nudity in national parks

[ranul]

If the government decided to designate various trails in national parks as clothing-optional, what percentage would have to take advantage and go nude for the nudist not to be considered weird

[nudeyooper]

Nudists will always be looked at as weird. Though the ability to be naked by choice and within the law may change, clothing has been around for several millennia as part of culture rather than necessity. Even at places where nudity is allowed such as designated beaches, there is a proportion of people who will go there and keep at least some if not all of their controversial parts covered.

[Mosquito_Bait]

There is no federal law prohibiting nudity. You are not breaking federal law by being nude on federal land with the exception of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which has its own regulation prohibiting nudity. That being said, there is the issue of concurrent jurisdiction, which means that you can be arrested under state law while on federal land, and this typically does happen. On the Outer Banks, there was a ranger who was infamous for lurking in the dunes to catch skinny dippers. Those he caught were charged under North Carolina law. In the general case, a ranger will ignore discrete skinny dipping in a remote mountain lake; however, they will take action if there are complaints.

[ranul]

Even if any complains nothing would be done

[nudeM]

There is no federal law prohibiting nudity. You are not breaking federal law by being nude on federal land with the exception of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which has its own regulation prohibiting nudity. That being said, there is the issue of concurrent jurisdiction, which means that you can be arrested under state law while on federal land, and this typically does happen. On the Outer Banks, there was a ranger who was infamous for lurking in the dunes to catch skinny dippers. Those he caught were charged under North Carolina law. In the general case, a ranger will ignore discrete skinny dipping in a remote mountain lake; however, they will take action if there are complaints.

The main question I would have, if there is no federal law against nudity on federal property, then how can a person be charged with State laws when the nudity happened on Federal property? I thought Feds trump State.
State property, yes. There are designated clothing optional areas where nudity is permitted, but those are on State property. I can't see how a person can be charged with going against a State "law" on federal property. I would think this would be thrown out of court, State overstepping Federal jurisdiction.

[Mosquito_Bait]

The main question I would have, if there is no federal law against nudity on federal property, then how can a person be charged with State laws when the nudity happened on Federal property? I thought Feds trump State.
State property, yes. There are designated clothing optional areas where nudity is permitted, but those are on State property. I can't see how a person can be charged with going against a State "law" on federal property. I would think this would be thrown out of court, State overstepping Federal jurisdiction.

The principle is called "Concurrent Jurisdiction". I'm not a lawyer, so my explanation might be garbled, but the general idea is that a person can be charged under either state or federal law when on federal property where there is a concurrent jurisdiction agreement. Most federal sites that are frequented by the general public have such agreements.

[Noodfellaz]

I think Mosquito_Bait is right. Go walk to the visitors center in Yosemite and let me know how that works out for ya

[nudeyooper]

I've seen and heard reports that swimmers at Sleeping Bear National Lake Shore and Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore have been told to cover up by authorities as well. Though there is no federal law against nudity, the federal government has given the states the power to enforce their laws on federal land. If federal land was the only requirement to allow nudity, then the entire city of Washington, D.C. could become clothing optional. Imagine the Senate meeting in the nude. It might be enough for them to work together and get things done.

[seanotanline]

Heck yes. I hike them naked when I can even though they aren't designated as such. If you get away from the visitor centers and "must see" sights, there are hundreds of miles of seldom visited trails in many of the parks. This is one such trail in North Cascades National Park.

[Open_Camper]

Wow! The Senate meeting in the nude. There is not a bar of soap big enough to scrub that image out of mu brain. And in the House = Nancy Pelosi. I'm going blind.

[ranul]

Heck yes. I hike them naked when I can even though they aren't designated as such. If you get away from the visitor centers and "must see" sights, there are hundreds of miles of seldom visited trails in many of the parks. This is one such trail in North Cascades National Park.

Did you come across anyone while walking nude

[ranul]

Heck yes. I hike them naked when I can even though they aren't designated as such. If you get away from the visitor centers and "must see" sights, there are hundreds of miles of seldom visited trails in many of the parks. This is one such trail in North Cascades National Park.

Did you come across anyone while walking nude

[seanotanline]

Did you come across anyone while walking nude

I did not. I heard voices as I approached a backcountry camp site, so put on a pair of shorts before walking through. Those were the only people I saw that day.

[ranul]

I did not. I heard voices as I approached a backcountry campsite, so put on a pair of shorts before walking through. Those were the only people I saw that day.

Until the day that you can walk naked in National Parks and not be worried if anyone comes walking down the path

[Noodfellaz]

I copied this from another site and thought it was too good to not share with ya'll

The notion that there is no law against being naked on federal lands in the USA is something of a fallacy. While there is indeed no specific federal law against nudity, there is the assimilated crimes act, 18 U.S.C. Section 13, which I've set out in full below. It makes acts which would be a crime under state law equally punishable under federal law. As an example, there are no general federal murder laws (there are specific ones for the president, congressmen, judges, law enforcers, but I'm not talking about those), but murder someone in Yellowstone National Park, and the feds will prosecute under this statute "assimilating" Wyoming's murder statute.

The reason this misunderstanding has persisted is because the general practice on federal lands falls within the notion you discussed: "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Or rather, if a naked person walks in the forest and no one is around to see it, is it still illegal? This is the attitude that most naked hikers go by. They search for natural places and hiking trails where it’s not really common to encounter others to limit their chances to run into trouble. In the end, the goal is to connect to the surrounding nature and with fewer loud humans around, this works a lot better." They will enforce state anti-nudity laws if the nudity is a problem, otherwise not.

18 U.S.C. Section 13(a) states in full:
Whoever within or upon any of the places now existing or hereafter reserved or acquired as provided in section 7 of this title, or on, above, or below any portion of the territorial sea of the United States not within the jurisdiction of any State, Commonwealth, territory, possession, or district is guilty of any act or omission which, although not made punishable by any enactment of Congress, would be punishable if committed or omitted within the jurisdiction of the State, Territory, Possession, or District in which such place is situated, by the laws thereof in force at the time of such act or omission, shall be guilty of a like offense and subject to a like punishment