Celebrating World Naked Hiking Day the right way
Yesterday, June 20th, was World Naked Hiking Day, one of the two big annual events for nudists and naturists. It’s actually held on the Summer Solstice, which is usually June 21st, but this year Solstice is early. The other big nudist/naturist event is World Naked Gardening Day, but it’s held the first Sunday in May, which is a month before gardening can begin here in the Yukon.
World Naked Hiking Day seems to have been born on the Appalachian Trail, where it was called Naked Hiking Day. It soon expanded to the Pacific Crest Trail, where the first photo was shot.
I have for a variety of reasons rarely been able to celebrate The Day, but since any day can be Naked Hiking Day for me, it wasn’t a big deal. This year the stars all aligned, though, and at about noon I headed south, with the Venus Mine my hoped-for destination. That would change if there was another vehicle at the trailhead, and the Tutshi River was my alternate.
There was nobody at the mine route, and 10 minutes before 1:00, I started up, from an elevation of 2,247 feet. The Venus for the past dozen or so years has been a common place for me to go once a year simply to prove to myself that I still can, because it’s steep, rough, and rather complicated. I’m 73 now, and this was one of those hikes, for a 3-way celebration if I made it – celebrating Summer Solstice, World Naked Hiking Day, and Because I Can 🙂
The tshirt lasted 100 feet – it was 24°C/75°F, which is pretty warm for that trail.
Ten minutes up, I was hiking in comfort. Almost – the pack is an unfortunate necessity.
Several species of flowers were doing very well along what used to be a mining road, including these Prickly wild roses (Rosa acicularis).
I don’t yet know the name of these ones.
There were a couple of sections with a surprising amount of water flowing across and down the trail. One thing I quickly noticed is that the two guys from Outside who were prospecting a few years ago didn’t return after the pandemic as they had planned (the trail was too overgrown for their ATVs).
At 1:30 I reached 2,724 feet, where a large bench was carved out for various buildings about 70 years ago. Here, a small creek comes from an adit that was blasted shut during a cleanup some 20 years ago.
I took a short break here. The view to the north over Windy Arm of Tagish Lake is wonderful. The land sticking out into the lake is the alluvial fan of Pooley Creek.
I met a fellow a couple of days ago who has trypophobia, “an aversion or repulsion to objects like honeycombs and sponges that have repetitive patterns or clusters of small holes.” He would not like the algae(?) I found in that little creek!!
The trail beyond that bench isn’t easy find, and quickly gets much steeper and rougher. My impression is that many people quit here.
You soon reach the upper limit of most of the larger vegetation, though, and the views go from wonderful to spectacular. The dampness of the pack straps was bugging me so I slipped one off.
Another lovely flower I don’t know the name of.
Shortly after choosing a trail at a junction, I began seeing things I didn’t recognize, like a collapsed adit and this very old wooden box, probably from the 1906 operation. I realized I had made the wrong choice, and backtracked to the junction.
Yes, it’s worth the substantial effort it takes to get here.
Success! Elevation 3,129 feet, a gain of 882 feet.
I often stage photos for possible use in other places 🙂
Going closer to the mine, I noticed that 118 years after it was built, the blacksmith shop at the entrance to the adit has collapsed. I thought briefly about doing some more exploring, but decided against it, mostly because my coordination isn’t 100% and that’s difficult navigating through the ruins.
The next photo shows the top of one of the two storage bins for silver ore that would be loaded into cars on an aerial tramway to the mill below (the Venus Mill has been well covered in other posts here).
The building below was destroyed by an accidental blast in the early days. I don’t remember the details, but luckily, nobody was killed. A tower for the aerial tramway can also be seen.
On the way down I decided that the hike – the celebration – had been so incredibly perfect I wouldn’t even get dressed to get to my car or drive home. 🙂
Last night, I created a meme to post on my Facebook page and in a nudist group I belong to. And now it makes a perfect title image for this post 🙂 Well, I thought for a couple of days it did, then changed my mind – it’s a but much.
For more information about nude hiking, see my Nude Hiking in the Yukon, Alaska, & northern BC pages, which I opened 23 years ago. If you would like a safe introduction to the naturist or nudist lifestyle (they’re a bit different), feel free to contact me, to chat or to join me on a hike. Not a single person who has come with me has ever said “Man I can’t wait to get my pants back on!” Connecting with Nature this way is good for your body and good for your head 🙂
This is post #1,600 since I opened the blog on April 25, 2006, and there are a total of 25,218 photos.
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Congratulations on your accomplishment with a epic finish line with a amazing view, being nude outside roaming or playing is a freedom based rush, went to wreck beach in Vancouver where it started for me, it was beautiful playing frisbee and just enjoying the beach, people of all flavours just hanging out literally, just whip off the gear and dive in, butt remember to apply sun screen beforehand to the under exposed skin that’s never been exposed before or you will experience ass sunburn like never before experienced, remember to have hung your bear bell’s for the back country of the mighty Yukon 🦍🍻🇨🇦
Thanks, Paul. The original Wreck Beach was in what is now Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island, and that was my first experience, in 1968. Those were the days of putting baby oil on to tan better, and thoough I don’t do that anymore I don’t use sunscreen. In the serious backcountry, bear bells attract grizzlies, which are curious about the noise – nobody who uses them is welcome to hike with me.