deer – Active Naturists

Orient Land Trust, Colorado

1 February 2015 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Orient Land Trust is an amazing piece of land between San Luis Valley and Cottonwood Peak of Rocky Mountains in Colorado; it encompasses wildlife corridor with numerous hiking trails to explore, pristine spring waters – including geothermal springs for you to relax, an abandoned mine that now hosts the state’s largest bat colony, and rustic cabins and camping area for you to stay. And what makes this place truly natural, relaxing and liberating is that it is very much nude-friendly! When we went there in July, the weather was just perfect for that – it only cools down at night, but then you’d hang out at the hot springs 😉

naturist 0015 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

We stayed at the Oak House community lodge, but if I come again, I think I’ll go for tenting next to one of those natural hot springs.

This place is perfect if want to connect with nature at ease – it’s everywhere around you, and even such luxury as hot baths are natural there. On my first walk around, I was amazed to see several deer right off the trail that seem to be quite tame. I didn’t have my camera that time, but when I grabbed it, there was a rabbit instead, but it was a bit shier.

rabbit 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA rabbit 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I saw quite a few deer on a random trail afterwards, and it looked like they felt pretty much the same as human visitors of OLT – relaxed 😉

deer 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Fawns, however, seemed to be more alert and cautious,

deer 0002 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA deer 0003 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

so as squirrels (unlike their Central Park counterparts).

squirrel 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

As I continued going up the mountain, I also apparently scared the whole flock of grouse, as they noisily took off the ground and sat on the trees around me.

grouse 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA grouse 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The views from the trail were beautiful: multicolored hills and mountains,

view 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

magnificent San Luis Valley,

view 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

and cute tiny settlement of Orient Land Trust itself…

view 0002 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

At the top of the nearest peak to OLT, there was a primitive stone construction by a dead tree – not sure about its purpose, but it could protect you from the wind if you decide to camp there.

view 0004 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

As I looked down at the forest on the opposite slope, it caught my attention how various the vegetation appeared to be, with patches of different broad-leaf and coniferous trees sticking to each other, and other parts covered by grass or bushes.

view 0005 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Aspen trees with their white barks stood out in the sea of green.

aspen forest 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

As aspens let a lot of light to reach the ground, a lot of other plants can grow in such a forest.

aspen forest 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

And if aspens caught my eyes’ attention, my nose was pleased with conifers –

conifer 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

many of them released sap on their young cones, and it provided a pleasant aroma.

conifer 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Too bad I didn’t see any edible fruits. This one below looked like a gooseberry, but I wasn’t sure.

gooseberry 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

This plant below had beautiful leaves,

plant 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

but the main attraction was of course flowers,

flowering plant 0006 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

which were in abundance all over the mountain but especially on non-forested slopes.

flowering plant 0010 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA flowering plant 0009 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA flowering plant 0008 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Colors spanned the whole spectrum.

flowering plant 0007 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA flowering plant 0012 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA flowering plant 0002 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

My favorite was probably this one below.

flowering plant 0004 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Flowers mean butterflies (and hummingbirds, in this part of the world, but we’ll get to them later).

holly blue butterfly 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

But not all butterflies were busy pollinating flowers.

butterfly 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Cactus flowers seemed to be more popular among bees though.

cactus 0003 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I was surprised to see so many cacti species so far up north and at relatively high elevation,

cactus 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

but they were clearly at limit of their ecological tolerance,

cactus 0005 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

as all of them were very short.

cactus 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I wonder if sticking together helps cacti survive winter.

cactus 0004 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Well, at least some of them clearly showed their love to the place ❤

cactus 0006 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

And as much as I love cacti, I don’t like stepping on their spikes… oh, have I mentioned that hiked not only bare but barefoot too?

naturist 0016 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The terrain was quite rough even without spikes, but all that pain made relaxation in hot springs only sweeter.

naturist 0009 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

So, finally I’m getting to describe you what Orient Land Trust is probably most known for – geothermal springs in truly natural setting! There are a few pools with different temperature of water, different levels of accessibility and seclusion. The uppermost of the upper three pools has an extra feature: air bubbles seep through its bottom caressing your body on their way to the surface.

naturist 0011 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The middle of the upper pools is one of the smallest, but its depth is just perfect to lie down and enjoy the flow of warm water over your body.

naturist 0012 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

After that, I was ready for another hike! (I’ll get back to description of other hot springs of OLT in a bit.)

view 0006 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

At around 18:00, together with many other visitors and a guide, we headed out to the abandoned Orient Mine turned home to the largest bat colony in Colorado to see the spectacle of thousands bats leaving their cave to prey on insects at dusk.

view 0007 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The views on the way were stunning again.

view 0008 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The excavated red earth stark perfect contrast to the green, whereas the valley literally on the other side of the road was covered by dry grass.

view 0009 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Typically for OLT, we were greeted by a deer chilling by the bush.

deer 0004 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I snacked on ‘Bear Naked’ energy bar (I see an ad potential here!)

naturist 0013 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The trail was very easy, with only one decent uphill hike, after which we had a break at a cliff with magnificent view of the valley.

naturist 0003 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

The sea of dry grass spotted by green trees and bush thickets presented a beautiful picture.

