike so long as we had Gore-tex from head to toe, and then he muttered something about how they haul out at least two bodies per year, one in winter and one in summer.

At this point the photographer asked me what weather was like in Desert Hot Springs, and I told him it was partly cloudy and dry when I left. Since their destination that night was DHS anway, he decided (wisely) to abort the Deep Creek venture and head directly to DHS where I promised him a sunny spot for some shooting. We went via Lucerne Valley to avoid returning to the nightmare of the 10 in pouring rain. We made a brief stop along highway 247 for a photo shoot, where the young couple with almost no body fat got and stayed naked a lot longer than I could have. It was still pretty chilly.

Once we got down to Desert Hot Springs it was much sunnier than it had been up in the high desert, but there were some scattered sprinkles. I led them to Long Canyon. We drove up the access road and parked at the aqueduct which, you know, I never recommend, especially if you have a late model car loaded with expensive photographic equipment. But I figured that the chill in the air would slow down thieves and vandals sufficiently that we would be okay for a little while.

We hiked past the the Colorado River Aqueduct just a little way, so that as we moved around getting different photos, we were sometimes in full view of our vehicles. All four of us got naked, as that was part of the deal, so it was less like we were objectifying this one couple and more like we were all cavorting. My cavorting consisted of nothing more than carrying an extra lens for the photographer. The sun, wind and rain came and went during the shooting, which may have gone on for an hour or so. BTW, I don't recommend the area for nude cavorting, generally. It was a half-desperate decision based on weather and day of the week and it worked for an hour. As we drove out along the access road we encountered a man driving a large truck in. It didn't bear any markings of the MWD and he wasn't hauling a load of construction debris to dump, so I assume he was going up there to do some shooting (or private nude cavorting?).

The next day, Thursday, in the morning the photographer hosted a much larger group of couples at a well known clothing optional spa here in Desert Hot Springs. I was to meet them there at about noon to lead them out to the Mecca Hills. The spa doesn't allow single men, so as the morning's session ran long I just sat out front in my truck reading a book. When we finally got going the hikers consisted of (besides me and the photographer) one additional photographer, the nice couple from the day before, plus one more couple.

I took them to the easiest, shortest hike we've got out there, the one that leads up to the rock art. It's only 2½ miles round trip, but I think I heard a bit of whining. I failed to improve morale by telling them that we have septuagenarians who do this same hike with joy. The weather, at least, was warmer than it was in DHS, and much, much better than it had been the day before. Photos were shot along the route as well as near the rock art. Sometimes we'd pause to let the photographer get into his desired position, so maybe the hike took longer than it usually would have.

I had assumed the second photographer was a professional as well, but I questioned that when half way through the hike he had filled up his 1 Gb compact flash card and had no spare. I'm no professional photographer, but I never use any cards as small as 1 Gb in any of my cameras. Memory cards are so cheap, there is no point in trying to scrimp and run the risk of filling up a card. When our lead photographer asked what kind of memory card his camera used, the second photographer said it was "just a regular one," seemingly unaware of the choices between compact flash, SD, and the other popular formats. It turned out to be compact flash, so our lead photographer offered him one of his extra cards, but the second photographer's camera wouldn't recognize it and wouldn't let him format it. It was considered that this might be a low battery problem. The second photographer's camera used AA batteries (is that very common among DSLRs?), but he had brought none along. I don't know how (if) this was ultimately resolved, but most of the shooting had been done already. Our return to the vehicles was pretty quick with our lead photographer stopping us for only a few photos.

Where are the photos, you may be asking? I took none at all. Part of the agreement is that anyone who takes photos during the events turns over their memory card to the photographer at the end of the day and he includes the photos in his project. While I was getting paid more than enough to lead a naked hike, I was not getting paid enough to be a professional photographer for a day, so I kept my camera wrapped up and buried at the bottom of my pack. But if you someday see some photos of me in my pink hat with a naked woman or two nearby, and it's not Burning Man, then you've found the photos.

Springtime In The Mecca Hills

Spotted on yesterday's PSSST hike in the Mecca Hills. More photos here.

Ed's photos are here. And Brian's are here, including this portrait:

In The Mecca Hills

A couple of photos from today's hike in the Mecca Hills.

Flood at Deep Creek

Last weekend four people hiked into Deep Creek hot springs from Bowen Ranch with the illegal intent to camp. Their downfall was due to failure to check the weather forecast. Heavy rains that night sent a 15-foot torrent through the canyon, which awoke the campers about 2:30 AM. They tried to evacuate by following the 6-mile trail downstream to the spillway, but there's at least one spot where that trail crosses a stream coming in from the side. That's where they were found by Search-And-Rescue.

Here's another article on the incident which adds the useful information that Mr. Bowen maintains plausible deniability, saying he was shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that someone had trespassed in order to camp at the hot springs.

GNI Registration Opens

GNI is proud to announce that registration is now open for the 24th Annual International Gathering of Male Naturists. The 2008 GNI Gathering will take place from Wednesday, August 20 to Friday, August 29 at the beautiful resort in the bucolic Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania that we've enjoyed for many summers.

GNI is also pleased to report that there is no increase from last year’s pricing for those staying in cabins. Indeed, there is a decrease for the full-week cabin option!

In previous years, registration normally did not open until April, but you can register for the 2008 Gathering right now -- an unprecedented nearly seven months before the fun begins. For complete information and to register, use the Gathering links under Events & Travel on the main menu inside GNI's web site at www.gaynaturists.org.

Here are the prices:

	Cabin	Tent / RV
Aug. 20-29	$878	$778
Aug. 22-29	$698	$628
Aug. 25-29	$498	$438

Shocked, I Tell You

Here's an ad for Equinox Fitness Club in Back Bay, Boston that ran in Boston magazine. A reporter at the Boston Herald went and found an average cross section of Bostonians, who all happened to be old ladies in a Catholic nursing home in South Boston. These ladies were shocked, saying "It's wrong!" after taking a good, long second look.

Naked Aerobics For Men

No way this is SFW, IOW, NSFW, but fun. Looking to get your guesses as to when it was made, based on hair, cinematic style and music. One asserts it is from the video Disrobics.

Today's Hike

Three photos from today's hike. The complete set of photos is here.

