Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Bare Truth of Summer Solstice

Abigail Tucker writes in the 22 June 2007 issue of the Baltimore Sun under the headline of "Naked ambition of hikers on the Appalachian" about ... yep ... Hike Naked Day on the summer solstice.

A few excerpts:
"The bad news for us is that the solstice falls at the time when backpackers are passing en masse through the Maryland area. ... The good news is that, although the nude hikers' flesh may be as brilliantly white as the blazes that mark the trail, they make themselves quite scarce."
Al Preston, an assistant manager of Western Maryland's South Mountain State Park, says that folks were doing it before he arrived at the park in 1992, where they usually just tend to ignore it. That's not the case in
"Virginia's George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, according to Woody Lipps, a patrol captain there who is not afraid to fine the naked. Penalties range from $75 to $5,000 or six months in jail, he said."
And, my favorite quote:
"One librarian from Queens, N.Y., saw the adventure's appeal. Michelle Ray, 30, had posed as a life model for art students during her college days, and she was still contemplating hiking naked herself. 'God forbid I run into a pack of Boy Scouts and scar them for life,' she said. 'A naked librarian? They don't need to see that.'"

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