Ahhh Black’s Beach… One of San Diego’s best-kept little naked secrets. For the locals, this shit is pretty much normal being as you can walk 3.5 miles north and see a naked homeless man shake his junk at you in the middle of the intersection almost every morning. He normally shouts his name as well, today it was Richard, which is either untrue or severely ironic. But for tourists who hear about nude beaches and think “oh we should go,” I say do it solely for the memories and the experience because boy, was it one for the books!
Being I’m new to the nude scene, I went into this slightly nervous and terrified of what was to come. I mean I won’t even send naked pictures to boyfriends without a little alcohol in my system, so you can imagine my hesitation in taking my shirt off in front of complete, also naked strangers.
Let’s start with the basics: How the hell do you even get down there?
Well that my fine-feathered (or should I say unclothed friends) is a bitch… I mean a bit of a hike. (I really should have stretched!) I went around 11:30 AM, so by the time we got food and got over to the trailhead, it was closer to noon. I think we went at the perfect time for a Thursday. Though after talking with a few frequenters early morning weekends and afternoon weekdays are the busiest and least likely to find parking times.
We started our venture with food from the CliffHanger Cafe which is located right at the top of the parking lot next to the Torrey Pines Gliderport. And I don’t know if this is always there but they had a Fly a Bird of Prey interaction thing and we were very tempted to do it after watching some other people, but also deathly afraid because that bird did not look friendly, he looked like he was unhappily working a dead-end job… literally. In captivity, they only live about 15 years as opposed to the wildlife of 45 or 55. Yes, we asked the crazy bird lady because we were debating doing it.
I mean, how many times in your life can you say you went to get lunch and be naked and ended up letting a bird fly off your arm and return to you 20 minutes later? But after we saw it attack its animal carcass to feed on we said NOPE and kept it pushing. After we ate our food and watched some of the paragliders take off we made our way to the trailhead which is right behind the gliderport shop/cafe.
I thought it was going to be harder than it actually was. If I’m being honest, it was fairly mild compared to the other routes I’ve heard you can access it from. The Saigon Trail I know leads you a couple of miles south of the actual Black’s Beach. I think over there it’s considered South Black’s Beach which I was informed is NOT clothing optional, and it is very much clothing enforced. I love that the trail to get done it’s full of sporadic stairs, it makes it much easier than trying to Bear Grylls my way out of falling and/or sliding off the cliff. There’s not as much signage as I was assuming there would be letting you know that it is clothing optional or maybe we just missed that. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting but watching people get closer to the bottom and lose more articles of clothing with each step wasn’t it at all. I’m all for body positivity in every form but was a bit of a shock at first!
The environment on the beach is almost like stepping into a different realm. I didn’t feel that lingering judgmental vibe in the air like you normally feel walking anywhere around SD. The things we worry about or think people care about for some reason down on that beach no one cares.
One thing I didn’t expect was how conversational people can be. I forgot what it’s like to just have a nice conversation with a naked stranger. It forces eye contact which isn’t a bad habit to increase.
Sure, you get your crazies and your creeps but the lifeguards that patrol through there are good at herding them out of there.
I think the funniest part of the experience was when I glanced at a man that looked to be fully clothed in what I thought was a full sweater and thick ass pants, but at a longer stare was in fact naked, just unbelievably hairy. I normally am not the staring type, but I couldn’t help it.
I talked to the nicest older couple who had been coming here since they started dating many moons ago. She was hesitant and he was super into it and dragged her down there on a surprise date. And, in her words, she fell for him right then and there. No like she literally fell and broke her ankle missing a step and that made for such a good story when they got to the ER and makes for a great story even now.
They’ve brought their kids here and family that was into it for many years and since retiring they try to come at least twice a week! Since I went for research purposes I asked them a whole bunch of questions and they actually live nude in their house. He said the only clothes he owns are going out clothes, and her as well. I mean he went as far as to inform me that he hasn’t owned underwear in 40 years! I could never but it sounds like they live their best life and I’m glad they do.
They were so carefree and beyond friendly, she was telling us she owns stock in the San Diego Zoo, and if I gave her my number she could get me discounts or even free shit. So, I did. I haven’t been to the SD Zoo since I was 8 and doing a summer camp, I feel as though it’s only right to full circle it and get drunk with the exotic cats now as an adult.
All in all, I had a great time and a great experience! Would I go again? Yeah, but I would go on a different day and time to maybe get a better feel for it. I think it’s something everyone should do once in their lifetime, whether it’s coming out to Black’s Beach or finding another nude beach in your area.
It’s a great, judgment-free group of people and in the times we’re living we definitely need more of that kind of energy.