Here's a link to Frisky Dad's photos, if you can see them.

Burning Man

Photo by nakedbear730 who has FINALLY posted his Burning Man 2007 photos. Tickets for the 2008 event went on sale today.

The rest of his Burning Man photos are here.

Going 'Round The Bend in Amsterdam

The interesting aspect of this cellphone video of an angry, naked man who skipped his meds strutting along the streets of Amsterdam is that he seems to be drawing little attention. Just look at the happy Amsterdamers bicycling hither and fro, simply being careful to avoid hitting him as he crosses a bike lane against the light.

One Million Peace Signs

Baring Witness, International Peace Protest, Santa Fe, New Mexico March 8, 2003

Photo by Jennifer Esperanza. Part of the One Million Peace Signs Flickr group which is one of the sources of images for the One Million Peace signs website.

They're pretty flexible on what they consider a peace sign, but I think the one million goal is rigid, fixed and unbending.

Tecopa Hot Springs, Briefly

Plans made, plans mistakenly thought to have fallen through [Note To Self: check ALL voicemails in future], I responded to the call of Tecopa Hot Springs that I'd been feeling since this chilly weather settled in. A couple of fairly new Orange County men were going up for their first visit, so that was additional motivation. I left DHS in the wee hours and got there shortly after the county baths opened. The drive across the desert under the half moon was gorgeous. The salt flats glowed like snow and I could navigate by the lights of Las Vegas.

I parked next to Tim and Pierre, sweet guys who, when we weren't bathing, fed me and let me help walk the dogs! I soaked for four different periods through the day, going from the hot to the "cool" pool and back again. The air temperature was close to freezing when I arrived, and it was the first time that getting into the hot water felt completely comfortable. For the first few minutes I thought that maybe the hot water was a little cooler than usual, but before ten minutes had gone by I knew that was not correct, as I got thoroughly overheated to the core.

My usual pattern was to soak in the hot pool until I couldn't stand it, move to the "cool" pool (which feels lukewarm when you come directly from the hot pool), soak there until I couldn't stand it, and then stand out in the roofless part of the bathhouse to let the 40-50° desert breezes cool me. Then I'd repeat.

They have taken out those old-fashioned metal shower stalls that were fine for Americans decades ago, Europeans and desert rats, but had become a tight squeeze for some 21st century Americans. Now they simply have plastic shower curtains hung on plastic tubing, which besides being more spacious, are a lot easier to keep clean.

I met a few guys from Las Vegas. About half the people camping and in the tubs were of Korean descent. A goodly number of off-roaders came in for showers. You could pick them out easily by their hugely oversized winter pants covered with sand. They'd drop their sand all over the dressing area floor where it would be tracked into the tubs. A few of them even got brave enough to take a dip in the tubs, but I didn't see any of them last longer than about 90 seconds, skinny young things that they are.

About 8:30 PM, after dinner with T & P, I headed home, having to be up fresh this morning for a desert exploratory with Pat. Driving south on 127 from Tecopa (I'd never done tha at night before) I was a little surprised that I could see the lights of Baker more than 40 miles away as I topped the first crest. But much more surprising was all the light radiating from the temporary cities of RVs at Dumont Dunes. Those people do not spare the generators. So bright were they, that I'm thinking about creeping out of Black Rock City next August just to get up on the highway and look back to see the lights of Burning Man from a distance. I'm sure BRC would be a hundred times brighter than Dumont Dunes, but I'd just like to see for myself.

I had hoped to stop and photograph Poplight.net as I went by, but it was dark and empty when I got there. Maybe she took a night off, or maybe she doesn't stay as late as 10:30, or maybe it was too cold and she wisely snuggled in by a fireplace somewhere.

Letter Of The Law Is Respected In Taiwan

Being caught naked in bed together is insufficient evidence for a charge of adultery in Taiwan. "'We were both naked and in bed together,' the lovers admitted. 'But we were just chatting,' they insisted."

The Christmas Hike

Twenty-five guys, despite the chilly weather.

Burning Man Tickets: January 16

Tickets for Burning Man 2008 will go on sale January 16 at 10 o'clock AM Pacific time (that's 1 PM in Boston).

Photo by smashz.

Did Spencer Tunick Start This Way?

Mary Walsh wanted a photo of 500 nude volunteers for part of her new TV show called Nudity, Sexuality, Violence and Coarse Language [link is a teeny bit NSFW]. Perhaps Pain should also be one of the subjects of that show, as the volunteers were asked to show up at 6 AM yesterday on the waterfront in St. John's, Newfoundland. (That makes Boston's Santa Speedo Run sound absolutely toasty warm.) The temperature was minus 11 (they use Celsius in Canada, don't they?) and she got only 50 volunteers, but she said she was happy with that.

A Little Nonsense At Deep Creek

Seen in the Soakers Forum:

Here some recent news about Deep Creek Hot Springs (information source-The Wizard)

Brad Burns, USFS Enforcement Ranger for the DCHS area told the Wizard that recently a person was sitting around one of the Deep Creek hot spring pools when he fell into one of them, going completely under water and submerging his head. He hurt himself a little bit, and on his way back to his car at the Bowen Ranch, he passed the signs warning about the Naergleri Fowleri amoeba that could be found in the hotpools .

This guy then proceeded to sue the USFS, saying that they should have had signs down at the hotsprings warning that the Amoeba can be in the hotpools. He was tested for any signs of Naergleri Fowleri infection and was found to be fine except for his minor injury from falling into the pools.

He is suing the USFS to pay his medical bills . Brad said that because of this case, the USFS will have to put signs at the hot springs to tell visitors of the possible amoeba threat. Brad didn't indicate just where the signs would be going, and he really didn't like the idea of having more signs right at the springs, but unfortunately because of this individuals lawsuit, they have no choice.

Two Minutes Forty-Seven Seconds Of Naked Behinds

It is, of course, the Tufts Naked Quad Run in Medford, Massachusetts. That link takes you to the Somerville Journal with text, the 2:47 video, a couple of good still photos, and a ton of whiny-ass comments. Or, you can just go directly to the YouTube video here.

More whiny-ass comments here.

UPDATE: .

New Zealand Legal Question

Can someone tell me what "diversion" means in a law enforcement context in New Zealand? Somehow I don't think these two people were offered a selection of light reading.

