Month: December 2013

wandering at Ostia Antica, inspired by Ancient Greek statues

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Happy Nude Year! Here is a treat for you, and hopefully some inspiration for the New Year! It would probably be more appropriate to post something winter-themed, like my Russian banya with an ice hole experience, but hey, it’s summer in Southern Hemisphere, and then there are parts of the world where it’s summer all the time, so here is something neutral, another collection of autumn photos. This one has been waiting to be published for a few years now, but it’s well worth a wait. Special thanks to Joe for photography.

naturist 0002 Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy

Ancient Greece, with its deep traditions of nudity in sports and other activities, has been an obvious inspiration for this website (look at out Gymnasion section), just like it was many ways inspirational to Romans. So, when we visited Ostia Antica, a large archeological site, which was the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, we were tempted to do some nude photography with such a beautiful background and mild sunlight of late October.

naturist 0000 Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy

I rarely pose in front of sites of interest, unless I want to send a picture to my relatives and friends, or if it is for my blog 😉

naturist 0001 Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy

As there weren’t many other visitors, we seized the chance and took quite a lot of nude photos, I was pretending to be a statue that became alive…

naturist 0005 Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy

Only other statues could see us.

naturist 0003 Ostia Antica, Rome, Italy

We’ll have only more stories to share in the New Year, a couple of adventure trips are already in the pipeline. Have a great 2014 too!

‘Naked holidays’ in New York

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Maybe you assumed from my last blogpost that the naturist season is over in New York area, but it isn’t at all! Besides the ongoing naked yoga classes with my friends (and there are even more options, e.g. Zensual yoga), I’m planning to attend two events in the next days.

Tonight, I’m going to an off-Broadway show with naked performers – Naked Holidays, right by Times Square!

I went to their performance last year with a colleague whose friend is playing there, and we are going together again. It is a fun show, and it’ll definitely put me in a more festive mood, as I usually notice arrival of winter holidays with a sort of surprise.

This will be the second year that NYC is left out of what seemed to become a traditional Nude Year’s Eve :-/

But thanks to Travasuns, we have an ‘early Nude Year’s Eve’ – this Saturday, December 28. I was at the previous event, and it was a lot of fun. Although Travasuns has a fame of bringing mostly ‘older’ crowd,  there was no shortage of activities and I saw many familiar faces from events of YNA, Vita Nuda, or local beaches. Judging by the calendar, they might be as well the most active nudist group in winter season. They offer saunas, hang-out pool, pizza, but what’s especially cool is that they manage to provide volleyball in winter, which is often unofficially dubbed as naturists’ favourite sport. First, I was quite sceptical about indoors volleyball, but in the end my friends Yassin, for whom it was the first naked event btw, Sergei, Liza and I just couldn’t stop playing and were the last ones to leave the field…

Looking forward to these events! Stay tuned for reviews 🙂

Autumn colors at the Silver Mine Lake

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0001 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

I’ve been describing new spots around New York state in the last couple of weeks, but this is from a place that should be familiar to many readers – Silver Mine Lake at Harriman State Park. I just wanted to share some nice pictures with autumn colors, which are quite rare on this blog due to its temperature-sensitive theme 😉

food from farmers market 0000 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

However, there was a very warm weekend in October that Ramon and I spent there. Saturday felt actually like summer, and I didn’t even take pictures, because I thought I had more than enough from this lake. Only on the next day, when it started raining and was foggy, did it occur to me that it was actually fall time.

autumn view 0002 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

So here are the amazing multicolored leaves

autumn view 0000 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

and the lake itself in the fog.

autumn view 0001 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

It was still surprisingly warm, and we walked around in the buff, feeling the soft drizzle on our skin.

naturist 0003 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

Here are what Ramon called ‘blending’ photos – blending with landscape.

naturist 0002 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

The fogged lens gave a nice effect too.

naturist 0000 Harriman State Park, New York, USA

It was nice to close off hiking and swimming season at Harriman State Park on such a fabulous day! Looking forward to the next one!

