The general theme to naturism is clothed when necessary, unclothed when possible. Good hiking shoes and comfortable socks would probably be encouraged. Even Tek makes special hiking “sandals” that are supposed to be tough and comfortable, though you are sure to get “tanlines” on your feet – the ban of most naturists! LOL. And they can be pricey as well. I’ve done walking along clothing optional shores and using similar type of sandals that can walk on stones, rocks, gravel, shells, and other stuff that my sensitive tootsies probably cannot handle. If hiking, you might have extra padding on backpacks, unless you have stopped somewhere and this is just a day-hike. There are straps and other packing instruments that can be worn, but the clothing above the ankle is not necessarily required. It would also depend on the environment – stones, dirt, scratchy bushes and such like that. If your skin is tough enough, go for it!

My first experience encountering nudist hikers was when my conservative church group inadvertantly camped on the other side of a hill along a river. I was washing a pair of long jeans in the river by tying a rope on the legs and throwing them into the wash and retrieving them against the flow. Gives “stone washed” a new meaning! I was talking to one of my friends and another person came along and continued to throw my jeans in and retrieve. I mistakenly believed that she had the rope so I did not need to keep a hold of it. Sure enough, she threw the jeans out hard, I let go and she never had it. Off went my jeans down the river flow. I sprinted off after them, along the shore, running through a camp nearby and did not stop, trying to keep up with the jeans. My friend tried to come after me but I soon lost him. He stopped in the camp we ran through to ask to see if they had seen me, suddenly saw me in the distance and just kept running through. I never did find my jeans (maybe it helped someone else in the future, who knows.) As he and I walked back to our camp we passed again through the outer edges of the camp next to us. I mentioned that it would be funny if they were not full dressed for other campers like us – when we both paused, stopped and looked back and the lady of the couple was just calmly going into her tent with her back to us. Full moon in the daytime and not a tanline on her. We kept walking back to our camp. Our leader found out and did not want us to travel back to the other camp while we were there (we did not stay long as it was only a one night stop at that location and we had more miles to go.) My friend and I just happened to try and check the other camp several hours later, but the residents had already moved on. I always envied them their freedom and someday I hope to enjoy it the same way myself and my wife. but we would not want to offend those who do not wish to participate or force a view on them that they were not expecting. The textile hikers in this article would be expecting such sites from time to time and the only ones surprised would be those who don’t read or pay attention where they are hiking.