Heap Of Trouble

A video that won the Grand jury prize at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Features full frontal male nudity, so probably NSFW for you.

Weather Back To Normal - Naked Hike Time

It's always warmer in the Mecca Hills, and a nice bunch of guys showed up for today's hike. My set of photos is here and these are some samples:

The Naked Firefighter

I guess I didn't link to the original story about a firefighter being photographed while entering his fire station naked in Johnson City, New York. It was all over the news, and I thought it more likely that he was caught while trying to get a photo of himself to share online with those who love naked firefighters. He was arraigned this week, but the interesting thing is the comments from the local townsfolk. Do they all mis-speak and use double entendres like this, or was the reporter doing some creative editing?

"He needs to be punished for it, I think he does because it's not fair to anybody who brings their kids outside," says Arvella Randolph of Johnson City.

"When somebody does something very in lewd and indecent, they should be charged with it," says Monty Jones of Johnson City.

"The firefighter just was pulling a prank, nothing big," says Courtney Holcomb of Johnson City.

"I think he was just fooling around with his fellow firefighters having a good time and it got out of hand," says Marjorie McKay of Johnson City.

Gay Camping

A Portable Tribe will be a documentary about gay men camping, which will be released in 2008.

From men camping in tents to men driving luxury motor homes, to Gay campgrounds and even spiritual retreat centers, A PORTABLE TRIBE presents a unique look into some of the lesser seen parts of Gay male culture.

Judging from this preview video and the still photos on the film's website, they did some filming at both Starland Retreat and at CMEN's West Coast Gathering, along with visits to several other clothed camping areas.

Naked Bike Ride in Kansas City

Instead of doing their naked bike ride in June at the same time it happens in many cities around the world, some people did one on November 2 in Kansas City. One 19-year old male student was arrested. It sounds like the cops were willing to tolerate the nude cyclists, but the one arrested just didn't get out of traffic fast enough for them.

JT's Ashes

JT was a founder of one of the naked hiking groups here in Coachella Valley. He passed away on Halloween after fighting lung cancer for about a year. As he requested, we took him on a final naked hike to release some of his ashes onto the wind in the Mecca Hills. Photos from the hike:

Naturists Visit Nude Art Exhibit

BBC video of naturists visiting a museum featuring a display of nude portraiture. The video features views of live male butts.

Hope For Moonstone Beach?

I only got to visit Moonstone Beach in Rhode Island once, but it was probably the most beautiful clothing-optional beach I've ever been to. Then it was closed to protect the nest sites of the piping plovers. It seems that piping plovers like exactly the same habitat that naturists do: isolated sandy ocean beaches. The same fault befell other beaches in New England, but Moonstone is the most missed.

This little article in the Providence Journal holds out the hope that someday it may be possible to return to Moonstone Beach. Since the beach was closed twenty years ago the population of piping plovers in the North Atlantic region has risen to 1,600 nesting pairs. "Wildlife experts say the plovers will have recovered when the number of nesting pairs reaches 2,000." When that magic number has been reached, will Moonstone re-open?

Here's a history on the closing of Moonstone Beach to naturists.

Somebody With An Opinion

Looks like a photo from The Smoking Gun, doesn't it? But, no, this is just Anthony Vega who wrote this opinion piece in The Miami Hurricane

He is bothered by the fact that underneath their clothes, people have got skin, and in the locker room that skin gets seen by others. He does have his modest proposal:

I am a reasonable human being. I know prohibiting nudity in a single-sex locker room defeats the purpose of having one. But perhaps there should be two locker rooms, one for the pro-naked and another for the rest of us. Maybe we can limit how often a gym member can be naked. For instance, on the first of the month every member receives two naked permission slips. Upon arrival to the Wellness Center, each member is asked, "Will you be naked at any point during your visit today?" If so, they turn in one slip. Another option is employing timekeepers to make sure that no one in the locker room is without clothes for more than 20 seconds at a time; socks are not taken into account. Twenty seconds is more than enough time to scamper to or from the shower, or to change clothing.

Desert Shadows Files Chapter 11

Desert Shadows Resort, the nude resort with the famous naked bridge in Palm Springs, has filed for bankruptcy.

NakedGuyNYC at Burning Man

Who knew!? He would have blended right in.

Great Abercrombie & Fitch Improv

An Improv Everywhere scene where they solicited 111 men who were willing to go shirtless in public (wearing blue jeans was another rule, I think), and then they sent them into the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to shop. Since this was a self-selecting group, they're a little better than average looking, but the group covers the whole spectrum of men (but mostly white). Hidden still and video cameras were employed to record the results for us. It looks like they got along pretty well for about 15 minutes, when security began to ask them to leave. Interestingly, two guys who had stood in line with shirts to buy were nabbed at the register and told they could not buy shirts if they didn't have shirts on!

Chocolate Naked Jesus Comes Back

The Proposition gallery at 559 West 22nd Street in New York City will exhibit nine chocolate sculptures by Cosimo Cavallaro beginning November 1. The figures include the naked Jesus as if on the cross and eight clothed saints. The exhibit caused a stir last March when the Roger Smith Lab Gallery proposed to display the works in their street-level window during Holy Week. This time the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights says they will not protest the exhibit.

Hiking the Mecca Hills

A few photos from yesterday's naked hike in the Mecca Hills.

Spencer Tunick Miami Beach Photos

Noodsurfer has posted photos from Spencer Tunick's recent Miami Beach photo shoot. Of course, they're NSFW!

Naked Guy in Times Square

Some guy ran around naked in Times Square on Saturday, claiming it was a panic attack. New York Post story here and New York Post photos here (most with cute little apple obscuring his vital bits). Expect the usual juvenile comments from the Post.

Nobel's Backside

It has just been pointed out to me that while the front of the Nobel Peace Prize shows Alfred Nobel's profile, "[t]he other side of the Nobel Peace Prize medal represents a group of three men forming a fraternal bond."

Jacuzzi on Mont Blanc

Can you imagine going to the effort of coordinating a group of people, who then under their own personal power carry all the equipment necessary to build a functioning jacuzzi to the peak of Mont Blanc, assembling the jacuzzi, filling it with snow, heating it, and then finally getting into the hot water WITH CLOTHES ON! And I keep hearing all this shit about how liberated Europeans are and how suppressed Americans are. I need to practice my snow hiking skills (currently I have none), so I can do this ascent next year and get in that hot water wearing nothing but my American pink cowboy hat.

