naturism – Page 9 – Active Naturists

Sima bog near Moscow

27 August 201429 August 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

There is a very pretty bog not too far from Moscow, and it was one of the most interesting places where I’ve enjoyed outdoors the natural way, naked. It is a peat bog called Sima at the Zvenigorod Biological Station of Moscow State University, where I spent quite a lot of time during summer practices in my student year. It was so nice to come back there a few years later. Student excursions aside, it’s an ideal place to find oneself at peace with nature.

view 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Sima is a relatively small peat moss bog surrounded by fir-tree forest.
view 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

The bog is outlined by a stretch of smaller-than-usual birches and pines, as well as blueberries and rhododendron. There were no berries of course, when I visited in May, but rhododendron bush was in full bloom.
Rhododendron 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Though transition between the forest and the bog appears relatively smooth, there’s no transition between the bog and the lake in the centre of it: the mire just ends abruptly and the lake is over 1-1.5m deep already at the very edge of it. This used to be a peat pit. Thus the lake looks like a huge pool with black water.
view 0002 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Of course, we couldn’t help swimming there on a hot day like that.
naturist 0004 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Such a dark water surface reflects exceptionally well.
naturist 0008 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

We didn’t see any fish in the lake, but there must be some, as a couple of seagulls hang out by the lake too.
seagull 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

In any case, it is the bog that makes Sima so special. If from the photos you might think it wasn’t much different from a meadow, this animated picture will assure you that it was a true quaking bog.
naturist-quake-0000-Sima,-Moscow-oblast,-Russia

You can feel like a giant quaking the earth! It’s a funny feeling to walk on that jelly-like surface, you just need to make sure not to sink into it. The trail is enhanced with wooden planks, as you can see on the first photo and the one below.
naturist 0006 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

But if you get off the trail, stay closer to the edge of the lake, where the mire appears to be more solid.
naturist 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Although this place feels secluded, some people just can’t get out of touch with the rest of the world thanks to their mobile phones… However, we did spend most of the time with various activities and observing the nature around.
naturist 0005 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

There were many things to marvel at even at our feet. Besides sedges, cranberry plants and peat moss, we found quite a few carnivorous plants.
sundew 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

This plant is called sundew due to obvious reasons; this ‘dew’ is used to catch small unwary insects.
sundew 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

They are not alone in that quest, having to compete with frogs
frog 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

and other insects, such as dragonflies.
dragonfly 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Not all dragonflies, however, were busy preying: some demonstrated amazing stunts of sex in the air! (I would explain the fact that camera focused on their reflection in water as a mode of censorship blur, but the reflection was just as sharp and clear!)
dragonfly 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

In any case, we weren’t disturbed by any mosquitos an flies on that day.
Considering the soft and flat surface of the quaking bog, I decided that it was finally the time to practice some gymnastics after half-a-year break due to my ankle injury.

naturist-flip-0000-Sima,-Moscow-oblast,-Russia

Even though I wasn’t in the best shape, I jumped to my heart’s content.
naturist 0002 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

I almost got stuck in the mire after one jump 😀
naturist 0003 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Actually, there were no issues with that. It was a unique experience of gymnastics in its authentic meaning – exercising naked – in a completely natural setting with a natural bouncy floor.
naturist 0007 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Thanks to this soft spring floor, Sasha even mastered a headstand for the fist time. Then we switched to acro-yoga, doing both core-strengthening
naturist acro-yoga 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

and relaxing exercises.
naturist acro-yoga 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

Altogether, we had a glorious day in our altogethers.
view 0003 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

I hope Sima will keep its uniqueness, although bogs are prompt to changing due to natural reasons and man impact. Unfortunately, we saw some deep potholes at bog and the trail leading to it that resulted from an overuse by quad-bikers, and later we saw two such all-terrain vehicles on the trail. ATVs are certainly not an eco-friendly way to explore outdoors, and I hope the trail entry will be gated properly. The forest, as in many areas around Moscow, has been also infested by a fir-killing bug.
view 0005 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

I’ll end the story on a pleasant note, however. We also saw quite a few flowers on the trail,
plant 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

such as this exotic-looking spurge,
plant 0001 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

an aromatic and bright-flowered bean plant,
Convallaria 0000 Sima, Moscow oblast, Russia

and an even more aromatic lily of the valley. Thus, Sima is an excellent place for naturists and naturalists alike!

