Nude Beach
People participate in the "Sydney Skinny", a 900-metre (2,950-ft) nude swim, at Clobbers beach in Sydney February 17, 2013. More than 400 people swam naked to raise funds for the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, according to organisers. Reuters

Parents of Cub Scout Troop 766 from Southern California are furious at Desmond Wheatley, the pack master of the elementary school-age boys, for leading the group to a hike that went through a nude beach.

The hike took placed on Jan 24 and passed through Black Beach, a secluded area that is part of the San Diego coastline and part of the Torrey Pines State Beach. The cubs were told that they would hike through Torrey Pines State Park.

However, it turned out that the trail that Wheatley chose passed through the naturist beach. There were around seven scouts in the troop, reports the Daily Caller.

And to make Diana Levken, the mother of a fourth-grade student who was part of the group as chaperone, angrier at Wheatley was his matter-of-fact reply that he knew it leads to the naturalist beach because his family frequents the optional-clothing resort.

Lekven said that she couldn’t do anything anymore since they were already in the area except to move forward because if they turned back, that would mean the kids seeing again the nude bodies of sunbathers and swimmers for the second time.

The California mum said she wasn’t upset by the naturist beach itself but by not being told in advance that they would go through that area. Levken noted that the sunbathers in their birthday suit looked back at them.

When she complained to the Boy Scouts about the incident, Levken discovered that passing by nude beaches isn’t in the list of things that current Boy Scout policy does not prohibit. The San Diego-Imperial Council and Pack leaders met with parents and concluded that proper protocol was followed and appropriate steps taken.

Fox noted the drop in Boy Scouts numbers by 7.4 percent in 2014 from 6 percent the previous year, which could be due to the sex scandals that had hit the organisation for the youth as well as episodes like their foray into a recreation area filled with naked bodies.

In contrast, an alternative youth organisation called Trail Life USA added over 20,000 members in 2014 spread in 538 troops across 48 states.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au