Olive Dell Ranch & 5k Bare Burro Race || Riverside, CA
We were invited to this nudist resort and beer fun-run by another couple. We’ve only been camping a couple of times in our relationship so we had to do an REI and Big 5 run the week leading up to it, but we pieced together a hodge-podge of items and headed off to Riverside, California.
Olive Dell Ranch is right outside the suburbs of Riverside, so you can easily pick up ice, drinks, and groceries right before you get there (and go for a quick store run if you’re desperate during your stay). We arrived around noon on Saturday, parked at their office and checked in (masks are required in the office as of this posting). We were told “whatever space you can find, grab it”. Not knowing what that meant we rolled on in, but it became abundantly clear once we were inside. The grounds were really large with a lot of permanent resident mobile homes, visitor RVs, and sections with lots of tents. Once we nabbed a spot, unloaded, and set up our tent, it was time to undress.
Our friends came and found us, gave us a tour of the grounds which includes a pool, hot tub, tennis court, bar, and food areas. The bar and ‘restaurant’ are very simple but nice to have. It’s local employees (RV owners?) in a kitchenette with basics like beer, wine, hard alcohol and mixers and the food is your classic grilled American food in take-out containers. The pool is very clean, solar heated which means it’s cold, but very refreshing on a hot day. The hot tub is sizable, clean, and very hot. There’s also bathrooms which were clean and always well stocked, and a co-ed shower area.
Everyone is walking around nude. I can’t imagine the type of clientele at this place would shame anyone for partial or full clothing, but that just wasn’t the reason to be there. It was a very inviting, laid back atmosphere of people who just want to be nude in nature. The downside is that it felt ~90% male guests and majority white. The plus side is that it was very diverse in sexual orientation (pride flags were proudly flying in the tents next to us), age, and body sizes. I never felt judged, compared, or insecure by the crowd. And as a woman, the best part was that I never felt leered at, uncomfortable, or disrespected.
The Saturday that we were there was the 1 mile beer race. They provided cans of ice cold Coors and Bud Lite. Everyone starts together, when they yell ‘go’ we all chugged a can, then you run a quarter mile in a circle, chug another can, run a quarter mile, chug, run, until you’ve completed a full mile and chugged 4 beers. I chugged the first beer, ran a quarter, and then came back and hung out with the other spectators while sipping on a second beer. I’m not a runner and I don’t usually chug beer, so it was fun to join in the frivolity but I didn’t want to push myself and ruin my day. Dax did finish the entire race and was rewarded with a kids beach shovel as a prize with zero explanation but we’re here for the frivolity so we went with it.
That night, they had a themed party in the bar area. It was a small space, but big enough for the crowd that was there. The theme that night was One Piece of Clothing (shoes don’t count). Ideas include a cape, tutu, tie, hat, necklace, silly sunglasses, crown. It was really great, no judgment, everyone was just dancing and having fun.
The next day was the naked 5k. This is apparently one of the biggest annual events at the resort; people who don’t even camp there overnight show up for this event. The starting line was near the pool, so everyone was congregating and there was an upbeat buzz in the air like any race. We went to pick-up our packets, and since we didn’t have any clothes to pin a number on, they wrote on our upper arms. The best part (in my opinion) was that they said if your number is written in black, you might appear in pictures but if your number is written in red the professional photographer will avoid taking pictures of you or blur your face if you’re in the background. I chose red, Dax chose black.
The run wound all the way through the RV park and up through the hills surrounding the resort. They own several acres so you can be naked the entire 5k while being in nature. It’s open to all skill levels, there’s prizes for competitive runners or you could be like me and walk the entire thing. There were a few challenging parts, and it is a desert landscape so it was dusty and dry. However, I am not an athlete and I overheat easily and I made it through. It wasn’t my favorite activity in the world just because I dislike all running, and you should determine what’s best for your body and skill level, but it also wasn’t overly difficult.
We were some of the last to finish, but we completed it which is all that mattered to me. The pool area was packed and everyone was partying, we rinsed off and then jumped into the chilly pool which felt amazing. It was early Sunday afternoon so after cooling off and recovering it was time to go back to reality. We packed up our car, said goodbye to our new friends, grudgingly put clothes on for the first time in 30 hours, and headed home.
Overall I would suggest this place if you enjoy camping and nudity. It’s first and foremost a nudist space, and is not an intended swingers resort. There were lovely people there who were monogamously married, or single and just love being nude with others. We also found swingers who we ended up swapping numbers with and even swapping partners with for the night (my first time having sex in a roof-top tent). It was a very clean, respectful atmosphere in nature which was refreshing, aside from the rude wild donkeys who woke me up from their mating brays all night (the word “donkeys” here is not a euphemism, literal donkeys).