Tiergarten: perfect park for urban naturism

19 August 201420 September 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists, young naturists

Deutsch

I’m finally updating information on Berlin, the most naturist-friendly city in my opinion, and I’ll start with its main park Tiergarten in the very centre of the city. Given the park’s central location, it is easy to get there from pretty much anywhere around, so you could even come there after work or on a lunch break for some relaxed sunbathing on one of a few known FKK meadows (Freikörperkultur translates as Free Body Culture) south of Straße des 17 Juni. In the first half of the day, you can also refresh in one of those “showers” from sprinklers on the lawns throughout the park,

but one of the meadows has a proper shower installed.

The lawns of Tiergarten are perfect for frisbee, ball games, badminton and its new faster counterpart, speedminton. By the way, speedminton was invented in Berlin, so playing it in the centre of the city a la FKK sounds very authentic 😉

Joe and I used to play speedminton in Tiergarten pretty often, as you can see even rain wouldn’t stop us!

If you want to try something more ancient, how about naked oil wrestling? Tam and I certainly had fun reviving the Ancient Greek tradition.

As I had very little experience in wrestling, it was more of a lesson for me from Tam, but the very slippery aspect of oil wrestling was new to him too.

Given that it was olive oil, this exercise must have served as a nice skin rub too.

Despite the oil, we still managed to grip each other,

and each of us (but mostly me) got thrown on the grass too a few times.

The latter was more difficult staying lower with knees on the ground in our final match.

On another occasion, we wrestled two against one, but we certainly need more practice.

Another activity that proved to be fun in Tiergarten was acro-yoga.

We kicked off with some simple threesome poses.

After my incident with getting a fine for doing acro-yoga naked in San Francisco, it felt very liberating to do the same thing in Berlin with even more people and not being worried of getting caught by police! We had fun, and our nakedness only enhanced it.

Below is a good example of how good positioning that comes with experience lets even a much lighter ‘base’ person hold a heavier ‘flyer’.

However, when the flyer is much lighter, even the arms may be enough to support the flyer.

(Excuse our friend for clothes, but she didn’t feel like undressing at that moment.)

Some of the poses did not only feel relaxing (for the flyer at least),

but also provided opportunity to suntan those hard to reach places 😀

Some poses may seem simple but are fun to maintain,

and the next step is to learn to transition them into a totally different pose.

Such dynamic exercises are much more challenging for the base,

whereas the flyer should follow his directions and enjoy the ride

until he ends up in yet another unusual but stable pose.

This pose below serves as an excellent back and hip stretch for the flyer.

Here are some standing acro-yoga poses, starting from simple

to a more difficult balancing exercise.

Standing on shoulders of another person is probably one of those things that seem scary and challenging primarily for ‘mental’ reasons,

as the weight is the same as when you sit on the shoulders and the height isn’t that dangerous if you decide to jump off. I decided to avoid it though, due to my not fully recovered ankle.

Sean and Tam made it look easy from the first time!

Here is another pose that combines balancing and stretch (and transitioning into it is kind of scary).

Once you’re in the pose, don’t forget to point your toes (if you’re the flyer)!

We ended our session that time with the ultimate balancing exercise – two bodies maintained by one pair of arms!

I hope this blogpost will inspire Berliners and visitors of the German capital to use their main urban park for naturist activities. We can only wish for anything like this in Central Park in New York, Hyde Park in London or pretty much anywhere else in the world!

Ågesta: idyllic lawn and beach by the lake in Stockholm

17 July 20144 February 2018 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Ågesta is an idyllic place within Stockholm city limits. It’s the top choice among local naturists thanks to the picturesque Magelungen lake, small cozy sandy beach, nice green lawn surrounded by trees; there are also basic amenities such as a shower and picnic tables. Just look around, and you’ll find a nice spot for yourself, either next to other people or in a quiet corner.

