Hiking - Part 81

 Putney Mountain, Vermont

This is another naked hike by Jim Bornholdt, whom we have seen before.  A few years ago, after a cancer diagnosis, Jim decided to embrace the idea of naked hiking, which he had done a few times before.  For him, shedding his clothes was symbolic of shedding fears and negative baggage.  He calls it "forest bathing", and he relishes the freedom of going into and out of the sunshine and feeling the forest energy across his skin.

He lives in Connecticut, but he found that public nudity is legal in Vermont (as long as you don't engage in "lewd and lascivious conduct"), and Vermont has many wonderful hiking trails, so he began hiking the Vermont trails naked and publishing photos of his hikes on his blog called Baring It All in the Woods.

Today we see Jim's hike to the summit of Putney Mountain on May 2, 2024, which was his first hike of that year.  As always, Jim posts a "naked hiker on the trail" sign at the beginning of the trail to warn people, which you can see taped to the board behind him.  And as always, people he met on the trail had no problem with his nudity.

Here he is at the start of the Ridgeline Trail, which goes up to the summit.  It's a short loop trail and is rated "easy".  You can see that many of the trees were still bare.  Spring had not quite come to the mountains in Vermont.

On the short hike up to the summit, Jim met an older woman who was friendly.

The temperature at the summit was in the high 60s.  In the background you can see a trail runner who passed Jim.  Jim said "Hello" to him, but the runner kept running.

There are nice views from the summit.  Jim also met two more ladies there and exchanged pleasantries.

Part of the trail back down.

And here's Jim back at the trailhead next to the parking lot.  Another successful naked hike.