Clothing Optional

Late Friday, June 30, 2011 (Continued)—Faywood Hot Springs

Faywood Hot Springs was organized.  A woman was at the gate and knew it was me based on my reservation.  She had a map with the route to my tent site marked on it.  It took only about 15 minutes to get the tent set up and the site prepared with my chair for reading.  All the sites were quite private with lots of trees and brush around them.

A few moments after I had set up, an Hispanic man walked over from the campsite across the road and introduced himself.  Then he mentioned that nothing outside the clothing optional pool area was clothing optional.  He asked if I minded if they were nude at their campsite.  Of course, I said it was no problem.  He said I was welcome to come over if I wanted, but after a brief pause said, “Nude, of course.”

I got my towel and walked down to inspect the hot springs.  There are two sections of public springs for day use—one where clothing is required and one where it is optional.  No one was at either place--probably due to the fact it was about 6 p.m. and the day visitors likely leave by then.  I undressed and enjoyed soaking in the pools.  There was a very hot, a hot, and a cold pool.  I started with the very hot and worked my way down so that I would be cooled off by the time I got back to the campground. 

Back at my site, I read until it started to get too dark to do so.  Then I took my towel and headed to the private tubs for campers.  There were 4 men and 2 women there.  The women were dressed, but all the men were nude.  The two men with the women were drying off to leave.  As they all went out the gate, I didn’t want to create an awkward appearance, so I undressed like the two remaining men.

The men were rather interesting.  Both are retired and are pilots.  One is at the resort because he loves nudity.  He said he is helping them build a new campground where the camping sites themselves will also be clothing optional.  The other is here as a part of a fire fighting team.  After a while, I left to go to bed.  It was about 9:30.

Unfortunately, those two men must have stayed in the pools until 2 a.m.  My tent was next door to the hot tub complex, and I could hear the voice of the one who is building the new campground.  I had to go to my car and get my earplugs.  When I tried to take them out at 1:30, I could still hear him.  When I tried again at 2 a.m., I could hear music.  Then I heard a car door slam and a car take off.  Finally, I could sleep without the earplugs.  The pressure of them bothers me.

Saturday, July 1, 2012—Faywood to Gila Cliff Dwellings to El Morro

I was up by 7:15.  By 8:00 I had showered, packed and was ready to go.  I headed to the Gila CliffDwellings National Monument.  They are way off the road at a dead end, so it took all morning to drive there, visit them, and then get back to the main highway.  They are nice, but I’m not sure if they are worth the cost in gasoline and time to get to them.

The cliff dwellings are indentations in the sides of mountains where rivers have run.  They are rather dramatic, though, because some of the indentations are deep and high.  Inside them, the Indians built walls to create rooms for living, for ceremonies, and for storage.  The soot on the ceilings from fires has been dated to show that Indians have used the caverns for 10,000 years.  The wood used as beams in the construction of the roofs of the rooms shows that it was cut about 950-1000 years ago, so they must have lived there a long time before someone came up with the idea of building walls and compartmentalizing the large caverns.

I made a stop at Walmart for gas and at McDonalds to check my e-mail when I got back to the main highway at Silver City.  Then I began driving northward.  The drive was through beautiful wooded mountains, but there didn’t seem to be any simple places to stop.  I stopped for some fantastic photos a few times, but trails did not seem to be loops that would bring me back to where I was.  Also, the driving in the mountains, especially to and from the cliff dwellings, ate up so much time that I needed to push ahead to get to my destination.  I was further slowed by the ridiculously low speed limits in New Mexico.  It is quite common for a highway far away from everything to have a speed limit of 45 or 55 mph (72-88 km/p/h)!!

I arrived at the El Morro Campground at 17:45.  The owner wasn’t present, but a guy staying in a cabin said just to pick out a site and that the owner would collect from me tomorrow morning.  Also, a man arriving in an RV told me he had been told to do the same when he talked to the owner by phone.

While typing, the owner came by.  He said he was closed and would collect tomorrow morning.  I asked about his wifi that the website said the campground had, and he said something that made me think his provider has limited his broadband usage so that he doesn't like to give out the password anymore.  I had already planned to save the file and post this at a McDonald's along the way, so that is what I did.

Walking Steps:  6171 (Limited because of so much time driving)

Driving Distance:  366 miles (589 km)