Richard Foley (richinud)

This year was a special year, as we had three (3) separate groups of naked hikers under way in Austria, all at the same time. One group was led by veteran Pascal from France who managed the larger group at a hut half-way up a mountain side. My group was based at a valley-level hut Gosau. Roland from the Netherlands ably led the mobile tent group. Our first day was a joint hike where the tent team walked together with us. We took a diagonal zig-zagging trail up through the thickly wooded mountain-side, after a while going up an almost completely forgotten and half-used trail.

After some time we gained the main ridge and walked along some wooden duck boards, to help stop the trails widening through the mosses, and reached the lake, perched high in the middle of the broad-backed ridge. At the lakeside, we met a group of friendly people who appeared pleasantly surprised by the naked horde which descended on their quiet gathering. The views were astounding of the ridge on the other side of the valley mirrored in the shining water.

Once we’d slaked our appetite for skinny-dipping, and devoured our luncheon we headed back down the hillside, past a high farm settlement and then followed the trail contouring slowly downwards towards the valley head. We found a remote Gasthof in the middle of the forest, and the proprietors were quite ok with us enjoying our coffee and beers and cake, naked at their table-side. Friendly all around and a lovely end to a lovely day.