Protecting Maine From The Horror Of A Bare Butt

At the Black Frog restaurant in Greenville, Maine, they offer a "Skinny Dip" lunch, which is sliced prime rib in a baguette. It was free to anyone who would skinny dip in Mooshead Lake from the restaurant's dock. The restaurant got two or three takers a week.

The skinny dip was typically done at night and no frontal nudity was exposed to customers, [owner Leigh] Turner said. Only the nude backside of the body was viewed by some patrons, and a towel was readily available, he said.

But you know, eventually one person had to find it offensive, and when the restaurant's liquor license came up for renewal, the police chief was asked to investigate the free lunch offer. The final outcome is still pending.

A Folsom Street Fair Photo

Photo by fannybunda

Alcatraz Nude Photo Shoot

NakedGuyNYC does a photo shoot in Alcatraz.

Herring Cove

National Park Service rangers are going to great lengths to ticket nudists on the beachs of Cape Cod. Apparently, the park service in the east has an excess of rangers. They ought to send a few of them our way where they could be put to some legitimate work in Joshua Tree or Death Valley.

Spencer Tunick In Miami Beach

October 8, sign up here. Venue: Sagamore Art Hotel.

Burning Man Wrap-Up

All the photos are in and I've washed away about 80% of the dust I brought home. I poured a cup or two of the dust that had accumulated in one of my storage containers onto the bark chips in my garden yesterday, gave it a few shots with the hose so it wouldn't just blow around, and then forgot it. Hours later I gave it a poke and was really surprised to see that it had concretized itself! It's like the robot parts in The Iron Giant, each little bit of the playa tries to re-assemble itself into the Black Rock Desert playa.

A few things struck me soon after arriving on the playa at Black Rock Desert. Generally, when I go to visit a place that has been heavily photographed and reported on, I find that it looks different than all those photos showed it, and I find interesting things to photograph there that I've never seen in photos before. Not so at Burning Man. Much to my surprise, it looks just like it does in the photos. I guess that's a credit to all the photographers there.

Eh, a couple of exceptions to that: first and most important is that the Man is a lot, LOT smaller than I had seen him portrayed. All those iconic photos you've seen of the Man are taken through a telephoto lens from a position as close as you can get. I mean, it's way bigger than anything I could build in my backyard, but it isn't a 200-foot high giant, visible from all corners of Black Rock City. No way.

And a minor exception, but surprising to me, is that Black Rock City is in full view from the paved state highway that gets us there. I imagine county deputies patrol the road at night to be sure gawkers aren't blocking traffic, but as far as I know there would be no law preventing anyone from parking out there and watching the Man burn on Saturday night. True, he'd be 10 miles (or so) away and you couldn't smell the smoke or hear the noise very well, but it is a damn huge light show in the middle of an otherwise empty, black desert.

The other thing that really struck me is how very huge Black Rock City is. We had set up camp out at 9 O'Clock and Kelp Forest (radial streets bear time names and come every half hour, while circumferential streets are in alphabetical order from A to L this year, except for Esplanade which is the inner ring) so we were far out from the center. Not long after I got things mostly in order I walked up 9 O'Clock towards the center, thinking that when I got there I would see the Man. It seemed a long walk, but that was probably because of the sensory overload. There was SO much to see along the way — or so I though then. It was only Monday, less than half the attendees had arrived, and everybody was just setting up. I eventually got myself to Esplanade, and was the Man there? Hardly! I wasn't even halfway to the Man. He was WAY the fuck out there in the middle of a vast expanse, and way, way (WAY) over there past him was the other side of Black Rock City, going from Esplanade back out to L (Landfill) again.

That central circle, occupied by the Man, some art installations and lighted lanes from 9, 6 and 3 O'Clock was large enough to contain ALL of the campsite where the GNI Gathering is held (to cite something that a lot of my readers should be familiar with) with room left over for rattling around.

Beyond that, the area from 10 O'Clock to 2 O'Clock (going through noon) was set aside just for larger art installations. Then around the outskirts of Black Rock City, from Landfill on out to the perimeter was wide, mostly open space. One part of that was for walk-in camping only (i.e., leave your motor vehicle somewhere else), and another part was the landing strip. All of that, plus big wide avenues, and even with 45,000 (some say 47,000) people, it's not crowded - unless you seek out one of the many places that are crowded.

Regarding that landing stip, there were almost always small airplanes circling Black Rock City. On Saturday they flew in formation, but it wasn't anything so tight as Navy pilots would do. Once I saw a helicopter flying over the city at an elevation LOWER than the numerous kites and balloons that were floating around. No disaster ensued. It's probably just a matter of paying close attention. A couple of times the sounds of ooh-ing and ahh-ing, coupled with the view of many craned necks alerted me to the fact that a paraglider team was doing some fantastical formation high overhead. They would do this shortly before the sun dropped below the mountains, so the lighting was very favorable.

Objectively, my GPS told me that traveling along the 9 O'Clock-3 O'Clock axis, from Landfill to Landfill is only 1.8 miles. Still, you want a bike. Either a very reliable old rugged bicycle, like my Hungarian Schwinn one-speed cruiser that I've had for years, or a bike you don't care about.

I found myself wondering if Samuel Delany ever comes to Burning Man. What I saw in Black Rock City often reminded me of his novel Dhalgren, only a bit nicer and safer.

Nudity
Basically, nobody fucking much cares one way or another about nudity at Burning Man, which is tremendously liberating. The great majority of people wear clothes - of a sort. If you'd like to see straight boys walking around in clothing from Undergear and girls walking around in similarly erotic stuff from wherever it comes from, Burning Man is the place! Shocking were the dozen or so people I saw traveling around the Black Rock City in office casual attire.

Women are frequently topless, but almost never bottomless. When I commented on this to Jorge, our 17-year veteran neighbor, he said it seems to vary from year to year, that a couple of years ago they were mostly bottomless, but never topless. Probably my favorite costume on a woman was worn by a very good looking young woman from across the road. She wore only a thong that consisted of nothing more than fishing line and a tiny hunter's orange triangle in front. I thought it was hilarious!

