A Little Nude Time is Better Than None ...

So I finished my latest series of chemo this past Sunday (Mother's Day) and I get a break for awhile until radiation therapy in June sometime (they haven't determined when, yet).  A break is needed 'cause the chemo is taking an unrelenting toll on my body . . . I need time to recover and mend.

I've gone back to work . . . not the full-schedule before (screw them) but enough to keep the medical up.  As soon as I could get out of work on Monday, I booked for the mountains.  The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky.  I wanted and needed some nude time.  I feel like 'crap' and probably look it too.  Can anyone think of a better tonic than natural sunshine on your body?

Initially I thought about heading for Scenic . . . a nice though steep hike, what I really wanted was to slip into the pools of hot, natural spring waters and simply soak myself away to tranquility.  But when I got to the start of the trek up to the springs the temperatures outside were just a little bit too on the chilly side (low 50s) for my-by-now nude body to endure.  The more I kept looking up the road to Scenic the more I realized that willing and wanting as I was, I really did not have the stamina nor energy for that hike.  So I reluctantly got back in the car and headed down the highway for something safer and warmer.

It took me an hour to get out of Seattle . . . another hour and a half to Scenic.  Okay . . . so it's getting late.  Not much daylight left with the sun almost to the western ridge lines of the foothills.  Whatever worked would have to be short for sure . . . the challenge was finding somewhere that at least got into sunlight instead of the shade and deepening shadows close at hand in the low valley of the river and highway.  FS 6028 is one of those spots . . . a favored hiking place for me because it is gated, rarely used and rises into open clearcut with a late-afternoon exposure to the sun.

Hiking into the open areas along FS 6028 (near Grotto)

The nice thing about FS 6028 is that you know with a lot of certainty as to whether you have this easy logging road to yourself (gated, one-way in and out, logging operations long over).  So you can hike nude with confidence for miles and enjoy scenic views over the Skykomish Valley below (and majestic Baring Mountain behind).  The inbound trek to the first switchback is three-quarters of a mile.  I made it maybe another quarter mile up before the steepening grade urged me to turn around and slowly amble my way back to the car.  But this was the tonic I was looking for.  Even a little nude time is better than none.

Back at the car and being a little bit presumptuous about the lack of cover here.

FS 6028 is great to get nude upon . . . but the area where you park is wide-open to nearby traffic whizzing by on Highway 2 (at least until the foliage starts to fill in).  So sometimes you are taking chances hiking all the way back to the car.  Nevertheless, I often do with a certain self-satisfaction that I'm simply not going to stop and pull on shorts for that last fifty feet or so.  Let them see me and make of it what they will.  Sometimes I can be difficult.

The sun is right at those western ridge lines now and I'm in a panicked state.  I want more nude time outside.  Where?  I don't bother to pull anything on.  Onto the highway and thinking, "Where can a get a few more minutes to wander about and feel the environment on my skin?"  Reiter Ridge was one thought . . . but that would be in shadow by now.

Can you get despondent about not enough nude enjoyment?  I was certainly feeling that way as I passed Baring.  Coming around the west curve I was surprised at the lack of parked cars at the Eagle Falls pullouts beside the highway.  Eagle Falls is popular . . . Eagle Falls always has people pulling over and checking the falls out.  What a surprise.  I pull over.  I love this picturesque spot!

This moss-covered wall beside the highway pullout shields you from view.

Eagle Falls is right beside Highway 2 and is a popular party spot for young people.  Despite being a somewhat tempting, though dangerous placed for swimming, the wide basaltic ledges beside the falls see bonfires, loud music and drinking (and everything that goes along with the rites of spring and summer.

Party-spots beside the falls and rapids.

Nudity does happen on the hard-to-view ledges by Eagle Falls.  Not often but I have visited and come across naked revelers around campfires and had some interesting times . . . most importantly, the go ahead and get nude myself (nudity is so much more fulfilling when you can share it with others).

But today, despite the warm day but being a Monday, I had the ledges all to myself and I get to wander around as much as I like while there is still a little bit of sunlight.

... some interesting artwork and a short video of the falls.

Get out there and get nude!