"Where do you go on the first Saturday of each month?" I quizzed Sandra. "It seems to me that you've been vanishing on those days for the last year or so."
Sandra laughed. "It's no big secret. I go hiking with a group each month. We take little used trails to the top of a mountain, enjoying the peace and scenery."
"Sounds like fun," I said. "Any objection to me coming on your next excursion?"
"No problems." Sandra said. Then she added with a smirk, "Did I mention that we hike in the nude?"
I just looked at her for a moment before saying "Nude?" in a very small voice.
"Yes. Nude. It means without clothing, but we do tend to wear sock and sandals, of course."
"Of course," I muttered. "I can see where those mountain tracks could be hard on bare feet."
Sandra was watching me, sniggering, daring me to come along. I have a big mouth at times.
"Aren't there other people around?" I asked weakly.
"Naturally. Lots of people go hiking, though we do tend to take the lesser used trails."
"But wouldn't they see you? What do they say?"
"Well it's obvious they see us if they take the same trail as us. As for what they say, generally nothing. The men are too busy looking and the women are wishing they had the nerve to do the same."
I was probably looking extremely doubtful about the propriety of hiking naked. Sandra was watching me with this big cheesy grin on her face, waiting for me to make a feeble excuse and back out. What could I do?
"OK," I said, with equal parts courage and stupidity. "I'll give it a go."
That's why I finished up at the foot of a mountain, taking my clothes off with a bunch of other idiots. Still not believing it, I set off on the hike, heading up the mountain. NAKED!
And it was fun. All the others were nude as well, so it wasn't like I stood out. We were just a friendly bunch of girls out hiking, talking amongst ourselves and having a bit of fun generally.
There was the occasional other hiker, but none of them tried to talk to us, although I will admit that they did tend to look us over pretty thoroughly. Going home afterwards, Sandra asked me what I thought of our little jaunt.
"It was fun," I honestly admitted. "I didn't really expect it to be, but everyone was so matter of fact about it that the nudity didn't matter. Although I did feel sorry for that guy who was so busy checking us out he walked off that ledge."
Sandra was totally callous where the unfortunate victim of our little walking club was concerned. "He should have kept his eye on the trail instead of on us," she said. "Anyway, I'm sure he felt a lot happier about the situation when we all gathered around him to make sure he wasn't hurt."
I had to laugh at that. The poor guy had had a blood nose and a wicked bulge in the front of his pants. I'm not sure which one distressed him more.
So, with hardly any pressure from Sandra, I joined the walking group. It was a fun way to keep fit and we could also see a bit of the country, as we always chose a different trek for or hike. No use encouraging sightseers to linger around a regular path, after all.
The next few hikes went peacefully, and I'll admit that I was getting fitter. Hiking to the top of a mountain is hard work, even if we do pick small mountains. Then came the day of my fifth hike.
The day started differently because Roger was there. In case you haven't guessed from the name, Roger was a man. Apparently he was the cousin of one of the girls, and knew about our little group and wanted to go with us.
Let me tell you, there is a big difference between stripping with some girls and stripping while you can see a man busily doing the same thing. I was feeling cagy about the whole thing, and I swore that at the first hint of an erection I was dressing and heading for home. I suspect that a number of the other girls felt the same way.
Then we were all stripped, including Roger, and no sign of an erection. There's something really annoying when a man you don't want to notice you, doesn't notice you. It's insulting. And to have no sign of an erection while surrounded by a dozen naked woman? The conclusion was obvious. Roger was gay, and effectively just another woman in male guise.
We headed off on our hike. Roger matched his pace to ours and seemed able to find time, and breath, to wind up next to every woman in our party for a little chat. When he caught up with me he turned out to be quite charming. He had an easy line of small talk and didn't make me feel self conscious about my clothes, or lack thereof. Neither did he try to flaunt his own nudity, although I was aware of it. He was really quite fit and attractive.
At the top of this particular hike we found a nice grassy area that had been set up for hikers and campers. There were a couple of other hikers already there when we arrived, but they made themselves scarce when they found a dozen chattering nudes descending on them. We're intimidating as a group. Think about it. Would you like to get into an argument with a dozen naked women?
We scattered around the grassy patch, dropped backpacks and just relaxed, swigging on our water bottles. I was sitting and looking out over the mountain. I find it hard to believe, at times, just how far you can see from the heights. Then Roger came and sat next to me.
We chatted for a while. He asked me how long I'd been doing this type of hiking and I explained that I was reasonably new at it. It turns out that this wasn't his first hike. He'd actually been with our group before on a number of occasions, but no-one had thought to mention this to me.
After a while we stopped talking and just sat, looking at the scenery and relaxing in the sun. And then he kissed me.