The flat lawn is great for sunbathing, of course,

but it would be also perfect for many activities, such as volleyball or football, yoga, martial arts and whatnot. Too bad local naturists didn’t seem to take advantage of that. I taught my local host, whom I got to know thanks to TrueNudists network, some basics of acro-yoga. We can only dream of having something like that in New York City! Well, at least a few people were swimming, and in the end of May the water was warm enough for that already.

I heard that Stockholm, and Sweden in general, used to be even more open to naturism, but the attitude is changing with the influence of prudish American culture and influx of immigrants, who are generally more conservative.

In the city itself, I could only see naked statues in abundance, but strangely enough, my bet is that people would probably not tolerate, if they saw the same thing in flesh…

Nevertheless, I did sunbathe naked for a bit at a secluded spot on Långholmen island with a nice view of the city. There is also a known area for nude sunbathing in the western part of the island but unfortunately without access to the water. Hopefully, naturism will be more accepted in Sweden soon again, and one wouldn’t need to look for hidden spots. Meanwhile, enjoy Ågesta and other official locations available from Scandinavian Naturist Portal.

New Nude Yoga class in New York! Nude Yoga retreat is coming to the Woods again

15 July 201422 January 2015 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist yoga 0002 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

After having maintained a nude yoga group with my friends for almost two years at private locations, we are finally going public. Starting from this Wednesday, we will have a weekly class in Harlem at 9pm with Michael. He is a very experienced and talented yoga instructor, and we are very lucky that he will teach us. He will also join us again for the second yoga retreat at the Woods campground on the first weekend of August 1st-3rd.

Feel free to comment here or contact me by e-mail for more details about the class and retreat. You’re also welcome to just stop by. We are offering $15 per class for frequent visitors who are ready to buy a 10 pack for $150 or single class for $20. As for the retreat, you’re also welcome to just join us at the Woods campground, but if you drive from New York City, we’ll appreciate any carpool options. The retreat is purely donation-based, and all costs will be shared!

naturist yoga 0000 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Meanwhile, get inspired by these pictures of Michael stretching out at the great Sandy Hook beach!

naturist yoga 0001 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

His routine includes some sophisticated poses and transitions that require advances flexibility,

naturist yoga 0005 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

but don’t worry, he’s a good teacher and will make sure that everyone is comfortable at their level of experience.

naturist yoga 0006 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

The doggy yogi classics is certainly on the menu too.

naturist yoga 0007 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

However, it’s always nice to see something challenging to aspire to.

naturist yoga 0004 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

We also like partner stretches and acro-yoga; below are photos from our spontaneous session last September at Sandy Hook.

naturist yoga 00004 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Partner exercises turn yoga into an interactive experience

naturist yoga 0009 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

and allow deeper stretches.

naturist yoga 0010 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Some poses even involve more than 2 partners.

naturist yoga 0011 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Join our nude yoga group, and your body and mind will thank you!

Bouncing Balls at Sandy Hook

10 July 201410 July 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Gunnison Beach at Sandy Hook was very crowded last sunday, but not all beach-goers just lay in the sun: we spent most of the day playing with balls, namely volleyball and football (soccer for you Americans :-)) We had lots of fun and are planning to come back there this Saturday, please join! See my previous post for discount ferry tickets from Manhattan.

naturist volleyball 0005 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

We worked on some good (and beautiful) serves,

naturist volleyball 0003 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

from both sides! It wasn’t often trivial due to changing wind.

naturist volleyball 0010 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Those followed by not less beautiful defense moves,

naturist volleyball 0000 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

that sometimes required sand dives,

naturist volleyball 0006 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

not always successful though.

naturist volleyball 0007 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

A focused two-hand rebound might look less effective but was usually more efficient.

naturist volleyball 0009 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Given the tall height of some of our players and low height of our net, it was sometimes easy to shoot the ball down from just above the net.

naturist volleyball 0008 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

There are lots of techniques that we have to learn and practice, and who knows, maybe we’ll be strong enough to participate at the Naked Volleyball Super Bowl? We had success at the “Bouncing Buns” trail race, so maybe we’ll be lucky with bouncing balls too.

