SHORT NAKED HIKES #1 – MOUNT DOUGLAS BALD TRAIL

Mount Douglas Bald Trail a.k.a. Bald Peak Trail

Where: Welsford, NB

Access – Burton Lane, to the right off Hwy 101 immediately past the Hwy 7 overpass
There is a parking area there and nothing else, with the trailhead easily recognized but not signed.

Length – Trailhead to summit approx 1.25 km, not much of a hike but pretty good cardio due to the vertical, and the view from the summit  is, I believe, well worth it.

The view from the summit looking south

Degree of difficulty – “Moderate” with the following caveats:

– for the most part the trail is more like a dry stream bed strewn with small boulders and gnarly roots than a trail – footing can be tricky by times;

– the trail is not groomed at all and is absolutely unfit for mountain bikes or baby buggies;

– the probable demographic for this trail is “younger & decently fit.” Because of the treacherous footing the trail is unsuitable for small children or older people, and impossible for anyone with impaired mobility; and

– this trail absolutely should not be attempted in the dark, fog, rain or while under the influence of anything.

The trail has a great deal of vertical, rising 180 metres over its total length.  Almost all of this is in the shade of thick mixed forest -- nice! 

Only the summit is open to the sky and an army helipad there makes an excellent sundeck.  The summit provides great views to the south of Mt Douglas looking down the Nerepis Valley.

Suitability for naked hiking – If there are NO other vehicles in the parking area you are likely good to hike the trail naked . . . I did.  Just keep a good pace so that you don’t get overtaken from behind.  If there are other vehicles there you are taking a chance as this can be a fairly popular trail on nice days.

Looking up to the summit from the plateau

Overnighting – not recommended but possible.  There is no camping area at the top or bottom but there is a plateau below the summit that has been used by campers in the past.  There are no facilities and no water sources near the plateau.  A campfire gone wrong here would be a disaster.

RAMBLING THOUGHTS

I’ve been off my game for some time and haven’t posted anything.  I’ll try to do better from now on.

I am, for lack of a better term, a naturist advocate.  That is to say that I advocate on behalf of the naturist lifestyle.  I would like to be able to claim that I am a naturist organizer, but I can’t.  I learned a long time ago that it is very difficult to organize naturists.  Every one of us has our own schedule and conflicting priorities that make organizing any group event an iffy business.  When you add the vagaries of weather to the equation it gets much worse.

Since I cannot manage to organize group naturist events I settle for advocating in general terms.  I have no difficulty talking to anyone, women or men, about naturism.  In doing this I have recruited a few new members and learned a few important things.

First, women are an easier audience than men, most are willing to discuss it, at least on the theoretical level, and many want details.  The fine print matters to them.

Second, talking to women about naturism can reveal some of the problems they have with participating.  Many, maybe most, of those problems deal with the men in their lives.  This is enlightening because conventional wisdom tells us that women do not participate because they lack confidence due to body image issues.  Some women see it differently.

A few have told me that they couldn't go to a naturist beach because their partner won’t.  When asked “Why not?” the usual response is “He’s too shy.”  Further probing reveals that the man has body issues, usually relating to fear of having a penis smaller than other men on the beach.  Oh the fear of comparison.  HINT FOR GUYS: Stop looking closely at people’s fun bits, it is rude . . . and weird too.

Other women have told me that they would be happy to go to a naturist beach but their partner is just “too sexual,” unable to separate the concepts of nudity and sex.  HINT FOR GUYS: Grow up!  There are times and places for sex and a public beach doesn’t provide either. 

Still other women have told me that their partner is simply too possessive and would object to other men seeing “his woman” naked.  To me this seems to be an extension of the problem of being too sexual, projecting that same attitude on all other men.  HINT FOR GUYS:  Naturism is by definition non-sexual social nudity.

All this information gained from chatting with women helps me to explain some of the behaviours I have noted at the gym: guys getting dressed or undressed in a shower stall; guys coming into the sauna fully clothed.  (Yeech!)  These behaviours have often made me ask myself “What the hell is wrong with men these days?”

I got some potential answers to that question the other day when I left the beach and went to the showers.  In the change room I witnessed three different scenes of hysteria (there’s no other proper word for it) from small boys as their fathers tried to wrangle them out of their swimsuits and into the showers.  “I hate being naked,” one little boy screamed.  “Huh!” I thought, “that’s weird.” When I was a kid nobody batted an eye about swimming naked at Scout camp, YMCA camp or wherever.  Half of my boyhood fishing trips ended up with skinnydipping, it was simply the done thing.  Apparently these days are gone, replaced by early childhood education in fear and loathing.  It seems that we are somehow training boys from infancy to be ashamed and afraid of their own bodies.  This is a very unhealthy situation.