Men mostly wore pants of some sort, but that includes briefs and swimwear too. I thought I saw only a couple of dozen fully naked men, but Ed from Oakland (whose photos we are still waiting on!) said he photographed at least a hundred completely naked guys. Most of the guys who were NOT naked, seemed to have no problem with getting naked for brief periods, like to chase the water truck down the street. As we were waiting in that 2-hour traffic to get out of BRC and head home, the guy ahead of me stepped out of his vehicle and stripped naked to change into something more comfortable. There was no reaction from the rest of the traffic. One of the camps behind us was mostly male, and they always kept their pants on, until Sunday. I was surprised to see that they had all stripped naked to take down their shower tent. Why, I have no idea, but once they had it down, their shorts went back on.

And I've almost forgotten to say, the crowd at Burning Man is not the same demographic you might see at a clothing optional beach or a nude gathering. No sir. The average citizen of Black Rock City is young, fit and good-looking. It's a terribly sexist thing to say, I'm sure, but all of the gay men I met there quietly acknowledged to each other that the percentage of "eye candy" was tremendously high at Burning Man. I'm sure it's the same for women.

If you're into it, I found it very easy to go 100% naked; i.e., no footwear even. The playa is comfortable to walk on, and people are good about picking up litter. I walked several miles barefoot, and was surprised NOT to have a flare-up of plantar fasciitis.

Getting There
It's a 625-mile drive for me (one way, I mean) to Burning Man. Most of that is on 395. That's a beautiful route, and I'd never been north of Mono Lake. Turns out that's the best part of 395. But it all gets a bit overshadowed by Burning Man itself. I spent a night at Diana's in Minden, Nevada (she's an ex-half-sister-in-law) who allowed me to come late and leave early. I hooked up with the Gang d'Chalet in Carson City on Monday morning and then drove to Black Rock Desert. I had seen a few other Burners on my way up 395. With a little practice they became easy to pick out: large, overloaded vehicle with multiple bicycles. Sometimes brilliant colors would be the clue, while others made it easy by simply adding some BM graffiti to their vehicle. (Heading home is even easier, as all vehicles are playa-colored). But when we turned off I-80 at Wadsworth to begin the 75-mile, 2-lane approach to Black Rock City, THAT'S when I really began to see my fellow burners. Despite a 70 MPH speed limit, we traveled at about 50 as we would inevitably bunch behind an old (or insecure) RV that couldn't go faster. People passed, which I thought was nutty, since we knew that there were more slow RVs ahead. The sides of the road were occasionally littered by broken down Burner vehicles. One sight that confused me was the aftermath, I think, of an accident where someone had been towing a Subaru, using it as a trailer to carry gear. It looked like they lost control of the trailer and it had rolled or flipped, as part of the roof of the Subaru was missing and camping gear was sprayed over a large area.

We were warned - many times - of law enforcement on that narrow route. We passed through four settlements where the speed limit dropped to 25 MPH. We saw Burners getting tickets in the first two towns, Wadsworth and Nixon. Coming home, when traffic is even heavier, I saw a lot of illegal passing (which is fairly common in California). One hot shot ignored two vehicles sitting off of the left side of the road, facing us with their headlights on. He passed illegally going up hill, and when he got to the top discovered that those vehicles were law enforcement who only needed to point at him and order him off the road to nab him.

BRC Media
There were a few daily, one-page newsletters circulated in camp. Each morning, someone would come along in a golf cart handing them out to whoever wanted. That was how we found out about the suicide at Comfort & Joy. But much nicer were the FM radio stations. There were several, but BMIR at 94.5 was the official one. They all broadcast music most of the time, and it was really good music. It was like FM radio in the 1970s, very diverse, very enjoyable, with announcers who lean in close to the microphone to speak intimately, sounding as if they are stoned.

I heard one very good interview on BMIR with the head BLM ranger for Black Rock Desert. It's an area larger than the state of Delaware (a comparison we will permit in this case, since that's bigger than Rhode Island). The fee for the permit alone - just the permit, none of the extras - is over $1 million. He said that in the past the fee was $4 per person per night, which would run about $800,000. But that's the rate for non-profits. This year, he said, he switched over to their commercial fee structure, which is a flat amount, plus a percentage of the gross. I gotta wonder how that makes the Black Rock Desert rank in relation to other BLM sites.

Black Rock City is patrolled by deputies from both Washoe and Pershing counties, plus BLM rangers. They're there to enforce all applicable laws, which includes the laws against marijuana. Once or twice a day I'd smell some dope smoke, but I never saw it being smoked openly. I never saw or was offered any drugs, which is certainly not to say they weren't there. This crowd just knows how to be discreet, I think. I saw two or three ambulances rushing through camp, but I never saw any gross intoxication. Once (really, only once) did I encounter a guy coming down our street with the glassy-eyed determination of the very drunk to make it home without vomiting or falling over in front of everybody. Laws against lewd behavior may be enforced too, which just means you can't fuck right out in the open because there are kids in Black Rock City. Lots of kids, down to the age of barely toddling. Bearing that in mind, I saw people fucking right out in the open only once, very late at night, out on one of the tables at "The Deep End," but it was so dark I couldn't tell if it was two men or a man and a woman.

In addition to real law enforcement, there are the Black Rock Rangers who are volunteer Burners who act in a role like rent-a-cops, except they're really intelligent, nice and genuinely helpful. Best example of this was the day after the arson attack on the Man. I was biking around out there, and rode up toward the Man. There was a loose ring of orange traffic cones around the Man, but no yellow tape, and I saw people inside the ring, so I thought the ring was just to keep motor vehicles out. I began to cross it on my bike when a Black Rock Ranger stopped me with these words, "Oh hey guy, sorry to harsh your mellow, but you can't come in here." Pretty hard to feel resentment over that!

