Naked Ambition

"I think the best thing is taking a warm shower while it is raining," says Carol Cissel, who this time of year showers outside in a weathered wood enclosure by the screened side porch of her Victorian house in Berwyn Heights. "That's just about as close to nirvana as one can get. It feels like you are in an old-growth forest in Oregon and have discovered a secret waterfall all for yourself."

An outdoor shower usually seems like an indulgence reserved for the beach, stationed outside the back door so that sand doesn't get tracked all over the floor. But some in-town enthusiasts, inspired by the carefree hedonism of beach showering -- also known as being naked outside -- have discovered that there is more to an outdoor shower than keeping grit off the floors. Showering outdoors, according to devotees, is a way of life.

Ethan Fierro is the author of a new book, "The Outdoor Shower." The designer and builder has created many outdoor showers, including one on a Manhattan rooftop. Not surprisingly, he has one of his own at his home on Maui that opens to his own private slice of tropical paradise. Not bad.

Outdoor showers, he says, "get us in touch with a deeper and more primordial sense of ourselves and life. Bathing outside -- whether in the open or in an enclosed space -- allows us to feel sensual, vibrant and alive."

On Capitol Hill, Randy Reade is at one with that vibrancy. "When the weather is this hot, there is no greater joy than to strip down and shower under the cold water," he says. "Sometimes I take a shower two or three times a day, if it's really hot out."

Reade, owner of a software export firm, was inspired to build his shower after a beach vacation years ago. "There was just something really free and natural about it," he says. "You feel more open and happy. No steam fogging up the mirrors, no condensation on the tiles. And I've yet to find any lighting fixture that's better than the sun."

Once back in his 1911 townhouse on the Hill, he called a plumber to install a basic shower head -- no hot water -- in the corner of the deck overlooking his back yard. Then he cobbled together a movable wooden screen for privacy. Alas, it took up too much space on his small deck and was troublesome to move around. So he gave it away.

Now, "there is no screen or private area -- it's just out in the open for all to see! . . . However, since I'm on the alley, there isn't a real public walking or driving by, and I've warned all the neighbors. I'd say it's semi-private, just because it's nestled in the corner, but so far there have been no problems."

The Post did not attempt to contact his neighbors for comment.

Dick and Carol Cissel have no such privacy worries with their outdoor shower in Berwyn Heights. The space, constructed of weathered wood fencing, is connected to their Victorian house next to a screened-in side porch. Large holly bushes add to the seclusion and screen the shower from the yard and street. It is plumbed for hot and cold water.

The shower serves a practical, as well as a sybaritic, purpose: easy cleanup after gardening or hiking. Muddy family members trek right into the shower instead of tracking dirt and mulch across the house.

Dick Cissel designed the shower, added during a renovation. Originally, the Cissels had imagined a hot tub, but decided a shower would get more use. "We've always liked outdoor showers at the beach or places where it's normal to have one," says Carol Cissel. She estimates that it cost about $1,500 to build.