Montauk, the tip of Long Island

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

In the end of the summer season, I had a spontaneous beach trip to Montauk State Park with a couple of friends. Thanks to Sergei, we traveled to the beach in style – on a four-seat airplane 🙂 I was always tempted to explore the tip of Long Island just because it looked very pretty on the satellite view in maps, and after this day trip I now want to return there and camp out.

aerial view 0000 Long Island, New York, USA

En route, we flew above Cold Spring Harbor, where we kayaked several times a year ago, when my friend Sasha worked there and had access to kayaks – great memories, and it was nice to get a bird eye view of the place.

aerial view 0000 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

Upon approach to Montauk airport, we got a bird eye view of the tip of Long Island too. It was pretty obvious why I would love the place: combination of tranquil sea and long sand beach, forest and lake.

view 0000 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

We walked to the beach straight from the airport and headed toward Oyster Bay.

view 0001 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

There were a few people  – some came by car, some by boat, some by horse… and some by plane 😉

view 0002 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

One place had a sort of surreal appeal to it because of the purple sand and purple flowers growing next to it!

naturist 0000 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

Obviously, I wanted to take a picture in that paradisiacal spot in my paradisiacal suit (even though this was not an official nudist beach).

view 0003 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

We soon reached Oyster Bay and the sign saying that 4×4 vehicles needed a permit beyond that point. One can only wonder why from a formal standpoint something as destructive to the beach as cars was permitted, but a harmless naked human body would be illegal. (I don’t mean that cars would destroy the beach entirely, but they do crush seashells and definitely leave a much more noticeable footprint,  which you don’t necessarily want to see at such a pristine beach, and which might contribute to erosion.)

view 0005 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

Oyster Bay had a nice stretch of flat wet sand which was perfect for playing frisbee, as it was also protected from wind by the dune.

view 0004 Montauk Point Park, Long Island, New York, USA

On the way back, we hiked through the forest for a bit. There were a lot of grapes but they were not ripe at that time. Beware that it is also full of ticks, but then again it’s easier to spot them on the naked body than under clothes 😉

NUDITY BAN PROTEST in San Francisco this Sunday

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

While in my last post I suggested to try to make North 40 Natural Area a naturist-friendly park of New York City, there is a group of naturist activists that is trying to bring body freedom to the city where public nudity was legal until February, San Francisco. It is outrageous that laws banning nudity are being passed in the 21st century, and in San Francisco, out of all places. I know how these silly laws are enforced on my own experience after getting a fine for doing yoga naked in a park in San Francisco. Even if for some reason you think it is not acceptable (unnatural???) not to wear clothes in public, just look at the video from this group’s latest protest and think if this ban doesn’t violate freedom of speech, so cherished in the USA.

Luckily, there are such people who don’t give up, and I wish they had more support from naturist community, as well as anyone who wants to keep our society as free and accepting as possible. You can read more at their website, as well as donate them @ www.MyNakedTruth.tv

Here is also information about their upcoming demonstrations:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15 @ 12 NOON – JANE WARNER PLAZA – NUDITY BAN PROTEST

Please, join us for another protest against the nudity ban at the Jane Warner Plaza. An award winning Norwegian documentary film maker Jan Dalchow will be filming the protest for his documentary film “The Naked Dream”. His crew will be flying in from Norway to document the body freedom movement of San Francisco. We would love to see you there. Please come and be part of the documentary!

In case of rain the protest will be held at the Sex and Culture Center at 1349 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19 @ 12 NOON – SAN FRANCISCO CITY HALL – NAKED WEDDING – GYPSY TAUB AND JAYMZ SMITH will get married naked in front of the City Hall. We will also have a protest/march/parade after the ceremony.