After playing a few matches of volleyball, we decided to switch to football. However, we made a smooth transition by first playing (or rather trying to play) footvolley (futêvolei), a pretty new Brazilian sport that combines aspect of volleyball and football. It proved to be very difficult for us, so we moved on to football (soccer). Inspired by the ongoing World Cup, we might stick to it this Saturday, especially if we get more players, although I’m also keen on playing some touch rugby.

naturist football 0000 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Here is a pic of our free kick 🙂

naturist football 0002 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

If you want to join the fun, look out for some bouncing balls at a beach near you 🙂

naturist football kick 0010 Sandy Hook, NJ, USA

Discounted tickets for the ferry to Sandy Hook :-) Let’s show up in big numbers and play some ball games!

30 June 201430 June 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Sandy Hook is undisputedly the favorite summer gathering spot for nudists of New York, New Jersey and even Philly. For New York City dwellers, there is a convenient ferry (rightfully called SeaStreak) that departs at two locations in Manhattan, but the cost ($45) may be discouraging. Luckily, this year there is not just one but two discounted ticket options. After some pressure, SeaStreak has release a coupon for $30, as in previous years.

Seastreak ferry coupon 2014

But this year, you can buy an even cheaper ticket with Groupon for $25, which is limited to only one per account, however. Nonetheless, there are two independent links that allow buying two tickets actually (or is there more?) – go and get ’em:

Groupon Seastreak Ferry to Sandy Hook 1 and Groupon Seastreak Ferry to Sandy Hook 2!

I’ve written about Sandy Hook on multiple occasions, so just use the “search” option to your right on this website and get inspired for some beach activities. Volleyball is a must, but after playing some touch rugby at Sunny Rest resort, we’d like to add rugby to our beach routine too! Given the ongoing World Cup, football is also on the list. Come and join us 😉 Why naked? Because what’s the purpose of clothes at a summer beach? None! Rugby and soccer players don’t usually wear protective gear anyways (besides mouth guards, but they are not necessary for touch rugby), so what’s the point in wearing anything at all? Run free and enjoy!

Active Naturists team gets gold at the Bouncing Buns trail race :-)

28 June 201415 July 2015 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

naturist 0000 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

Last weekend my friends and I teamed up for the naked trail race at Sunny Rest naturist resort in Pennsylvania, and we scored two trophies, including the absolute first! Yes, one of us, Casey, ran that tough 6km trail in just 27 min 47 sec. David brought another trophy for the 4th male under 39 years old (8th total). I was 13th, but I was happy I could run the race at all, as I wasn’t sure how my ankle would feel still not fully recovered from the injury that I got after I was run over by car in January. This was my third year attending the race, and although the route have gotten shorter from 7 to 6km, it has also acquired some steep slopes this time. Probably for this reason, besides the injury, my result was 3min longer than last year despite a shorter track (32:16). It’s a pity another prize-winning ‘Team America’ from last year didn’t show up this time, but there was more than enough competition with 159 participants.

I was also recognized by one of the readers of my blog, who actually said he was inspired by it to participate in the race. This kind of comment is probably the best praise I could expect from my blog, this is what keeps me motivated to run it!

After the award ceremony, we ate lunch and I was glad to find out that the restaurant at Sunny Rest has improved tremendously and offers now a diverse menu of pretty good quality. Then we rested from the race in the pool and hot tub… but not for too long, as we also wanted to play volleyball. We had a few fun matches but needed even more rest afterwards, so we mostly hung out at the sauna and hot tubs in the evening. Next day, our activities started with yoga at the lawn near the tenting site followed by a short hike, partially on the trail that was used for the race.

naturist 0001 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

The outskirts of a field proved to be a good spot for nude photography.

naturist 0002 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

We also played some touch rugby in the afternoon, inspired by the recent match of Nude Blacks in New Zealand.

naturist rugby 0000 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

We played with just 3 players in each team, but it was still a lot of fun.

naturist rugby 0001 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

We all concluded that we should play it more often, so maybe we’ll build up a team some day. And maybe it will be as successful in rugby as in running? 🙂

naturist rugby 0002 Sunny Rest, PA, USA

WNBR NYC and Free Form Festival: free, arrested and then freer than ever!

