Recon for Naked Hiking Day

A cooler freehiking experience on the Pacific Crest Trail

Karen Tellez froze to death on this stretch of the PCT during a winter storm in December of 1997.

LOS ANGELES — My last foray into freehiking ended with it being too hot for comfort. This past week, I thought I’d go where it was cooler. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) passes north of where I live, intersecting several roads. This section runs mostly above 5,000 ft. elevation along a ridgeline that includes Sawmill Mountain, Liebre Mountain, and Sandburg Mountain. That makes it 15 degrees F. cooler than where I live.

This is still the thru-hiking season for my section of the PCT. As I understand it, the last thru-hikers left Campos at the Mexican border at the end of May. It takes a month to get to this area, so we’ll be seeing hikers until the end of June.

Red was burned in the 2020 Lake Fire with little recovery yet. Yellow in the 2004 Pine Fire and is somewhat recovered.

Acres of poodle dog bush render stretches of the PCT hazardous.

As I drove along a truck trail labeled 7N23 on the map, I passed some thru-hikers. They had taken to the road that the PCT parallels to avoid wading through expanses of poodle dog bush that have sprouted up in the area burned by the 2020 Lake Fire. Poodle Dog is a ruderal, or “weed” species that thrives in areas that have been burned or otherwise disturbed. Unfortunately, it is very toxic — even more so than poison oak. The flowers look very inviting to pick and people have ended up at the hospital after exposure.

Every time I stop to talk to thru-hikers, I mention that I’m a nudist and might be hiking up here naked. I’ve never had a negative response. This time, I met one group of three who really thought the discussion was interesting. One guy had been to the Bay to Breakers and probably had photos of me. Another guy had fled Russia years ago. A woman with them jumped into a discussion about body neutrality as opposed to body positivity and made some good points. I may advocate for body neutrality in the future. It fits in with my Stoic/Buddhist philosophy.

Body neutrality is simply the act of taking a neutral stance toward your body — both emotionally and physically. That means not supporting the hatred toward your body's “limitations” or investing time and energy to love it either. You can simply be at peace with your body. - Web MD

If you are going northbound, the PCT takes a hard right turn to follow Horse Thief Canyon downhill. If you continue straight, you will be on the Sandburg Bike Trail. This trail is used primarily by bicycles. That’s easy to tell from the trail shape, narrow but deep, with skinny tire tracks. (Motorcycles make much bigger ruts.) People drive to the top and ride their bikes downhill. Another person drives to the bottom — or another car is already waiting at the bottom — to pick them up. Due to an extremely steep section, nobody rides their bike up.

There was nobody at the top, so there was no chance of an unexpected bike encounter, and no hikers came my way. I hiked west to the top of Sandburg Mountain and then back.

Heading west on Sandburg Trail.

I surprised a deer here but wasn’t fast enough with the camera to catch it.

Purple nightshade.

I ended up carrying my fanny pack. Wearing it ruined the feeling of nakedness.

The fire hadn’t gotten this far. I was surrounded by oak forest and savanna. I could see the Antelope Valley to the north, and to the south, I could sometimes see Santa Clarita, a 30-mile straight line distance. As remote as this hike was, I usually had good cellphone service. This time of year, there weren’t a lot of flowers out, but I did see a few.

Grinnell’s beardtongue.

Looking north from the trail I can intermittently see the Antelope valley.

Looking south I can see clearly for over 30 miles.

This is the view from Liebre Moutain on a short stub of a trail that went to a scenic outlook. I had to cross the road to get to it but I didn’t see a vehicle on the road all day, so no problem. The photo doesn’t show it well, but I could see Santa Clarita in the distance to the left. On the far right is Pyramid Lake.

Soon, it was time to return home. I didn’t meet another person on the trail, only when driving the road. I think I’ll be a bit more daring on Naked Hiking Day, which takes place on the summer solstice every year.

If only I could find someone free during the week to hike with me!