North 40 Natural Area in New York City

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0003 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

Do you dream of having a naturist area in the Big Apple to have an easy escape from the hustle and bustle? I think we’ve found a perfect candidate place –  North 40 Natural Area, a part of historic Floyd Bennett Field in Jamaica Bay. It is on the federal land and is a part of Gateway National Recreation Area, just like Gunnison Beach in Sandy Hook, so technically, no change in legislation would be necessary to allow nudity there… (Another possible location would be Fort Tilden, as was suggested by one of our readers.) Well, that’s if this place remains a park at all, as there is a controversial plan to build a massive gas pipeline going through this territory! How is this legal?

view 0000 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

It will be a big shame for New York City to lose one of the few relatively untouched pockets of nature within its boundaries.

berries 0000 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

We were lucky to enjoy this place on a warm weekend in late September, and it seemed like not many people knew about this place. 

naturist 0000 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

It felt liberating to disrobe and walk in the buff.

naturist 0001 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

Buns and bunnies seemed equally natural to us 😉

rabbit 0000 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

We went through a couple of winding trails, and it was nice to see that the forest was actually untouched besides the trails. The only other destruction was probably due to storms like Sandy. It’s hard to imagine what else could have made a tree to fall like that with its roots lifting all the soil under it.

naturist 0002 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

One of the smaller trails brought us to the beach. It was full of trash, unfortunately, and we almost left disappointed.

view 0001 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

But then we just tried to see what was behind the tall reeds and found a beautiful meadow!

view 0002 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

It was a true hidden gem, perfect to relax and sunbathe.

naturist 0004 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

Well, apparently our timing was perfect too. Just after we finished our snack break and were ready to leave, the water started soaking from beneath the grass. So, in high tide, this meadow must be filled with water.

view 0004 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

Before leaving, we spent a couple of minutes to enjoy the view of the particularly bright moon.

view 0003 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

We were not sure if passers by on the bridge behind could see us fully, but we could only wonder why this kind of mooning would be frowned upon.

naturist 0006 North 40 Natural Area, Floyd Bennett Field, New York City, NY, USA

kayaking the Sacandaga River and Good Luck Lake in South Adirondacks

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

view 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Besides hiking, Adirondack Park offers great kayaking too. Teddy, like many locals, has his own kayaks so we went to explore the West Branch of Sacandaga River and Good Luck Lake – with that name, you needn’t think twice about checking it out, and it turned out beautiful too! The banks of the canal that lead to Good Luck lake were full of blooming aquatic plants.

water plants 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

The views from the Good Luck lake made us feel lucky!

Lucky Lake 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

And we were indeed lucky to see a family of elusive loons. Their calls echoed because of the hills surrounding the lake, it sounded quite spooky.

loon 0000 Good Luck Lake, Adirondack Park, New York, USA

We stayed at the lake till sunset, and next day returned to explore the Sacandaga River more.

naturist 0009 Adirondack, NY, USA

That part of Sacandaga River is just perfect for laid-back kayaking: the current is not too strong, and the width allows easy maneuvering and yet being close enough to the banks not to miss any wildlife, that you’re likely to see there.

However, there are some places that hard to go through because of fallen trees.

kayaking 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Still, we managed to get through without too much hassle.

kayaking 0001 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

The bottom was mostly sandy, but in some places there were algae that looked like smooth golden-green hair.

water plants 0001 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Going further up from Good Luck lake, we had more and more places that were too shallow to paddle easily,

view 0001 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

so the best way to continue was lifting up and crawling with the arms while still seated in kayak.

naturist 0003 Adirondack, NY, USA

But after the bridge, it became too rocky and shallow to continue in kayaks. We walked for a bit, but there was no sign it was going to improve any time soon.

naturist 0008 Adirondack, NY, USA

I think I forgot to mention, that ironically, Teddy’s dog was the only one clothed 😀 Teddy just didn’t want him to get lost.