20 June 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

Last Friday, the weather in New York city wasn’t the most cooperative for the World Naked Bike Ride, and yet a couple of dozens of hardiest cyclists showed up at the Grand Ferry Park. We welcomed the thunderstorm by dancing naked in the downpour, and as the rain was calming down, we took off to the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Despite the weather, there were still people on the streets, and we got cheered by pedestrians, other cyclists and car drivers alike! We got some friendly smiles and hand waives even from police. When passers by asked us why we were naked, I replied that skin was waterproof 😉

By the time we got to Washington Square Park, it stopped raining altogether.

WNBR 2014 0005 New York, NY, USA

But some of us seemed to miss water already 🙂

WNBR 2014 0000 New York, NY, USA

I wish New York accepted nudity, at least in parks, and as these rides show, general public doesn’t seem to be opposed to it, once confronted to a cheerful naked crowd.

WNBR 2014 0010 New York, NY, USA

The World Naked Bike Ride aims to promote safe environments for cyclists and public in general, and who would argue that if you can feel safe in your city while being naked, it must be as safe as it gets?

WNBR 2014 0004 New York, NY, USA

Then we headed out to the Hudson Greenway and took some more pictures with iconic views.

WNBR 2014 0001 New York, NY, USA

As to the banner, I personally don’t think NYC should be car-free altogether, but it would definitely become a better city, if half of the drivers switched to bicycles 🙂

WNBR 2014 0003 New York, NY, USA

Unfortunately, our ride after that didn’t go as peaceful and proved that it wasn’t the weather we should have been worried about:

WNBR 2014 0008 New York, NY, USA

All of a sudden, we were overtaken by an undercover police car (disguised as a yellow cab!) and then even more police came and blocked the street. We can only guess why, but they also arrested two of the participants!

WNBR 2014 0009 New York, NY, USA

It was pleasing to get support from bystanders. One of them shouted that he thought he happened to be in Iran. However, this didn’t stop police, and our two arrestees were detained till next evening! Your can read more at the blog of one of the organizers of New York’s WNBR, Ben, as well as an article from Gothamist.

I was very happy about how our ride went last year, and there is no reason why it should have ended so bitter this year. I’m especially puzzled why this happens in seemingly liberal New York. I bet many spectators of our ride on Friday had that “only in New York” moment, but what they probably didn’t realize was that in many cities of the world and US, the World Naked Bike Ride actually attracts many more riders, and what happens only in New York perhaps is that participants of such rides get arrested. Hopefully, it’ll be better next year. And there’re still some more rides this year too, including WNBR Boston next Saturday, June 28 (read this announcement about at Boston Magazine).

Last weekend, I went to Free Form Festival at The Schuylkill County Fairgrounds, PA, and it was a nice and necessary breath of freedom after I witnessed the arrest at WNBR.

Free Form Festival 2014 0000 Pennsylvania, USA

This festival celebrates anything positive and artsy, anything that brings people together and raises the spirit, and social nudity is a part of it.

I started off with a naked lunch, which by coincidence seemed to be all Tuscan style – featuring Tuscan salami, Tuscan bean salad, and Tuscan salami – despite I bought those at different places without thinking about it :p

Free Form Festival 2014 0004 Pennsylvania, USA

Free Form Festival follows the format of Burning Man, just at a smaller scale and with grass instead of dust.

Free Form Festival 2014 0003 Pennsylvania, USA

I didn’t take many photos, as it was more about having fun and interacting with people.

Free Form Festival 2014 0001 Pennsylvania, USA

Even though nudity is not common there, it’s definitely welcome. As you can see at this photo from a contact workshop, where we pretended to be a school of fish, nobody had a problem with following a naked dude.