Passing Time
I never wore a watch while at Burning Man, judging time from the location of the sun and stars. I was surprised to see Orion so high in the sky in August. Now that I'm home I realize that when I thought it was, say, 11 PM and Orion surprisingly high, it was more like 3 AM. I don't know where the time went. But it caught up to me on Friday night. I don't know why then, but I was just exhausted so I cast my nighttime plans aside and headed for my tent. I have a radio that displays time using a 24-hour clock. It was 21- something. I was too tired to do the math, and thought it was after 11. Not until morning did I realize I'd gone to bed between 9 and 10 PM and slept right through the whole night - except for some propane explosions, whose vibrations propagate through the playa really well. I got into the habit of sleeping in until the tent became too hot (10 AM, maybe?). Daily highs were certainly above 100°(F), but humidity was zero, which was a nice relief after the few weeks of humidity we'd been having in Coachella Valley.

If you've ever thought about going to Burning Man, you must go. It's not like any other experience I've had. It's like moving through a 3-dimensional, physical dream world.

The Last Night
Ed, Gardner and Pete left early Sunday morning. I spent the rest of Sunday, as did almost everyone else, gradually taking down and packing up my camp. Just as the sun neared the western mountains I dropped the parachute shade and rolled it up. I'd already packed my tent. My plan was to just sleep under the stars (and half moon) for that last night. It's never windy or dusty at night. As in Desert Hot Springs, the winds are a problem only the afternoon.

I visited with Jorge and his friends for a bit, and they gave me ice cream! That was only thing I actually craved. But most of the time I just sat in my camp, enjoying the increasing amounts of space around me. Suddenly, footballs and soccer balls appeared, as guys began to take advantage of the new space. The five shirtless young men camped next to began to kick a soccer ball around right in front of me, and they were way better at it than American kids should be. Later, I saw that they were stuck trying to pull rebar out of the ground (rebar is recommended over regular tent stakes at Burning Man). They were actually using a nail to try to dig a hole around the rebar! They had not read the second half of the instructions about rebar: you need Vise-Grips to pull rebar out of the playa. So I grabbed my pair of Vise-Grips and offered them to the young digging man, who tried to use them like a pair of standard pliers. I intervened, clamped on, and pulled that rebar right out of the ground (wisdom over youth every time). He thanked me with an accent from somewhere in the British Commonwealth (but not Canada), and I handed the Vise-Grips back to him and said he could get the others now. I watched him fiddle with them a bit, and realized he'd never seen Vise-Grips in his life. What strange part of the world could he be from, I wondered.

[BTW, I saw a similar scenario in another nearby camp, but it was a couple of women wearing one-piece swim suits, and I'm just enough of a pig that while I'm eager to help out five young men, I didn't feel much like going to help out these girls, who eventually recruited some guys from another nearby camp. These guys came up with some creative attempts to get the rebar out. One was to dig a hole around it and fill it with water, leaving it to soak in. Another was to wrap a rope around the rebar several times, then use a sledge hammer striking upwards against the rope! Didn't work, but very creative. Finally, after they all got tired of it and had wandered away, I just walked over and, using my Vise-Grips, pulled it up for them and slunk anonymously away.]

Now, I had never had a conversation with these five young guys all week, but we were always friendly enough to say hi to each other as we passed. I didn't think they were gay, but I did see that they slept awfully close together in their one tent. They looked similar enough to each other I thought they might all be brothers or cousins. On that last day, after they got their tent down, 3 or 4 of them at a time would simply sit in their little Toyota, doors open, apparently doing nothing, or maybe strumming on a guitar. Once they offered me some of their excess water, and I think they offered me an alcoholic beverage when returning the Vise-Grips.

When it was dark, I saw them assembling to bicycle off to the burning of the temple. They had only 4 glow sticks among the five of them, and I still had quite an excess, so I grabbed up my necklaces and went over to offer them some. They were surprisingly eager to have the necklaces, and rather than simply accepting them with thanks and riding away, they wanted to stay and chat, which was totally fine by me. But it was more than a chat, as they began to bubble over with friendly excitement. They weren't that drunk, and it wasn't nearly as intense as some other drugs, so I could only attribute it to genuine friendliness. I found out they were not related, but were all from either Ireland or Scotland. They'd been on one of those summer work visas, which allowed them to work at Sea World in San Diego. They'd finished (or quit) their jobs a couple of weeks earlier, rented that little Toyota, and drove to see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Then, having heard of this Burning Man thing, they decided to check it out.

Obviously, they had planned their trip a bit more than that. They knew to stop and buy a tent and sleeping bags and rebar, but that's all they had room for, so after arriving in BRC, two of them drove back to Empire to pick up water and food for the week. (There's a $20 charge to go out and come back like that).

They seemed to have good hearing and had been paying attention all week, as they already knew my name, and a few other facts about us. So we just stood there and talked about all sorts of stuff for quite awhile, getting all their names, shaking hands, talking this & that. Until finally, they had to head off or miss the temple burn. I myself, headed in shortly after they did.

After the temple burn, I got back to my camp and put my sleeping bag on the playa near my truck. I threw a few glow sticks on the ground around me for protection. As camps had been packing up and leaving, a lot of people no longer bothered to drive on the roads, and I hoped not to look like just a shadown in the road. Even so, one truck did drive just a very few feet from my sleeping bag, thinking that my camp was the 9 O'Clock road.

I woke up a bit when the neighbor boys returned, one of them looked over and spotting me called out "Ron, is that you Ron, lying there?" I admitted it was me, and this one came over (still shirtless) and kneeling next to me said they had had a grand time meeting me, and wished they had talked to me earlier in the week, and he just wanted to give me a hug before they headed out (the next leg of their journey was to take to them to San Francisco for two days before they flew home). Well, this boy certainly knew I was naked in my sleeping bag, since they hadn't seen me in any other mode of dress all week, so I just rose right up and satisfied his need for a big hug. I admonished him to drive safely, and fell back half asleep. About ten minutes passed and I realized I hadn't heard them drive away yet, so I got up to look over and see what was what. Four of them were in their car, while one was still fussing with some packing. I walked over and they all suddenly tumbled out of their car, excited to see me (very much like puppies) wanting to shake my hand and hug me some more. Really, I'm attributing this fully to friendly European attitudes, plus a bit of alcohol. E is much more powerful, isn't it? Eventually, they got back into the car, with its trunk wide open, all of their belongings tied into a huge bundle inside their tent, roped onto the back. One small box was sitting on the playa, atop which was a big vodka bottle half full. I asked what they planned to do with that, and they said they thought they would just carry it on their laps in the back seat. I advised them that this would be a very foolish thing to do, and they admitted it probably was. I got them to leave the vodka (and some trash) with me, as I would have more room to carry it away. After they left, I just poured the vodka out on the playa - against the rules, I know, but I didn't think I ought to drink it just so I could legitimately piss it into a porta-potty.