blackberries 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

It was nice to make a pause from rowing and get some blackberries. After that, we headed back downstream, and stopped at a little sandy beach. There was a fellow kayaker passing by, he seemed cool with us being naked but wondered why we didn’t have any ladies with us. We suggested him to work on that next time 😀

view 0002 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Down another bridge, the flow was even calmer. We tried to go through a small channel, but it was blocked by a beaver dam.

beaver dam 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Well, it turned out that main branch was dammed by beavers too, just a few feet up!

beaver dam 0001 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

But it wasn’t too difficult to get over it and was actually fun!

naturist 0004 Adirondack, NY, USA

We heard some big animals running through the bushes – could be deer or bears – but the only wildlife we were lucky to see that time was a blue heron.

heron 0000 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

It seemed to be pretty busy fishing and didn’t pay much attention to us.

heron 0001 Sacandaga River, Adirondack, NY, USA

Given that Adirondack Park is ‘the largest state-level protected area in the contiguous United States’, there is obviously more to explore. Looking forward to the next trip to Adirondacks!

hiking to the Tenant Creek Falls in Adirondacks

by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0000 Adirondack, NY, USA

Sorry for having been quiet for the entire month of November, but hopefully we’ll be more active at blogging this month. Luckily, there’s never a shortage of what to post, just the lack of time. After writing about the hike in Mohonk Preserve in New York, I thought I should add a couple more stories from Upstate this summer. My friend Miguel, an avid naturist himself, connected me with his buddy Teddy, who seemed to know the southern portion of the Adirondack Park well. So, after a couple of weeks planning, I was on the train from [former] New Amsterdam to Amsterdam, NY.

Tenant Creek Falls 0000 Adirondack, NY, USA

Teddy brought me to his favorite hiking trail along the Tenant Creek.

naturist 0001 Adirondack, NY, USA

There are three waterfalls, but most people don’t go beyond the first one. We had the third waterfall all to ourselves!

Tenant Creek Falls 0001 Adirondack, NY, USA

The hike took us about an hour, but as we started pretty late, we had just an hour of sunlight left to set up a camp and go skinny-dipping.

naturist 0005 Adirondack, NY, USA

It was easy to find a spot for out tent, but the place is certainly not mean for a lot of campers, so we were lucky to not have any neighbors. The sound of the waterfall was a perfect accompaniment for otherwise quiet night!

Next day, we went to explore the forest around, and it was so worth it. Butterflies and flowers greeted us, and we had some hand-picked blackberries for breakfast :p

butterflies 0000 Adirondack, NY, USAbutterflies 0001 Adirondack, NY, USA

… and then I saw a coyote! He definitely saw me too, and even let me to take a picture of him,

coyote 0000 Adirondack, NY, USA

though by the time I focused well, he was scared by Teddy getting out of blackberry bushes and ran away.

coyote 0001 Adirondack, NY, USA

But even so, it was a big luck to have seen a coyote in New York state!

After walking in the sun, it was nice to come back to our camp and enjoy skinny-dipping.

naturist 0007 Adirondack, NY, USA

In the waterfall, there was even a deepening that looked like a perfect bathtub, but the water was too cold to really sit there for a while.

naturist 0002 Adirondack, NY, USA

We could swim in the pond below, however.

naturist 0006 Adirondack, NY, USA

On the way back, we saw these amazing colorful mushrooms.

mushrooms 0000 Adirondack, NY, USAmushrooms 0001 Adirondack, NY, USA

Near the first waterfall, Teddy knew a tree that grew right on top of the rock with its roots twisting down. It was almost the point to put our clothes on, because there might be more people coming, but we couldn’t resist snapping a couple of photos.

naturist 0010 Adirondack, NY, USA

What a great place to enjoy the beauty of the forest and meditate.

naturist 0011 Adirondack, NY, USA

This toad seemed to do the same, and lucky him, nobody would make a fuss for him being naked!

toad 0000 Adirondack, NY, USA