Secret Harbor Creek Beach

01.05.10 - 12:19 pm | Gary Hanauer |

(0)

Rating: A

Whether you want to take part in the beach's 30th annual "only wear a hat day" August 21, a naked potluck next July, or a beach cleanup in June, or you just want to kick back and relax by yourself, beautiful Secret Harbor Creek Beach is the one nude beach in Tahoe you should visit if you don't have time to try any others.

There are also nude volleyball games, Paddle Ball without pants, and up to three nude barbecues a year at the site, which is called Creek Beach by some visitors.

Who knows, you may even see a bear saunter down onto the sand. It's happened twice in broad daylight, according to North Swanson, leader of the Tahoe Area Naturists (TAN). "But as soon as they see anybody, they run away," he says. "We haven't seen any for a few years."

What's stranger than bears at a nude beach? How about nudists braving the snow? Swanson says he and some of his friends donned snowshoes to make it down the hill to the beach "several times" in January. "If it's above 40 degrees and there is a wind, it's okay to go nude then," he says.

Like the other Tahoe nude beaches, the sand here is mainly composed of flakes of hard granite. To stop them from getting caught in your shoes and pinching you, when you arrive take off your shoes and let your feet go "nude" too.

Legal status:

Part of Toiyabe National Forest.

How to find it:

Follow directions to Secret Cove. Stay on the fire road until you arrive at the fork that says "Private Residence (left side) and Beaches (right side)." Veer right. Instead of following the next trail on the right to Boater's Beach, continue a quarter mile until you've crossed Secret Harbor Creek (it passes by in a culvert under the road) and arrived at a blue Porta Potty. Look back to the right and you'll notice that you've just passed the beach, which is only a 50-yard walk from here.

The beach:

Graced with a grove of shade-giving, black cottonwoods on one end of the cove, Secret Creek is a narrow strip of sand kept raked and terraced by regular visitors.

The crowd:

The site usually attracts 15 to 75 visitors a day, except during special events, when hundreds may attend. "On a good day, up to 40 percent of the visitors are women," says TAN's Swanson. In June 2010, Swanson counted "maybe 15 people on the sand." "On a beautiful Sunday, you might see 30 people on the sand," he estimates. Visitor Dave Smith spotted "about 40 to 50 persons" during a visit. "Maybe 90 percent of them were nude," says Smith. About 75 nudie-foodies appeared at last season's seafood extravaganza. The beach usually hosts 120 to 150 hat-wearing naked people on Hat Day; one year, 235 showed up. Many visitors are 40- and 50-somethings.

Problems:

Less sand this year; granite flakes tend to pinch feet if you wear sandals or flip-flops; beach hard to find unless you follow above directions; tight parking.