Locals bare all at private Lake Associates Recreation Club

LAKE McMURRAY — Back in August, when the days were longer and the thermometer’s red line was a bit higher, the members of Lake Associates Recreation Club seemed to soak up the summer sun with more zest than most.

While gardening, hiking, or simply sitting outside with neighbors, the folks at Lake Associates, locally known as LARC, were doing their best to capture a deep, golden tan — all over. With the exception of watch-wearers, tan lines are nonexistent at this clothing-optional camping and recreation club north of Lake McMurray.

That’s right: Clothing optional. Though club members welcome clothed guests as long as they don’t gawk, the first thing most visitors do when they arrive at the LARC property line is get naked.

“It feels great having the sun hit every part of your body,” said Alice Anderson, a LARC caretaker, who wore a loosely wrapped sarong and oversized T-shirt while she and five other members spoke about their clothes-free way of life to an outsider — a self-prescribed clothist.

“We enjoy not being encumbered with fabric and clothes,” added LARC co-owner Astrid King.

Though generally accepted elsewhere, the concept of nudism tends to make Americans uneasy, said Carolyn Hawkins, spokeswoman for the Kissimmee, Fla.-based American Association for Nude Recreation.

“It’s a normal, common thing in Europe,” said Hawkins, whose organization has 50,000 individual members across the nation. But American “society, unfortunately, has a tendency to judge,” Hawkins said.

Nudism is as normal and natural as wanting to take off your work clothes after a long day at the office, Hawkins said.

At the LARC property, dotted by wooded trails, creeks, recreational vehicles and a few miniature mobile homes, members say they, too, feel perfectly natural when strolling the central, grassy lawn in the nude. But they also recognize the general public doesn’t always feel the same way.

And so the club doesn’t insist that visitors immediately disrobe. Instead, club members prefer that outsiders take their time to observe and decide when they’re ready to don their birthday suits.

Ironically, member Sandra Jones said that poking a well-sunned arm out of a rarely worn T-shirt is what often gives her a chance to share nudism when running errands outside LARC.

“Somebody will say ‘You have a nice tan,’” Jones said. “And that’s my opportunity to say the lifestyle isn’t as scary as they think.”

But that doesn’t stop her audience from blinking. Often times, people defensively shoot back “that’s great, but I couldn’t do it,” said King. And her husband, Mike King, says his colleagues in construction will frequently ask if orgies are the norm at LARC.

“There’s less sexuality going on at this camp than there is in a church camp,” Mike King quipped. “It doesn’t have anything to do with wearing clothes or not. It’s the people.”

There’s a collective spirit within the safe confines of nudist clubs, members say. Whereas people risk arrest for nude recreation on public lands, LARC and other private clubs allow members to simply be themselves.

“What we’re saying is we love you just the way you are,” said Astrid King as she sat beside her LARC friends. “You can’t make pre-formed judgments based on their clothes. It’s a total leveler; it’s an equalizer.”

So much so, that Mike King said he’s known one LARC member for years and only recently realized she has a tattoo. He focused more on getting to know the person under her skin, he said.

An accountant by trade, Anderson said it wasn’t until she moved onto LARC grounds that she made true female friends.

“There’s no competition here,” Anderson said of the catty nature that can occur among women. “When I was (living) in Marysville, I didn’t know anybody on my block. But I know everybody here. It’s a sense of community and support.”

Of course, there are special considerations when it comes being a safe and sane nudist. For example, when LARC’s walking group meets in the morning, they may not be clothed, but they do wear brightly colored caps to avoid being run over by golf carts zooming through the club’s looping roadways.

And though the sun’s rays are soothing, they can also present a health danger. To avoid sunburns or worse, members say they are constantly reminding each other to reapply sunscreen. Always conscience of good hygiene, LARC members also carry a towel to sit on.

But now that the fall is moving in and leaves are changing their colors, there may not be as much nakedness on LARC’s ground. Like everyone else, club members say they bundle up in inclement weather.

“Nudists are not stupid,” Jones said matter-of-factly. “If it’s cold, they have clothes on.”

• Franny White can be reached at 360-416-2148 or

To find out more about nudists and nudism, check out these Web sites:

• http://www.larcnudists.com
• http://www.aanr.com
• http://www.naturistsociety.com
• http://www.inffni.org