view 0010 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Then, the beams of sunlight coming onto the valley between the mountains and clouds created yet more splendid view.

view 0011 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

As the last sun rays of the day touched our skin, we hurried to the Orient Mine cave.

naturist 0005 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

While we waited for the bats to emerge, I was try it to figure my at-the-time-new-to-me camera settings, that would work well for a fast moving small object in dark conditions.

view 0012 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I could certainly catch the colors of sunset,

view 0013 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

and an airplane gaseous trace,

view 0014 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

but I failed to take any decent photograph of bats.

bats 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

You’ll just have to believe my word or go to OLT webpage about their bats to see photos and videos.

bats 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

It was a mesmerizing nature’s spectacle! As we were told by our guide, these bats were mainly males of a tropical species that migrate there for the summer, it was funny to think of the cave as a huge bachelor resort for bats and their huge night feast in the valley.

By that time, it got substantially colder and I was the only one left naked. It was still ok for me, especially after we started walking, but I was looking forward to the hot springs. At night, we only went to the pools that were closer to the campground, and although they were pretty full, it was still easy to find a nice spot for yourself. At the biggest pool, we were treated with yet another amazing nature’s spectacle: incredibly bright starry sky and fireflies ‘dancing’ around us. ~~Unfortunately~~ I didn’t even try to photograph this, but the whole experience was magic.

Next morning, we went to the upper pools again and enjoyed the views from the lowest of the three. By the way, there was mint growing right next to it, so it smelled nice around too.

naturist 0007 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

This geothermal infinity pool is just priceless, and I hope I’ll enjoy it again some day!

Right before our departure, I found hummingbird trapped in the bathroom.

saving hummingbird 0000 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

Luckily, I have a lot of experience handling birds,

saving hummingbird 0001 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

so I easily caught it while it was bumping into the window and set it free outside.

saving hummingbird 0002 Orient Land Trust, Colorado, USA

I must say that I myself felt pretty much free as a bird at Orient Land Trust, I wish there were more places like that!

Autumn colors at the Silver Mine Lake

20 December 2013 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!

wild stuff in Harriman Park, NY

6 June 20121 August 2013 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

This post will summarize some of our experiences in Harriman State Park, a beautiful woodland just 1-1.5h away from Manhattan (driving or by train + bike).

There are scenic views, numerous lakes, and plenty of wildlife. It is nothing but stunning to have that land of [nearly] unspoiled nature so close to the biggest urban area in US… This fact is only evident by the view from Bear Mountain.

By the way, the name was not given to this mountain in vain – yes, there are bears in the park, and we have even seen one! I have to admit this is not the best photo of a bear – unfortunately it was not close enough to make a good shot, but I just had to add it here as a proof.

Other animals, like the Canada geese on the photos below, might be less unusual for an urban dweller but also appear less menacing.

But before I go on with the list of animals we have seen there, here is a bush that every year turns those woods into a truly fabulous place for about two weeks early June. It is mountain laurel.

In places where mountain laurel is concentrated, e.g. at the Lake Skannatati, its white-to-pink blossom is outstanding.

In the height of its bloom, the woods look more like Garden of Eden than just a wild forest. Of course, you’d feel like wearing nothing but Adam’s (or Eve’s) suit there.

… which provides plenty of opportunities for nice photos. Just wandering around there feels special.

But don’t think it would be the only type of flowers you’ll see there.

Lily Pond is rightfully called so because it is almost entirely covered with water lilies!

Other lakes, on contrary, have totally open surface and clear water, like Second Reservoir

or Silver Mine Lake, for example.

And there are many more lakes.

It is warm enough for swimming from May to October.

If you’re not up for swimming, you can just walk on water.

Seriously! Well, it is just that many of those lakes are reservoirs with dams. It is like those infinity pools but in a natural setting.

Main activity in Harriman Park is hiking, but some trails are good for biking too.

I’d recommend wearing a helmet though.

But of course, it is hard to resist temptation to relax in such a tranquil place… especially when you have a hammock with you.

And especially after some nice food.

By the way, there are some wild fruits there too, like grapes

and blueberries, but better leave those for animals.

And if you bring food with you, make sure not to leave any garbage, it is really disappointing to find any in such a pristine place.

But even if you don’t have a hammock, sitting by the lake will make you forget about all daily troubles.

There are also some springs and falls connecting the lakes and reservoirs.

After all that chilling, it is definitely worth going for a walk again, and don’t forget your camera for there will be a plenty of opportunities to ~~shoot~~ photograph animals.

There are many colorful insects.

Dragonflies are the easiest to spot, and some come right to you or even on you 😉

Other arthropods that drew our attention were these huge centipede and harvestman.

Recently, we’ve seen this juvenile eastern newt (eft), that had amazingly bright orange skin (they loose the color when they go back to water and mature).

Common Garter snakes are common there indeed (and do not pose any threat).

As in any healthy forest, there is plenty of birds; we’ve even seen some nests with nestlings.

Some of the most common bigger birds are turkey vultures and herons.

The latter probably feast on fish like this school of young catfish.

Most likely you will see some species of sunfish family. There were many nests of theirs at Silver Mine Lake, and it was interesting to see how protective they were around them.