Bye-bye Naked in the Hot Springs

I returned yesterday from a wonderful fall trip in the Eastern Sierra of California. It’s one of my favorites places on the planet. Where the high desert meets high alpine lakes, pine forests and granite peaks, you’ll find the best concentration of primitive hot springs in California.

I’ve visited and enjoyed hot springs for over 40 years. In the last 10 years, I’ve noticed a big shift in the type of folks who soak in their healing waters.

When I was a young man, there were mostly two types of people who braved those hygienically questionable and murky waters. There were the free spirited hippies like me who soaked in our birthday suits. There were also the working class whites. They wore bathing suits or clothing, smoked cigarettes and drank cheap American beer. We disparagingly called them white trash. They disparagingly called us hippies.

For us hippies, being naked in a natural hot spring made sense. It didn’t matter if you were short, tall, plump, trim, young or old; you felt a sense of freedom and joy soaking au natural. Hot springs also gave us permission to leave behind any sense of shame that we had around our bodies.

Sometimes, once enough hippie women were nude, the white working class women got naked as well. At first they glanced around and half expecting that one of their friends or boyfriends would appear out of nowhere to ridicule, or strangers would stare at them. Once they realized that no one cared or took notice, they relaxed.

Most people who visit hot springs today are not hippies and working class whites. They are more mainstream, ethnically and culturally diverse, and hot springs have become a lot more popular. Today it’s uncommon to find solitude for very long at a primitive hot spring, especially those that are accessible by a short walk. And today, almost everyone wears a bathing suit. “Clothing optional” has become “clothing normal.”

I made a post on FB asking those who used to go naked in hot springs and no longer do so why they changed. Most replied that if everyone else is clothed, it’s awkward being naked. Women in particular feel vulnerable naked if others aren’t. Even I, a man who’s enjoyed being a nudist since I could walk, feel a bit self-conscious when I am the only one naked at a hot spring.

Some women have told me that they don’t get gawked at as much if they’re clothed. They also observe that “mainstream” men are not used to nudity and may not be sure how to be appropriate around it.

You might ask, “What are you lamenting? It’s good that more people today are open to enjoying primitive hot springs. The population is more diverse and most folks simply don’t feel comfortable being naked, at least with others around.“

I’m lamenting two things. First, largely because of the Internet, it’s harder to find yourself alone, just with friends, family or a lover at a hot spring. Second, I lament the loss of the freedom, and a sense of camaraderie, to feel comfortable au natural in a natural setting. Primitive hot springs use to be one of the few places in the world where strangers were able to meet naked in the beautiful outdoors. I feel sad that this is vanishing.

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