Free Form Festival 2014 0002 Pennsylvania, USA

At night, everybody gathered for the effigy burn, and a few people, including me, were dancing naked around. One of the fire spinners got naked too, and had a solo performance on the side. Also, a guy whose dance style was more like Tai Chi got naked too and taught me a couple of principal Tai Chi moves. Then he brought me to a creek with cold water behind the amphitheater. And that was my experience of duality – this year’s theme of Free Form Festival – fire and water, heat and cold, light and darkness…

Hopefully, events like the World Naked Bike Ride and Free Form Festival will make world a more open, accepting and freer place, so that you can feel safe even naked!

some upcoming events this month

5 June 20145 June 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

World Naked Bike Ride will gather thousands of cyclists in many cities of the Northern Hemisphere to promote cycling as a mode of urban transportation, as well as body acceptance. The dress code is “as bare as you dare”, but in my opinion being naked is the best way to get the message across: cyclists use the power of human body for commuting in the city – so, show that body! – and yet we are the ones who are most prone to the truly indecent exposure to the traffic and vehicle pollution. In most cities, the ride will be held on Saturday, 14 June, but in New York City, it’s on Friday the 13th. This will be a hell of a fun ride: an awesome way to finish off the work week, to say the least! You can see my reports from WNBR in NYC last year and 2012, as well as from Madrid in 2009; Philly Naked Bike Ride is in August, and with 3500 participants last year is the biggest one I’ve participated. Although I don’t know the reasons why WNBR is held on a different day here in New York than in most the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, I’m glad that it’s on Friday, because it lets me go for the weekend to yet another amazing event.

Free Form Festival brings together the vast East-Coast creative arts community from 12-16 June at at The Schuylkill County Fairgrounds, Pennsylvania. With its aim to “increase diversity in our local artistic landscape”, it will surely be interesting and fun, and by the way, it is an officially clothing-optional event too! Tickets are still on sale and may be purchased by clicking here. Who else is going?

I’m also looking forward to ‘Bouncing Buns‘ 7k Trail Race in Pennsylvania for American Cancer Society on the 21st of June. 7km is the longest distance that I’ve seen for a naked or clothing-optional race – it’s good to be challenged, moreover for a good cause. Well, in 2012, I passed the challenge pretty well, coming in third! I ran a bit faster last year, but with fiercer competition, I had only 7th result. This year, I cannot hope to run faster, as I’m still not 100% recovered after my ankle injury, but will I have less fun? Of course not! With 150 or so naturist folks of all shapes and ages, everybody can feel comfortable in their own skin. However, I’m going with a couple of fellows again, and it doesn’t hurt to have some healthy competition, just like with the friends in ‘Team America’ that I got to know last year. The event is organized by Pretzel City Sports and you can register for the race at their website: $25 before June 9, $32 after. Part of your registration fee will support American Cancer Society, and afterwards you get an opportunity to hang out at Sunny Rest naturist resort, where the trail race will take place. It’s a great opportunity to run just the way you like. The event is clothing-optional, and we’ll certainly opt for the style of the [authentic] Olympic runners 😉 Also, if you have any doubts about running naked, have a look at my brief overview that links running and our naturally naked (furless) body from an evolutionary perspective – I hope it’ll make sense to you. Besides participating in the race, we also plan to do some yoga at Sunny Rest, as well as play badminton and volleyball.

Last but not least, as the beach season has commenced, it’s worth mentioning that there is a Groupon sale for the Seastreak ferry from Manhattan to Sandy Hook beach: $25 instead of regular $45. Unfortunately, unlike in previous years, there is no $30 coupon on Seastreak’s website, and you can only get one groupon ticket…

Rainforest of tree ferns: prehistoric scenery on a forbidden trail

31 May 20142 June 2014 by αNaturist, posted in active naturists

The last (for now!) blogpost of our Hawaiian adventures is about a pretty but also somewhat uncanny rainforest on Puna side of the Big Island that we explored using Ka-hau-a-Le’a trail, which is no longer recommended for visits by authorities and is officially closed. However, it is definitely among the most interesting hikes that I’ve done in my life thanks to a combination of several factors. The guidebook ‘Hawaii, the Big Island Revealed‘ was our inspiration again.