In The Dust

The disposable film cameras I took along to Burning Man did their job wonderfully during the four intense dust storms. I got the film photos back yesterday. You can see them all by going to my set of Burning Man photos, but here are some of them:

Brattleboro Votes For Freedom

When the emergency anti-nudity ordinance expires in September, public nudity will once again be legal in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Next Spencer Tunick: Miami Beach

The next Spencer Tunick installation will be at the Sagamore Art Hotel in Miami Beach on October 8. Registration form here.

Waitin' For Dore Alley Pics?

While you wait, enjoy the set of photos by Fannybunda, including the one above. Also this primo item:

And if Fannybunda's photos aren't enough, go see Castrowoof's set including this one:

And then there's the set from AirUrso including this:

Also, there's SFBart's set of Dore Alley photos, such as....

UPDATE: xerothecat also has a set of Dore Alley photos.

¿No nos ven?

Photo by Raysitoxico® from another set of photos of "del Movimiento de los 400 Pueblos", and I still don't know what it's about.

UPDATE: An explanation of Los 400 Pueblos.

Spencer Tunick Shoot, August 18-19

The next Spencer Tunick photo shoot will be in Switzerland on August 18 and 19. This is being done in conjunction with Greenpeace. The setting will be on or near a glacier. Follow the link to register.

Brattleboro Passes Anti-Nudity Ordinance

By a 3-2 vote, Brattleboro, Vermont, has banned public nudity along Routes 5 and 9, within 250 feet of a church or school, in Living Memorial Park and in West Brattleboro. The ordinance is temporary and was passed using the emergency procedures.

I'd like to see the ordinance itself to find out how long "temporary" is, and how they define nudity. The linked article says it is defined as any display of genitalia, buttocks or female breasts. It's got to be defined a lot more narrowly than that, as you can see buttocks and breasts legally exposed everywhere in America.

Erotic Massage Workshop

An erotic massage workshop for monogamous couples will be held at the Living Waters Spa in Desert Hot Springs July 27 & 28. The article seems to assume that couples will be male-female, but other than that they don't explicity bar same-sex couples.

This event is called "Hot Summer Nights - a Summer Valentine for Lovers." It will be led by owners and massage therapists Jeff and Judy Bowman who have conducted this workshop several times each year since they opened their spa in 2003. "We wanted to create a workshop that we would want to attend, one that would allow us to explore our sensuality in a safe monogamous context and learn some new approaches to our sex life," says Jeff. "As massage therapists we know the power of touch. As a couple we’ve been together for 33 years and have worked through many of the issues that block intimacy between a couple. So we’ve put together a weekend workshop that will teach various massage techniques which will give you new tools for the toolbox of intimacy & romance."

The events page for the Living Waters Spa is here.

Vintage Male Photography

Deak Wooten (who most of us know as simply dcwooten has published Vintage Male Photographs, Book 3, available for only $75 or $85 (soft or hard cover).

You can still buy Book 1 and Book 2.

A sample from his Flickr photostream.

Pool Boy

Photo by GeekChicLtd.

Saline Valley

A good story on Saline Valley published a couple of years ago at Forbes.com.

World Naked Bike Ride

Photos from this year's rides can be found in this Flickr group.

Spencer Tunick in Amsterdam

2,000 people turned out for a Spencer Tunick photo shoot in Amsterdam this past weekend.

Go here to see three photos taken of the shoot.

Chicago's World Naked Bike Ride

This coming Saturday, June 9, Chicago's World Naked Bike Ride will start at Union Park at 9 PM! Registration starts at 6:45 PM. A Saturday night bike ride naked in a very urban part of Chicago. This sounds more like those extra-legal night bike rides conducted by bike messengers in Boston, which included nudity and kegs of beer.

Sleepless Nights In Saugatuck

Someone's gone and put up a statue of a naked boy in front of city hall in Saugatuck, Michigan. The boy is writing "Who is responsible here?" on a wall.

Here, take a look at it:

I hope you noticed this: "ARTIST INFO: 'I don’t make verbal statements about visual art' Patrick McKearnan."

The sculpture is part of the Art 'Round Town exhibit which has been going on for seven years there. Gayle Lipsig, who is a co-founder of the exhibit, has thrown in the towel and says "I think it's sad to mix politics and art. It is setting a very bad precedent."

Of course! Mix art and politics and the next thing you know people are mixing art and religion and from there all hell breaks loose as the twin horsemen of Thought and Opinion run rampant. Just keep telling yourself "Art is pretty!"

Here's a slightly ambiguous sentence from the news article: "Some complained about the size of McKearnan's sculpture, and that the boy depicted is naked." The size?!

OTOH, it's a sign of the progress of civilization over the last couple of hundred years that no one is making a fuss about the boy being left-handed.

Berlin Is Not Brattleboro

A 41-year old American man was arrested by police for walking naked through the streets of Nürnberg. Said he thought it was commonplace in Germany.

Grottos Hike

We did a hike to the grottos today, and you can see the photos here. The temperature stayed under a hundred, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But it was warm enough to keep the textiled hikers at bay, so that we could have the grottos all to our naked selves.

Go here to see the photos by MadeIn1953.

Deep Creek

The weather was perfect today for a trip to Deep Creek. The set of photos are here, and these are a couple of samples:

UPDATE: Go here to see the photos by MadeIn1953. And here to see the photos by photographer.david.

Here you'll find the photos by Frisky Dad. And here are the non-nude photos from Dave02140

Pat's Wish

A brief video (3.8 Mb) in which Pat expresses a wish during our campout at Calico. Possibly a tad NSFW.

Naked Swimming

Cute little video of the disaster of naked swimming in middle school. SFW.

