Flying High and Feeling Free in Calif.

WHAT: Black's Beach

WHERE: La Jolla, Calif., about 30 minutes north of downtown San Diego.

WHY GO: On a beautifully naked strip of California coastline, free spirits take flight.

Against the afternoon's clearing blue skies, a man paragliding flew close to the 300-foot cliffs that hem the two-mile stretch of Black's Beach, consistently regarded as one of the country's best destinations for nude sunbathers. Lauren, a beach regular in her fifties, looked up and wondered aloud if the man might crash into the cliffs.

I wondered if men on paragliders sometimes took the extravagant opportunity to get a better peek at the sunbathers below. I brought up that question as my eyes casually evaded Lauren's bare, freckled breasts.

"I don't think so," she said while squinting at the sky, watching the paraglider narrowly avoid the cliffs on its ascent toward the sun. "I think they have more important things to concentrate on."

The colorful air traffic hovering above Black's Beach is a pretty picture. Hang gliders and paragliders, sometimes a dozen at a time, enjoy using the rugged cliffs as a scenic launch pad; nudists like them because they hide the shoreline from a curious general public. It seems the physical commitment required to walk down the cliffs to the beach helps deter everyday spectators while offering nude sunbathers an air of privacy for their determinedly public display.

"If this was a drive-up beach, you would definitely get more gawkers," a young man named Carl told me while lying on his stomach.

"It doesn't stop all of them, though," joked his friend Zach, hinting at his suspicion of my clothed, roving presence.

It takes a little more than 10 minutes to get down to the beach, much of the journey demanding careful, well-soled footwork (steep paths, slippery dirt). Going back up takes 10 to 25 minutes, depending on one's respiratory health. Another footpath to the south is more time-consuming but less steep, which is why beachgoers carrying surfboards tend to use it. There are also no bathrooms, food stands or other businesses once you get to the bottom, which further illustrates the bare essentials of the beach's amenities.

"It's a beautiful beach, though," said Lauren, who has been coming to Black's Beach with her equally nude husband, Jim, for more than 25 years. "We encourage people not to come down," she said with a smile.

Actually, nudity is only tolerated here -- it's not officially sanctioned -- and you can practice it only on the beach's state-controlled northern end. You can still be cited for nudity at any time, but usually that happens only if you cause a disturbance and/or refuse to dress when asked. Nudity is prohibited on the city-regulated southern strip.