The park was well outside of town, twenty minutes past the city limits which put it just far enough to deter any locals from wandering over to take their dogs for walks. Proximity was the biggest issue and the further away, the better the odds of it being quiet.
There were two Yelp reviews, both from birders who commented that the park was great because it was rarely visited. They said there was no one out there and they could observe the birds in peace. One review was from four years ago, the other from six years back. No one updated Yelp recently so no one must be going. At least that was Linda’s interpretation.
The county’s website had all their parks listed. There were pictures for Ridgeview. They showed a small parking lot, just a turnout from the highway. There was nothing else suggesting human presence visible in the pictures. No amenities, no bathrooms, nothing. There was nothing there. It was a nature reserve with some gravel and dirt.
Linda was no detective but she congratulated herself on coming to her conclusion. It made sense to her and the next step was reconnaissance. She laughed at herself for the thought. Here she was, a mother of two high-schoolers, a wife to an accountant, now playing Secret Spy Sex Researcher. And it was all just for a fun orgasm.
Well, hopefully, it would be fun. There was only one way to see. She’d go investigate, get a feel for the place and take next steps if they presented themselves. She knew it was isolated but places that were too quiet wouldn’t have murderers and killers on the loose, would they?
“Let’s go find out,” she said and grabbed her keys.
The car tires crunched in the gravel as Linda pulled off the highway and into the parking lot. Calling it a ‘trailhead’ was a stretch. There was room for maybe five cars, barely enough to warrant a parking lot. It helped that she saw very little morning traffic on the road coming out. This was a quiet stretch.
“Here goes nothing,” Linda said. She immediately laughed and cringed at herself. She wasn’t one to make unnecessary noise and she usually didn’t hum or talk to herself. She was experiencing anxiety and it showed.
Linda took a breath and walked to the signboard.
The weather-worn entrance sign was green and had several posted sheets encased in plastic. There were the standard warnings about no pets, no firearms, no pyrotechnics, no smoking, or hunting. Linda noted nothing prohibited nudity.
Curiously, there was a log book sealed in a plastic Ziploc bag hanging from the large sign. Linda opened it. The book requested people enter visits to record park usage. No one reported being there so far this year. The weather had been nicer as of late and Linda thought people would at least try to get outside after the cold winter. Perhaps others simply didn’t fill it out. She sure wasn’t going to now.
She looked at the map. It showed a 1.25 mile round trip. The trail, beaten dirt, ran just inside the tree line adjacent to a farmer’s field. No barns or farmhouses were sight. It curled toward the nature area leading to rolling hills. Her quick glance around showed her fallen leaves and sticks, the debris of winter, littering both the left and right paths heading into the growth. The county hadn’t been out to clean up just yet. Maybe they simply never made it out to this park.
Linda trembled slightly, fingering the zipper of her hoodie. It was 10:30 am and already starting to get hot but she wanted to make sure she at least looked the part of a hiker. She had a tank top and bra on underneath the light gray hoodie and she wore dark green shorts, socks, and her tennis shoes. Her car keys and phone went into the hoodie’s pocket and she zipped it up.
There was nothing left to do but take a walk. Linda wasn’t sure what she was even looking for. How did one go about finding a place to have sex outside? She had the time of day right since it was early and kids were still in school. She had the location right as well since there wasn’t a school or houses anywhere near the park. And she had the season right. One would have seen through the bare woods two weeks earlier but spring had sprung. Dense, heavy growth now filled the woods with foliage. White and blue and yellow flowers popped up in a few sunny spots. Nature had exploded during the growing season. The air was empty of flying creepy-crawlies and it was too early for cicadas. The only sound was the blowing of leaves and the calls of birds high in the trees.
“Okay,” Linda said aloud, then laughed. Nerves. She picked the path branching to the right and started walking, her footsteps muted on the dirt. She did some quick math in her head.
Half a mile at a moderate walk was about ten minutes, far enough to be away from the parking lot. Maybe I could still hear a car door slam if someone else were close.
Linda headed into the woods.
She decided to look for a flat space with enough room for the two of them. Something near the trail but not right on it in case of an interruption. Two minutes of walking turned into ten minutes of hiking as the trail went up a gentle grade and turned into a more aggressive incline. Linda was in average shape and by no means out of breath but she found herself working when she crested the hill. She stopped.
She found it. She found the spot.
A large oak tree lay fallen on its side 30 feet into the undergrowth. The roots thrust out of the bottom of the tree like large antlers and the trunk itself was easily four feet thick. Linda stepped lightly off the trail through the plants and ground cover. The top of the fallen tree reached over her hips, providing a screen from anyone on the trail. She skirted a nest of thorny shrubs and that made her feel better. Natural deterrents were welcome.
Linda moved behind the oak, opposite of the trail, and knelt. It felt homey, comfortable. There was nothing behind the tree but wilds reaching to the distant hills west. A splash of sunlight filtered through the tall trees and she felt one with nature.
She wasn’t really sure what to do next. Now what? She could go get Bill and bring him here and talk about it. Or she could just surprise him and strip down in the middle of the woods. Something about that appealed to her and she decided that would be her move. She’d bring him out here for a hike together and then she could get naked in the middle of the trail and get him so turned on they’d have sex right over there behind that tree. Ta-da!
But Linda didn’t know if she could actually get naked outside in the middle of the woods. She looked around, peering hard into the woods. There was not a single hint of human life. The deer might peep on her and the squirrels were definitely keeping track of where she was but there weren’t any people.
Linda didn’t fancy herself a show-off and she rarely wore clothes meant to draw attention to her body. She was in okay shape but she just didn’t need people staring at her, judging her.
She tingled thinking about Bill staring at her. She pictured him standing, staring as she stripped down in the middle of the afternoon while outside. She saw him captivated by her boldness, his uncertainty and conservative personality grappling with carnal desire to fuck her. He would have to fuck her if she took all her clothes out out here.