The day was rainy but very warm, appropriately for a tropical rainforest and that part of the island of Hawaii particularly, so the most appropriate attire was just our bare skin – you know it’s my favorite one anyways!

naturist 0000 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

So, I kept my clothes (i.e., only shorts on that day) dry in the backpack for later 🙂

naturist 0001 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Given that the trail is formally closed and conditions were muddy, we didn’t expect to see many hikers (and we didn’t see any at all). Another indication for the lack of other visitors came from the fact that there were quite a few spider webs on the trails.

spider 0000 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Among more pleasant sightings were bamboo orchids. These are quite tall (taller than human) free-standing plants, which is unusual for orchids.

Bamboo orchid 0000 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

But their flowers were very pretty, typically for orchids, and raindrops only added more charm to them.

Bamboo orchid 0001 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

There were a lot of differnet plants,

view 0000 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

plants literally growing on top of each other,

plants 0001 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

as you might expect from a rainforest, albeit not a very tall one.

However, one plant growing in abundance there was much taller than its kind that I’m used to.

naturist 0002 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

I’m talking about tree ferns, which made this forest look prehistoric. There was no sign of dinosaurs, however, only naked cavemen perhaps 😉

naturist 0005 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Walking under ferns was unusual and their inwrought leaves looked pretty from below.

plants 0000 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Too bad they didn’t protect from the rain as good as these ones.

plants 0002 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

One shouldn’t look up all the time in that forest thought, as the trail is strenuous and is full of roots sticking off the ground.

view 0001 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Well, some roots were so hight above the ground that you’d just walk under them!

naturist 0003 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

This variety of plant forms inspired Tod to make a photo of me being one with the tree!

naturist 0004 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

We didn’t see any animals besides a couple of bugs and spiders, but we did see a lot of footprints of humans and dogs; in combination with the soft drizzle and exceptional quietness, all this gave the forest somewhat mysterious aura. We were happy to see that the trail was frequently tagged by orange straps.

view 0002 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

After two and half hours or so, Tod decided to go back to the car, but I wanted to continue till the edge of the forest. Yes, the forest was supposed to end in an hour and give a view of a lava field and an active and fuming Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent. Pretty soon after we parted, I got to this narrow but deep (a few meters) crack crossing the trail – a sure sign of recent geological activity in the area!

view 0003 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

And much sooner than I expected from the guidebook’s description, the forest ended indeed, with another, much more impressive sign of geological activity – a lava field!

view 0004 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Actually, the forest edge didn’t only appear earlier than in the guidebook, which was published in 2005, but also earlier than in both Google and Apple maps! So the must have come from a relatively fresh eruption. In fact, it was somewhat steaming, but I couldn’t tell whether it was because the lava was still warm after eruption or just got warm in the sun earlier in the day, which would be enough to make the cooler drizzle turn into fog by the surface. But of course I didn’t want to test just how fresh the lava was! I could also see numerous fallen trees with their bases burnt. Due to the foggy conditions, I couldn’t see the vent itself, but the view of the relatively fresh lava field and the devastation it cause was impressive enough!

view 0005 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Someone must have made this pretty menacing “monument” with a pig skull…

view 0006 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

Well, the message was clear – I shouldn’t go any further. So, I turned back after a short lunch break. The dramatic ambience of the place must have influenced my thinking, and on the way back I got quite worried about the numerous (and pretty big!) dog footprints and even had some unpleasant flash visions of finding Tod attacked by dogs and then getting chased myself. But the forest was the same quiet.

view 0007 Ka-hau-a-Le'a tree fern trail, Hawaii, USA

It took me one hour from the edge of the forest to branching that lead to emergency helipad and 3 hours total to the car. I was happy to see that Tod made it back in one piece! However, my worry wasn’t entirely ungrounded – he did see 5 greyhounds on the trail, but apparently they were even more scared from the encounter and ran away quickly… Also, just a couple of minutes before my arrival, Tod had a convo with a local ranger, who came to the trailhead and amongst other things complained about “that blue book” that gave tourists all the wrong ideas 😉

Tag: naturism