Reply #3: We went skinny dipping the night after I turned 21

[Modem Butterfly]

I was a student at the University of Oregon. My best friend and I were Resident Advisors. It was a long weekend due to the MLK holiday and we thought we would run up to Cougar Hot Springs for a dip. We asked a couple of friends who were also RAs and then we agreed we should let someone know where we were going (the hot springs were in a remote location and this was before cell phones were common). By the time it was all said and done, we'd amassed a rather sizeable group (10 or 12 people). We drove up to the springs, where we got stuck in the snow, in the dark. Fuck. Now what? Not to worry, there were a couple of guys there who assured us we were just a short hike away from the springs, no problem finding it in the dark (we hadn't thought to bring flaslights). 100 yards or so. Well, 100 yards became 200, 200 became 400, and on and on we hiked. In the starlight we could see animal tracks in the snow- clawed animal tracks. As in, not deer.

So we're walking and we're walking and we're quietly panicking. No one was dressed for the weather (one friend wasn't even wearing socks). No one had a flashlight. And each of the people who'd been told we were going had decided to come themselves, so no one knew where we were, or even that we were gone. We boosted our spirits by talking. One of our impromptu guides announced they had dropped acid before they saw us. We began to panic less quietly. Then we got to the springs.

By this point, we were all so cold and tired that we just took off our clothes and got in. We stayed there until the sun came up, talking, dozing, getting stoned. By the end of it all, the fact that we were naked didn't even matter. And now, 12 years on, I have really fond memories of that trip, even the part where my friend got frostbite. Even the part where I thought, just for a few moments, that I might not make it back to Eugene in one piece. The memories are so fond that the smell of sulphur makes me smile.

Yes, you read that correctly. Farts make me happy. Go figure.