Calico Camping

This past weekend Doug, Pat and I went out to the BLM lands around Calico, California, for a couple of days of naked camping. Clear and hot, it was. The whole photo set is here, and what you see below are a few samples:

Old Photos

Unpacking the crap in my junk room I came across these old photos of myself with my bicycle from the early to mid-nineties:

Brighton, Michigan, Votes To Keep Nude Statue

This nude statue which had been standing in downtown Brighton, Michigan. Last Thursday, the city council of Brighton voted 4 to 2 to keep the statue in its prominent location despite the controversy.

The Mexico City Shoot

18,000 volunteers posed for Spencer Tunick in Mexico City yesterday, smashing his previous record of 7,000 volunteers in Barcelona in 2003. More photos when you follow the link.

Dancinaked

As in Dancing naked at the DeAnza Springs resort on May 19, noon to midnight. Here are the bands they've already got lined up: Fat Daddy, Zydaco Patrol, Three day old Beaver, and Six Inch Man. I don't make this stuff up. $25 in advance, $35 at the gate. Nice place, gay friendly, no rules against single men.

Mother of Naked Guy Files Suit

Andrew Martinez's mother, Esther Krenn, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several parties. She claims that despite an earlier suicide attempt, jailers did not remove potentially dangerous items from his cell and did not transfer him to the mental-health wing.

Yesterday's Hike

Yesterday, we had another nude hike in the Mecca Hills. It was warmer than Friday, but still far from ideal for running around naked. 85° (F) is supposed to be the magic temperature for snakes. Cooler than that, and they are supposed to stay out of sight. So we were pretty surprised to come across a baby rattlesnake trying to sun itself in the middle of the trail. We were able to get some really close shots, since the thing didn't want to move. Eventually it woke up and made a sluggish attempt to slither away. All the photos can be seen here, and these are a few samples:

Mecca Hills Hike Today

Not long ago I was asked by the Palm Springs Pumpers [NSFW] to lead them on a nude hike during their semi-annual Palm Springs Pump Weekend. So I had a route all planned out to accomodate their needs (eh, they may not all be hikers). Unfortunately, today arrived with fresh snow clouds sitting on top of the mountains and a chilly breeze everywhere else. What this valley needs is a wild hot spring out in the desert where we could go hang out naked.

Much to my surprise, people showed up for the hike, including one from Florida who said he thought the weather was fine. We headed out to Mecca Hills and did our thing. The complete set of photos is here, and I'm doing something different with them this time. Not long ago Flickr added the ability for me to label a photo as "Safe," "Moderate" or "Restricted." Flickr users who choose to see moderate or restricted photos can do so. This is separate and apart from the Public and Private designations they already have. All of the photos in this set (except one) are public, but some are marked as moderate. I believe you must be a registered Flickr user with the appropriate settings in your account to see moderate or restricted photos.

IOW, it's your decision now, not mine.

Also, all these photos are geotagged and mapped, and I've added them to yesterday's Box Canyon Road photos.

UPDATE: Here's a photo from MadeIn1953.

Saline Valley w/ Photos

First, feel free to check out this 14.2 Mb video I took of the Palm Springs area of the warm springs in Saline Valley. This is the area where we camped, and you may be amazed at my considerable videography skills in finding the precise moment to do this pan which includes two tubs while no people are in view anywhere.

Here are some panoramas from a few different points of view around Saline Valley:

And a sampling of other photos:

The complete set of photos can be seen here.

I carpooled to Saline Valley with Chip in his new Toyota Tundra with V8 engine and TRD stuff. I'll tell you, there's no better way to get to Saline Valley than in a new Toyota Tundra with V8 engine and TRD stuff and a young (relatively speaking) driver. Seven hours from DHS to campsite, and only six hours to return (who needs to eat?). Fifty MPH on Saline Valley Road itself! With appropriate drops in speed for blind curves and crests. Although the NPS warned and warned about snow on the road and the requirement to carry chains, we found the road to be dry, solid and in fine shape the whole way.

When we arrived at the springs there was still considerable wind blowing from the storms that had passed through earlier in the week. This caused some damage to my tent, so now I know it was not good enough for Burning Man, either.

Those who drove Jeeps began to show up about sunset and later. After dark it's easy to spot vehicles coming far across the valley. Then when they turned on the 7 or 8 mile side road to the springs ("Steel Pass" road?) I knew I had time to fix and eat dinner, pay a visit to the pit toilet, and then walk the three-quarters of a mile down to the lower springs in my flip-flops, just to welcome them as they drove in.

On subsequent days I went along on Jeep drives to Hunter's Canyon and Fern Canyon (which is the same as McElvoy Canyon). I thought Hunter's was pretty disappointing, because the springs there were totally inaccessible behind a few hundred feet of thick brush...and there were chiggers. Or, at least I had chigger bites appear the next morning, and Hunter's Canyon was the only place we went where they might have lived. I just don't know why I was the only one to get them.

Fern Canyon, OTOH, had no chiggers and was a wonderful place to visit. Water pours out of the rock cliffs and falls to the stream that parallels that trail. It was cool, wet and green!

On Friday, the Jeep guys drove north out of camp to explore Steel Pass and see the Eureka Dunes. I didn't go along, but they all seemed to have a good time anyway.

The highlight of my days in Saline Valley came on Friday evening when I went down to the Crystal Pool to see if an alleged musical performance would actually take place. There were several men (no women) in the pool. I undressed (by kicking off my sandals) and got in. The only musical performance going on was someone playing a mandolin, and it was miserably, painfully obvious that he was learning. He would play a chord (slightly off-key) while singing (off-key in another direction). When it came time to change chords he had to pause to look at his fingering. Then the music would continue. He was sitting on a low, wooden bench that goes around the campfire next to the tub of hot spring water. A lot of British visitors were seated alongside him. They eventually excused themselves with excessive politeness.

I couldn't take it too much longer, so I got out of the pool and began to head back up my campsite. Coming down the road was a young guy who I recognized from up near our campsite. He was under 30, had long, blondish hair and beard, nice body, nice voice (at least he did when chatting in the Wizard Pool in the morning) who had HIKED into Saline Valley once (took him five days two years ago), and he was carrying a guitar and a banjo. I did a 180 and followed him back to the Crystal Pool campfire, where the mandolin player was not going to give up easily. He gave us another couple of painful selections before he laid down his instrument.

Moments later, the young, blonde guy began to sing, accompanying himself on the guitar...and it was BEAUTIFUL! Some k